News Highlights

LDS Church to unveil its plans for a huge downtown redevelopment project today (Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune).

Rep. Mark Foley, the Republican lawmaker who exchanged sexually explicit instant messages with a House page, worked with Sen. Orrin Hatch on a recently approved law specifically aimed at protecting children. Says Hatch: "This was shattering news. It's really unsettling to me that someone who worked so hard to pass what everyone is saying is a landmark child protection law could do something like this. I just don't understand it" (Morning News and Tribune).

Article: "There are the Texans for Mitt, the Tennesseeans for Mitt, the Iowans for Mitt. Then there are the Evangelicals for Mitt, the Catholics for Mitt and the Law Students for Mitt. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney isn't a declared candidate for president yet, but already several Web logs, or blogs, are sprouting up to promote the Republican for the White House in 2008. Like the grass-roots efforts of old, this is the newfound Web-roots" (Tribune).

Quote of the Day

"Elected officials shouldn't be picking their constituents. I don't think members of Congress should be looking for safe seats."

-- Rep. Jim Matheson on why he won’t endorse any particular redistricting map to create four congressional districts in Utah. Supporters of the proposal face many hurdles to get legislation passed this year (Morning News).

Get Out the Vote

Today we’re five weeks out from election day. It’s time for candidates to start planning their get-out-the-vote efforts. See campaign tip below.

Blog Watch

Rep. Craig Frank posts a podcast interview he conducted with Rep. John Dougall about Utah's new "dual-track" income tax system (see also here)... SouthernUtahBlog's Ed Kociela says he's "starting to think that maybe this land bill being pushed by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is not such a great thing after all"... CoolestFamilyEver explains why "USTAR depends on UTOPIA"... Paul Rolly reports: "Here is an interesting twist in this election season. Sen. Howard Stephenson, one of the more conservative members of the Senate's Republican caucus and a leader in the fight to prevent public employees from automatically deducting contributions to their political PAC because he feels it favors Democratic candidates, is helping a Democrat in the Senate District 18 race in Ogden. Stuart Reid, the Democrat, is running against Ogden Police Chief John Greiner, the Republican, in an open seat made vacant by Republican incumbent Dave Thomas not seeking re-election. ... The reason for Stephenson's heresy, reportedly, is that Reid is the candidate in the race who supports tuition tax credits or vouchers for parents who put their children in private schools, an issue dear to Stephenson's heart"... At Evangelicals for Mitt, David French says: "While at one level (more abstractly theological), I can understand why some evangelicals [would have difficulty voting for a Mormon for president in '08], at another, more practical, level, I grow increasingly vexed. A man of demonstrated character and integrity runs for office, he is pro-life, he lives his family values with a wife and sons who are devoted to him and each other, and some say, 'I don't know if I can morally support him.' Do politicians like Mitt Romney grow on trees? Are we Republicans just dripping with realistic presidential contenders who are socially conservative, charismatic, offer innovative ideas in national security and economics, and whose integrity is beyond reproach?" (see also here and here).

Court Watch

Three Cases With Policy Implications

By Chet Loftis

(The courts play a significant role in shaping public policy.  To help readers anticipate and better understand key issues before the courts, Utah Policy Daily and the Constitutional, Appellate, and Public Policy Section of the law firm of Kirton & McConkie are teaming up to provide regular updates.)

The Utah Supreme Court will be hearing a number of cases this month.   One case of note is Gardner v. Galetka, which involves the latest judicial activity surrounding Ronnie Lee Gardner, who, among other things, shot and killed an attorney during a failed escape attempt in 1985 and is currently on death row.   Gardner filed a petition for habeas corpus in Federal District Court raising, for the first time, a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel.  The Federal District Court has requested an interpretation from the Utah Supreme Court on whether Utah law bars Gardner’s federal claim because he had the chance to raise ineffective of assistance of counsel in an early state court action, but didn’t.  This case is interesting not only because it shows the interrelation of state and federal courts on questions of state law, but also because it will require the Utah Supreme Court to go back and determine what Utah’s law was in 1990 for purposes of this case.

A second case of note this month is Martinez v. Media-Paymasters Plus, which involves the legal question of whether an employee or employer bears the burden of proof on the issue of whether an employee is permanently totally disabled for purposes of workers’ compensation, and what standard of review an appellate court should apply in reviewing judicial determination of the Labor Commission.   The ramifications of the first issue are less significant now because of recent legislation making it clear that employees bear the burden of proof.  The answer to the second issue, however, remains significant and involves an important matter of public policy with respect to the authority of state agencies to render judicial determinations in the matters that come before them and the degree to which the courts should independently review or give deference to those determinations.  Workers’ Compensation Fund  of Utah filed an amicus brief in this case and, in the interests of disclosure, Kirton & McConkie represents the employer here. 

