The Week Ahead
Key county conventions will be held this week as candidates continue chasing delegates. On Tuesday, Utah County Democrats will meet in convention, and on Saturday Salt Lake and Utah County Republicans will gather to narrow candidates in a number of interesting legislative races. Candidate events will be plentiful this week. The convention season culminates on May 13 when both GOP and Democratic state conventions. Check the UPD calendar for all the events. To get an event on the calendar, e-mail us at daily@utahpolicy.com.
Monday Musings
Advice to Political Leaders: Think Big
I like politicians who think big and aren’t afraid to try new ideas and big solutions to deal with some of our knottiest public policy problems.
Thinking big was recently addressed by Rep. Jeff Alexander, who publishes a quarterly newsletter that usually includes a personal about business and leadership. In addition to being the House majority leader, Alexander runs a successful high-tech printing business, called Alexander’s Print Advantage, in Lindon.
In this edition, Alexander writes about thinking – about taking time from the hustle and bustle of daily business to really think and ponder. Alexander suggests we need to analyze our past so we learn from our experiences, focus on the present and how we can improve, and think about the future and how we can apply innovation and new technologies.
He also says we ought to be big thinkers. “We’ve all known big thinkers,” Alexander writes. “They are sometimes the people that others laugh at or don’t take seriously. But, big thinkers can often motivate others to action. They are particularly effective when they can inspire and lead a group to greatness.
“Great big thinkers are the type of people who don’t have to have everything spelled out for them before an idea can take shape. They are able to take ideas, their own or others’ and expand them to accomplish even more. The real big thinkers are leaders and will pull people together to create a team who can add the details to create the final picture. Like Donald Trump has said, ‘You have to think anyway, so why not think big?’”
Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt had a “big gear” theory of dealing with major public policy problems. We spend a lot of time in public policy turning “little gears,” he said, making small improvements and tinkering at the edges. But if we can find the “big gear” that will make a quantum leap forward, and give it a vigorous yank, it will make all the small gears spin faster and we’ll really get somewhere.
I appreciate politicians who are looking for the “big gear” to dramatically improve public education, to slow the rapid rise in health care costs, to make the country energy self-sufficient, and to solve our looming transportation funding crisis.
Some leaders who come to mind, who bring passion and commitment to their crusades, as well as big gear thinking, are Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey, who wants to jumpstart Ogden’s economy by linking key parts of the city with a gondola system ending at a new ski resort; Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie, and Utah Transit Authority Director John Inglish, who are leading out with big thinking on transportation solutions; Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, who has found a big gear in providing health insurance coverage to the masses; and Zions Bank President and CEO Scott Anderson, whose vision and hard work on the forward-looking USTAR initiative were so compelling that he pulled others along with him.
Not all big ideas bear fruit. I have no idea, for example, whether Godfrey’s gondola proposal is practical. But I admire him for being willing to step forward with big thinking.
Utah and the country face enough challenges that there is plenty of room for big thinking. The reality is, even with major leaps forward, we will never totally solve our public policy challenges because times change, new issues arise, and no solution ends up fitting every circumstance. There will always be more to tackle, and turning those “little gears” is also important. But, as Alexander suggests in his essay, we need more big thinkers to make our communities, nation and world a better place to live and raise our families.
Washington Watch
Hatch Urges Medicare Help
Sen. Orrin Hatch urges "pharmaceutical drug makers to continue offering prescription drugs to Medicare beneficiaries through programs designed to help individuals with high prescription drug costs" (see press release).
Cannon Opposes Labor Site Mandates
Rep. Chris Cannon says day labor site mandates represent "unwarranted interference by governmental entities with the rights of businesses to use and operate their private property" (Los Angeles Times).
Matheson Discusses 'Budget Crisis'
Rep. Jim Matheson's congressional website has posted a video clip of Matheson discussing the nation's "budget crisis" from the House floor.
Bennett's Rural Business Conference
Sen. Bob Bennett joined small business and community leaders in Vernal last week as the co-host of the annual Rural Business Conference, "which provides practical tools and solutions to the unique challenges faced by rural entrepreneurs" (see press release).
Blog Watch
The Utah Amicus congratulates Utah State Democratic Chair Wayne Holland Jr., who "was elected by other western party state chairs to represent them on the executive committee of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC)"... Senate candidate Pete Ashdown solicits the help of a good transmission guy... The Warren ponders signs of an illegal immigration crackdown (see also here and here)... The World, According to Me attended the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention, and offers some constructive criticism... Utahnia says: "So um, the [Utah] Democratic party avoids that whole pesky representative democracy thing and just has a central committee hand pick their candidates for office? Nice. Sounds like a Communist Party election back in the USSR"... Davis County Watch discusses the Davis County GOP Convention results... Weber County Democrats says the Standard-Examiner gave the Weber County Democratic Convention the short shrift in its weekend news coverage... Dee's 'Dotes is unhappy with the Utah Elections Office... Rural Blogging discusses Utah's energy boom... Let Your Mind Alone refutes the notion that "Democratic [Party] ideals are consistent only with the plan of Satan"... Facing the Fire says Sen. Orrin Hatch "is firmly in that bizarro neo-Conservative reality where there is little scientific consensus [about climate change], or at least where that consensus is part of some kind of vast scientific conspiracy"... Fozzilinymoo pelts Mayor Rocky Anderson with "spitballs of shame" for "still not 'getting it'" about the evils of big government (see also here).
-- Compiled by Golden Webb (goldenwebb@hotmail.com).
Utah Political Trivia
(From "Utah Trivia" compiled by Allan Kent Powell and Miriam B. Murphy)
Q: What presidential candidate received more than 80 percent of the Utah vote in 1896?
A: William Jennings Bryan, who lost the election.
Q: The slogan, "We want a Dern good governor and we don't mean Mabey" was part of what gubernatorial campaign?
A: When Democrat George Dern defeated incumbent Charles Mabey in 1924.
Q: What Bingham High School graduate was named treasurer of the United States by President Eisenhower and later served as state treasurer of California?
A: Ivy Baker Priest.
Q: What legendary champion of workers' rights visited striking Carbon County miners in 1904?
A: Mother Jones.
Q: What former Logan resident and presidential candidate wrote "From Housewife to Heretic"?
A: Sonia Johnson.
Q: Which Utah governor was a published poet?
A: Charles R. Mabey.
Q: Which German-born architect designed the Utah State Capitol?
A: Richard K.A. Kletting.
Q: Which German-born architect designed the Governor's (Kearns) Mansion?
A: Carl M. Neuhausen.
Sutherland Institute Symposium
The Sutherland Institute will host a half-day symposium, Protecting Utah's Families from Identity Theft, on Tuesday, May 2. Presenters will include representatives from the office of the Utah Attorney General, the FBI, the U.S. Social Security Administration, West Valley Police Department, business and financial institutions, and members of the Utah Legislature. For more info, click here. |
