 Major Breakthrough in Tax Reform and Transit Funding The negotiations underway among House leaders, Senate leaders and the governor’s office on tax reform and rail transit funding (see Morning News and Tribune stories in News Highlights above) represent a major breakthrough that could resolve two of Utah’s biggest issues in a very positive way. However, these are tough, contentious issues and it will be difficult to work out the details and reach consensus in time for a special session in September. And there won’t be much time to run a campaign for a transit sales tax boost before the Nov. 7 general election. Still, this is an exciting, worthwhile effort, and reasonable, visionary leaders in government and in the business community who really want to solve problems and move the state forward ought to get behind the agreements being negotiated. Blog Watch House District 51 candidate Lisa Johnson has a new blog (hat tip: The Utah Amicus)... JuniperWest says: "I've noticed among the many posts about [Mayor Rocky Anderson] since his announcement that he wouldn't run [for re-election], that folks either love the guy, or hate his guts. Between supporting a Republican, spending more time on the road than in his city, implementing pro-gay and pro-environment policies, Rocky has got people on both sides of the aisle that have no love left for him. Democrats call him a traitor, Ethan at slcspin can't stop talking about Rocky leaving town for this or that, and 'moral values' people like Gayle Ruzicka have already RSVP'ed his spot in hell for his liberal pro-gay policies. Then, you've got folks that can't say enough good things about him. Some are even saying he deserves a halo for everything he's done. Can I remain ambiguous? Rocky is a little extreme for me on some things, but on others ... he rocks my world!"... At Out of Context, Robert Gehrke reports: "The National Governors Association sent out a press release announcing Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s selection as chairman of the NGA's Natural Resources Committee, which helps formulate the governors' policies on energy and lands issues. Huntsman, however, wasn't at the NGA's summer conference this year. He was getting in touch with his inner badass, rumbling around the annual motorcycle rally at Sturgis, S.D., while those other suckers were in South Carolina fretting about health care and National Guard deployments. Some governors are born to be wild. But honestly, would you rather spend the weekend with a bunch of governors, or several thousand bikers?" -- Compiled by Golden Webb Washington Watch Hatch Bill Praised, Panned Sen. Orrin Hatch's recently introduced patent reform bill earns "praise from large IT vendors, even as small inventors and some technologists say the legislation would hurt the little guys" (IDG News Service). MAG Newsletter The Mountainland Association of Governments has posted its August newsletter featuring its accomplishments in the past year. To read it, click here. SUWA Teleconference The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey will be holding a teleconference today at 2:30 pm to discuss "[a] newly obtained memorandum ... from a Utah lobbyist [that] suggests that Interior Department officials may have made commitments behind closed doors to 'fix' new land-use plans to assure more oil and gas development on wilderness-quality lands in the state ... On this teleconference, Rep. [Hinchey] will discuss his concerns about the implications of the memorandum on the integrity of BLM's land-use planning process, and will outline his request for an investigation into the matter by the Department of the Interior's Inspector General." For more info, click here. | 