The third case we wish to note this month is Carter v. University of Utah Medical Center.  It asks the question of whether the venue of a lawsuit against the state should still be in Salt Lake under Utah’s Governmental Immunity Act when a private co-defendant and the plaintiff are located in another county.   As such, it raises an interesting policy question of who should be accommodated more--and inconvenienced less--when the State is sued and should it matter if more than one party outside of Salt Lake is involved.

For more information about these cases and Kirton & McConkie’s Constitutional, Appellate, Religious, and Public Policy Practice Section, please visit our Web site.   Lastly, with the Legislative Session just around the corner, this link also includes some practical advice on lobbying, drafting legislation, and practical considerations for organizations to factor in when taking a position and weighing in on legislation.

Washington Watch

Tithing Bill Approved

The Senate approves Sen. Orrin Hatch's "bill to protect an individual's right to continue reasonable charitable contributions, including religious tithing, during the course of a consumer bankruptcy" (see press release); the Senate approves the Defense Authorization conference report, which contains a measure sponsored by Hatch "to procure 60 F-22A Raptors over the next three years through a multi-year contract. The Raptor is maintained at Hill Air Force Base (HAFB), and using a multi-year contract -- rather than buying year by year -- could save taxpayers as much as $335 million" (press release).

Campaign Tip

Getting Out the Vote, Part I
(First in a series of two articles by Joe Garecht of LocalVictory.com) 
Get out the vote operations (GOTV) can mean the difference between success and defeat on Election Day, especially for local campaigns. 

GOTV means those operations that your campaign performs to ensure that voters who plan to vote for your candidate go to the polls on Election Day.  No matter what your campaign budget, or what your strategy is on the days and weeks before the election, it is imperative that every single campaign carefully plans and executes a get out the vote operation. 

Gathering Info

Your GOTV efforts should begin well in advance of Election Day.  Over the course of the campaign, your staff and volunteers should be collecting the names and information of voters in your district who plan to vote for your candidate.  At the very least, your campaign should end up with a list of voters that equals 10% of the total number of votes you need to win on Election Day.  Ideally, your list will be much larger, especially in local campaigns, where it may be possible to garner a list with 50% or more of the voters you need.

The means for gathering these names are several.  Your campaign should certainly collect this information during all of its other activities.  During events and fundraisers, be sure to ask for names and information to add to your database.  For many events, especially fundraisers, you will already have this information.  If so, there is no need to ask for it a second time.  Your campaign should also note which voters plan to vote for you during candidate door-to-door campaigning and lit drops, if possible.  Try to gather the name, address and phone number of each of your supporters.

The campaign should also conduct activities specifically to identify supporters to add to the list.  These activities may include phone banks, or even door-to-door, if the campaign has a plethora of volunteers.  One person on the campaign staff should be responsible for maintaining a database of GOTV supporters.  This list should be started at the beginning of the campaign, and may be part of a larger campaign database.  Be sure to add the names of staff and volunteers who reside in the district, and that you only add the names of people who are actually registered and able to vote.

Organize

No later than thirty days before the election, the campaign should have its GOTV team in place.  The get out the vote team should include one GOTV director who is responsible for the overall GOTV effort.  The team should also include the person who is responsible for the GOTV/campaign database, as well as enough staff and volunteers to reach each voter on your list of supporters at least once, preferably several times, before the election.  The team should come up with a get out the vote plan detailing the tactics it will use to reach these voters, as well a budget for these activities.

Contact

The key to GOTV efforts is contact.  Your goal is to make sure that each and every supporter that you have identified actually makes it to the polls on Election Day.  In the next installment of this article, we will detail the ways that your campaign should go about contacting these voters, the timeline you should use, and the Election Day activities that need to be performed to make sure that your get out the vote campaign is a success.

Elected Officials Birthday List

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Utah in the National News

Liberal columnist David Rubenstein is unimpressed with the 9/11 conspiracy theories of Professor Steven E. Jones, who's been placed on paid leave by BYU: "Dr. Jones says that jet fuel and the subsequent fire could not have brought the buildings down, and he suggests it's more likely they were brought down by 'pre-positioned cutter-charges.' Among his other articles is one titled 'Behold My Hands: Evidence for Christ's Visit in Ancient America.' In it he notes that dark marks on the hands of ancient Mayan artifacts and hieroglyphs resemble stigmata, and he posits this as evidence that the Book of Mormon was correct when it said that Jesus visited the New World shortly after his resurrection. To further make the case, he refers to an article by archeological scholar Robert Eliot Smith, who in describing a rendering of the Mayan god Itzamma, notes its 'markedly Hebraic nose'" (Tikkun) (see also related Lexington Herald-Leader story).

