The Week Ahead
Four legislative meetings are scheduled this week, including the Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel, Wednesday at 2 p.m.; the Special Districts Subcommittee, also Wednesday at 2 p.m.; the Water Issues Task Force, Thursday at 9 a.m.; and the Tax Review Commission, Friday at 1 p.m. The main focus of the Water Task Force will be water conservation. The tax review commission will address the land value tax and sales tax exemptions, in addition to other tax issues. For locations and agendas of all the meetings, see the legislative calendar.
Romney and Mormonism
I don’t agree that Mitt Romney’s presidential chances are doomed because he is an active member of the LDS Church. As I’ve written previously, the political impact of Romney’s Mormonism clearly cuts both ways. The enormous publicity he’s receiving has a big upside, as well as a downside.
An enormous job for any presidential candidate is increasing one’s visibility and boosting name ID all across the nation. News reporters are always looking for an angle, and the Romney/Mormon connection is a good story. The media obsession with Romney’s religion has given him more news coverage than any other Republican candidate, including John McCain, and far more than the others in the long list of hopefuls. Everywhere he goes, Romney will be an object of high media interest, with the local news media joining with the national news outlets in reporting on Romney.
While polls show a significant percentage of people wouldn’t vote for a Mormon, that attitude is measured in an out-of-context way. Romney’s job is to make certain that voters get to know him on his own merits. When people get to know Romney they tend to like him. Among all the GOP candidates, he may be the best speaker and the most charismatic.
Romney is receiving enormous publicity, while at the same time expectations are being held in check because of the Mormon problem. That’s the best of both worlds. If Romney has a few successes and people start to like him as they get to know him, the perception will be that he is exceeding expectations and that will be a big media story.
The bottom line is that it’s far too early to draw any conclusions about the Romney campaign (See Townhall.com column by Kathryn Jean Lopez). The good thing about the Mormon story is that it’s happening very early in the campaign and Romney has plenty of time to deal with it and allow voters to get to know him. So far, Romney has proven quite adept at dealing with any number of issues as they have arisen. With his health care initiative and fundraising prowess, his campaign has gone very well so far. We’ll know a whole lot more in a year.
Federal Deficit Declining
Check out the interesting Sunday New York Times story on the declining federal deficit. This year’s federal budget deficit is going to be significantly lower than expected, thanks to burgeoning tax revenues. Had the Bush administration and Congress been able to get control of federal spending, we could be much closer to a balanced budget. Unfortunately, because federal spending is still totally out of control, the deficit is still high and the nation’s overall debt continues to grow.
Washington Watch
Hatch Helps Free Jailed Producer
Sen. Orrin Hatch helps free R&B music producer Dallas Austin from a Dubai jail; Hatch and Austin employ the same entertainment lawyer (New York Times and Associated Press).
Editorial: No to Washington Co. Plan
Editorial opposes the Washington Co. growth plan drafted by Sen. Bob Bennett and Rep. Jim Matheson (Sacramento Bee).
Blog Watch
Rep. Steve Urquhart notes the controversy surrounding the New York Times' decision to publish classified information about U.S. efforts to track terrorists' financial transactions, and says: "In the partisan dreck that consumes America -- and in each side's zeal to subvert the other -- we have lost sight of the fact that those who work to subvert America must be stopped. Despite the dulling rhetoric -- Democrats aren't working to subvert America, Republicans aren't working to subvert America. People who leak classified information are working to subvert America. If we can't stop navel gazing long enough to find out who those people are, then heaven help us"... Centerville Citizen asks about the future of Davis County: "Are we progressing to a time when we'll have to build another highway in addition to Legacy, or a day when we won't be able to feed ourselves during an emergency because all of our farmland is gone? Will we come to a point when our agricultural knowledge and way of life is almost extinct? If Davis County keeps growing, will older housing developments give way to denser apartment buildings? Or will the Wasatch Front be able to keep sprawling out indefinitely? Our latest drought was bad enough with two million people living in Utah, but how bad will a severe drought be a few decades down the road when we have four million people? I don't mean to sound all doom-and-gloom, but it's something worth thinking about"... In reaction to this story, Senate candidate Pete Ashdown says: "Evidently if you're a rich music producer with a penchant for cocaine and you're dumb enough to bring it into Dubai, then Utah's senior senator will pull your [backside] out of the fire" (see also here, here, here, here, here, and here)... Oh How I Love Jesus, in a post on likely '08 presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormonism, says: "I know the Mormons are fine, upstanding citizens of this country, but I cannot support a man who is a member of a cult and doesn't know it. I believe our country has been blessed because of our Judeo/Christian beliefs that there is One God ... I want to keep God's blessings on our country and knowing what I do know about the Mormon faith I fail to see how God would not be displeased with such a decision by His creation" (hat tip: Article VI Blog, which observes: "I really hate to break it to my creedal Christian brethren/sistren here, but Romney, or any other hypothetical Mormon president, would hardly be the first 'apostate' to hold office and yet our nation has been and continues to be blessed beyond all others. From Jefferson's Universalist faith, to Eisenhower’s Jehovah's Witness background, to Kennedy's rather hedonistic form of Catholicism, Presidents whom fundamentalist Christians (such as those who wrote the above post) would consider apostate are numerous. Given that fact, and despite their claims to the contrary, can their objections to a Mormon candidate be other than bigoted?") (see also here, here, here, and here).
-- Compiled by Golden Webb
Utah Spending $310 Per Second
The Sutherland Institute reports: "The Utah State Spending Clock, which can be found on Sutherland Institute's website, www.sutherlandinstitute.org, is now ticking over $310 per second, up from last year’s $278. This spending clock shows the amount of taxpayers’ money our Utah State government will spend through June 30, 2007, the end of FY 2007, based on the budget that has been provided by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget" (see press release).
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