Conservative columnist Doug Wilson, noting that Mass. Gov. and likely '08 presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon, says: "If you're like me, this doesn't matter much. In fact, I think it's actually a plus because it assures me that Romney shares my personal values. But Romney's religion poses legitimate questions for many Americans, and he will most likely be forced to address the issue throughout his campaign. I asked Romney about the issue and here's what he said: 'Well, if my religious affiliation is the worst thing people can dig up on me, then I'm in pretty good shape.' Continuing, Romney said, 'some people in Massachusetts were concerned about this as well, but once people got to know me, they saw I had solid ideas'" (Townhall.com) (see also related Concord Monitor and American Spectator stories).

Article looks at Utah's booming health supplement industry: "More than 100 supplement companies dot the terrain alongside I-15 snaking through Salt Lake City, Utah, generating $4 billion in annual sales -- four times the revenue of the state's more famous ski trade. ... Why Utah? For one thing, the dry air is ideal for storing precious powders. For another, politicians like Senator Orrin Hatch have helped create a fertile regulatory climate. Then there's the long-standing environment of support for the products. Many Utah supplement companies are owned or operated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In the 1800s, LDS founder Joseph Smith blamed traditional medicine for his brother's death and his own traumatic leg surgery. Early Mormon writings praised the 'plants and roots, which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases.' ... But it's Utah's entrepreneurial attitude that perhaps accounts most of all for the boom. A large portion of supplements is sold through multilevel marketing, commonly known as MLM -- or person-to-person sales. ... One reason for Utah's MLM success seems again to stem from the church. Nature's Sunshine became the first to go that route back in 1975, and Mormons -- trained in door-to-door evangelism through compulsory missions -- proved natural salespeople" (TIME.com).

Local Headlines

Deseret Morning News

- District attorney race is a dead heat

- Foley worked with Hatch on law to protect kids

- Church to unveil downtown plans today

- Bishop will announce plans during meeting

- Utah jury selection upheld

- 4th District Court jury issues

- 4th seat faces lots of hurdles

- Utah water year above average

- Are 2 GOP candidates eligible to run?

- Food-stamp rule change draws fire

- Salt Lake pursues Paris flight

- Office space getting scarce

- Business growing — but slowly

- Marjorie Cortez: What do we tell students about safety now?

- Op-ed: Let voters decide future of lands

St. George Spectrum

- LaVerkin trailer parks to make way for new developments

- Editorial: Medicaid ruling sound

KCPW

- Rotary seeking tax dollars for 2007 convention

- Two-part series: Inside the immigration debate

- Bottomline Rewind: Money and politics

Daily Herald

- 4th District judge denies claim that juries lack Hispanics

- Aqueduct moves from federal to local ownership

- Proposed bond leaves PGHS wanting more

- Santaquin plans for future growth, to consult residents

- State Reps. Lockhart, Fowlke address Utah County Republican Women

- Op-ed: Lehi served best by strong mayor

- Editorial: Eagle Mountain's computer crisis

KSL Editorial Board

- Utah's fourth seat

Salt Lake Tribune

- Church has thriving city hub in mind

- Mitt gains ground in the blogosphere

- Hatch finds Foley's downfall 'unsettling'

- Nude dancing ruling stands

- Senate hopeful runs on an irony

- Fund taking hard look at injury pay

- Are candidates skirting the law?

- Food stamp rulings assailed

- City administrator embroiled in dispute over fence

- Metro water district now has title to aqueduct

- Bears outweigh bulls in Utah stocks

- Stocks of largest firms lag in first nine months, though a few

- Real estate mogul brought Utah national prominence

- Editorial: Johnson, by a nose: District 25 voters have slate of two fine candidates

- Editorial: Vote early: You won't have to stand in line on Election Day

Please submit calendar items to Daily@UtahPolicy.com

- Oct 3: Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee, 9 a.m., room W140.
- Oct 3: Administrative Rules Review Committee, 9:30 a.m., room W135.
- Oct 3: Gov. Huntsman to attend "Power Tour" with First Lady Mary Kaye Huntsman, 10 a.m., E Center, 3200 South Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City.
- Oct 3: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on KCPW 88.3 FM features Kevin Carter, Utah’s School & Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), on the Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2006; and actress and comedian Lily Tomlin with insight into the world of comedy. She’ll be in concert at Kingsbury Hall Saturday.
- Oct 3: Lt. Gov. Herbert to hold a Commission on Character on Civic education meeting, 1 p.m., Governor's Board Room, East Capitol Bldg., Salt Lake City.
- Oct 3: Salt Lake City Council Meeting, 5:30 p.m. At the meeting, the LDS Church will unveil its long-awaited plans for its downtown commercial property.
- Oct 4: Lt. Gov. Herbert to address attendees of the Annual Homeless Summit, 8:30 a.m., Sheraton Hotel, 150 West 500 South, Salt Lake City.
- Oct 4: Special Districts Subcommittee of the Political Subdivision Interim Committee, 9 a.m., room W125.
- Oct 5-6: Utah League of Cities and Towns and the State Department of Environmental Quality Annual Water Conference, Zion Park Inn, Springdale.
- Oct 5: Gov. Huntsman to give welcoming remarks at West/Southwest Meth Legislative and Policy Planning Conference, 8 a.m., Salt Palace Convention Center.
- Oct 5: Women’s Legislative Council of Utah County meeting, 9:45 to 11:30 a.m., Provo City Library room 201, Academy Square, 550 North University Avenue. Invited guest speakers include candidates for county offices as well as Utah County candidates for Utah State Senate and Utah State House of Representatives. Meet the candidates from Utah County and become informed.

- Oct 5: Former Democratic U.S. Senator Zell Miller Dinner presented by the Parents for Choice in Education PAC, reception 6 to 7 p.m., dinner 7 to 9 p.m., Sheraton City Centre, 150 W 500 S, Salt Lake City. Proceeds benefit candidates for the Utah Legislature. $1500 per table or $150 per person. Contact Lincoln Fillmore at 801-548-0144.
- Oct 5: Davis County Democrats planning committee meeting, 7 p.m., Campaign HQ office, 50 West Gentile (corner of Main Street and Gentile), Layton. The agenda includes recruitment of volunteers, funding for candidates, and get out the vote activities.  All interested Democrats are urged to attend.  The general public is also invited.
- Oct 6: Lt. Gov. Herbert to address staff at the Shriner's Hospital for Children, 12:15 p.m., Shriner's Hospital for Children, 1275 Fairfax Rd, Salt Lake City.
- Oct 7: Bob Brister, Green Party Candidate for Utah's 2nd Congresssional District, to join with Marshall Thompson in his walk for an end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, 8 a.m., Capitol Building.
- Oct 7: Green Party Honk 'n' Wave for Peace "U.S. Out of Iraq, Now," featuring Bob Brister, Green Candidate for Utah's 2nd Congressional District, 10 to 11 a.m., NW corner, intersection of State Street and 6400 South. For more information see www.bristerforcongress.org.
- Oct 7: Gov. Huntsman to give remarks at the Autism Council of Utah Event, 10:30 a.m., State Office Building.
- Oct 10: "By-mail" voter  registration deadline. Individuals who are already registered to vote do not need to re-register unless they have moved since they last voted. A “by-mail” voter registration form is available on the County Clerk’s website at www.clerk.slco.org, on page 47 of the white pages of the new telephone directory, and in counter displays in hundreds of locations throughout the County including post offices, libraries, and grocery stores. For further information, call 801- 468-3427.

- Oct 10: 11th annual Common Good Awards Luncheon, 11:45 a.m., Little America Hotel, 500 South Main Street, Salt Lake City. The Coalition for Utah’s Future, sponsor of Envision Utah, will recognize those entities from the public and private sectors that have previously received a Common Good Award. Contact Kevin Fayles at 801-303-1462 or kfayles@cuf-envision.org for reservations.
- Oct 11: Water Issues Task Force, 8:30 a.m., room W125.
- Oct 11: Hinckley Forum " Weak and Failing States: What are they? How do we recognize them? What do they signify? How should we respond?" 10:45 a.m. Guest is Pauline H. Baker, President, The Fund for Peace.
- Oct 11: Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's annual "Wasatch Challenge" fundraiser, 5 p.m.
Trap, skeet and target shooting, Western entertainment and down-home cooking. Call 801-994-9601 for more information.
- Oct 11: Hinckley Forum "News and Propaganda: When Does Spin Go Too Far?" at 7 p.m., and "News and Propaganda:  Is Objective Journalism Extinct?" at 7:45 p.m. Guests include various news and media professionals.

- See the entire calendar