News Highlights

Rep. Jim Matheson and Sen. Orrin Hatch condemn North Korea's nuclear test (St. George Spectrum) (see also related Salt Lake Tribune, Spectrum, and Deseret Morning News stories).

Bob Bernick Jr.: "If any 2nd Congressional District candidates are counting on millionaire Republican LaVar Christensen to top a federal personal donation level so they could collect more from supporters, they'll have to wait a few days longer. Christensen -- who has said previously that he'll spend his own money as needed to run an effective campaign -- has timed his donations to keep his opponents' fund raising at bay" (Morning News).

Quote of the Day

“…it is impossible to deny the existence of a distinct and alarming achievement gap in Utah's public schools.”

-- KSL TV/Radio editorial by Duane Cardall calling for action to improve scores of minority students. It notes that the state's burgeoning population of Latino students, especially, is at a disadvantage in Utah's educational system.

The Week Ahead

Today is exactly four weeks until election day, and only two weeks until early voting begins. … Tomorrow, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's hold his annual "Wasatch Challenge" fundraiser, featuring trap, skeet and target shooting. … Annual Utah Education Association convention is Thursday and Friday in the Salt Palace. … Gov. Jon Huntsman isn’t worrying about bad luck; he’s holding his main annual fundraising event this Friday the 13th in the Salt Palace Main Ballroom. But there will be no Table 13. For all the week’s political events, see UPD calendar.

Negative Campaigning Backfires

Paul Rolly’s Monday column in the Tribune should serve as a reminder that negative campaigning seldom (maybe never) works in Utah.  Nasty, negative Karl Rovian or James Carvillian-type campaign tactics usually backfire. While digging for dirt and an opportune time to release it is standard practice in big-time national campaign politics, I’ve seldom seen it work in Utah, especially if it’s based on flimsy facts. It’s OK to make substantive criticisms and show contrasts, pointing out an opponent’s voting record or differences on policy issues or ideology, but there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

I’ve watched over and over again as unwise Utah congressional candidates hire Washington campaign consultants who convince them to run aggressive negative campaigns, which fail miserably. Or outside special interest groups come into Utah and run negative ads, only to see it backfire.  So Rolly most likely really did help certain Democrats avoid major embarrassment by smoking out an apparent attempt to embarrass House Speaker Greg Curtis with a half-baked plan. Digging for dirt is a dirty business.  

GenXers Invited to Network

Clarification: In Friday’s item on Mike Winder’s invitation to Gen X Republicans to attend a “networking breakfast” on Oct. 24, I failed to include contact Winder’s contact info so interested people can RSVP. His e-mail address is: mike.winder@winderfarms.com. The breakfast is scheduled at 8 a.m., at the Cracker Barrel by the E-Center in West Valley City (2283 City Center Court).

Blog Watch

At the Senate Site blog, Sen. Lyle Hillyard wonders "if class size reduction is really a priority with the local districts or just a slogan to make the public clamor for more education funding. ... Those of you with expertise in this area -- please help me with suggestions on how to make sure that any new funding really makes a difference and is not lost, as our efforts a few years ago seemed to be"... Rep. Craig Frank discusses Utah's budget surplus... CoolestFamilyEver says: "To the casual observer, a conservationist and an environmentalist are probably the same thing. Both like to keep things relatively unspoiled, are big on high-efficiency everything, and do what they can to think global and act local. The big difference comes up in how they translate their end goals into actions, something that makes them as different as a Vernal conservative and a Salt Lake City liberal"... Utah Taxpayer says: "Last year, the Legislature imposed a cap on new charter schools. Recently, Salt Lake Tribune reporters, editorialists, and columnists have covered the charter school issue negatively. ... Opponents of school choice have strategically focused their attention on preventing means-tested vouchers while looking the other way on charter schools. This was a miscalculation. School choice opponents seriously underestimated the demand for charter schools. Now that charter school enrollment is booming and vouchers are likely to pass in the next legislative session, school choice opponents are rethinking their strategy, but they are too late. The charter school genie is out of the bottle, and the UEA-faction within the Utah Republican Party continues to shrink"... Part of the Plan is "perplexed by the sudden spate of anti-[Jim] Matheson diatribes in the lefty blogosphere. ... Why wait until one month prior to the election and then unload on your state's lone Democratic member of Congress? Why not put aside your rancor and bitterness with his voting record long enough to get him reelected, then use the leverage of the Democratic majority (hopefully) to convince Jim to move more to the left of center?" (see also here and here)... Rural Blogging says: "Questar is asking the Public Service Commission for a ten percent (10%) rate reduction. ... [T]here are serious rural needs that should be addressed as part of the considerations. Currently there are several rural communities not yet served by natural gas. ... I hope the Public Service Commission will take the needs of rural Utah into account as it considers Questar's request. Perhaps something like an 8% rate reduction with the other 2% set aside to meet the natural gas needs of underserved communities and isolated rural businesses could be considered. Action to this end would provide a win-win situation both for rural Utah and urban consumers"... At Out of Context, Thomas Burr says: "Utah Democrats are livid that Rep. Chris Cannon hasn't given back a campaign donation by disgraced ex-Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned his seat in a brewing cybersex scandal. Cannon told the Deseret Morning News that Foley was 'irritating' and you didn't need 'gaydar' to know he had certain proclitivites. 'Wow. So, if this is really how Mr. Cannon feels, how come he takes Mark Foley's money?' responded Utah Democrats spokesman Jeff Bell in his blog. 'You heard me, he takes campaign donations from Mark Foley. Not even Senator Hatch, who seems to take money from anyone ANYONE and ANYTHING hasn't taken money from Foley (that I've found), and they're pals.' ... Bell doesn't note how much Cannon took or when he took it. So, for clarification, Cannon accepted -- drum roll, please -- $500. In 1997. That would be five to six years before there is evidence that Foley conversed with the teen-age congressional pages" (see also here)... Philocrites says: "With Mitt Romney off and running to be president, here's my advice to political reporters who want a question to ask him about the way his Mormon faith might inform his politics: First, do some background reading on Joseph Smith's prophecy that the U.S. Constitution will one day 'hang by a thread' and that elders of the Mormon Church will come in to rescue it. Six other Mormon Church presidents -- who are considered 'prophets, seers, and revelators,' just like Joseph Smith -- have also used this image, and it's a perennial fixture of popular Mormon discourse about politics. Romney must be familiar with the image -- you don't grow up Mormon in America without hearing it -- so I'd be curious how he interprets it" (hat tip: Article VI Blog) (see also here, here, and here).

Washington Watch

62% Favor Hatch

According to new poll, Sen. Orrin Hatch, bidding for a record sixth Senate term, leads challenger Pete Ashdown 62% to 25% (Angus Reid Global Monitor) (see also related Associated Press story).

National Politics

New Media Political Influence

Interesting and lengthy Washington Post story on the influence of New Media like blogs, talk radio and Web sites on politics. … Chuck Todd of NationalJournal.com ranks the U.S. Senate races. Orrin Hatch is obviously safe, but Democrats are within reach of taking over the U.S. Senate.

Davis GOP Website
The Davis County Republican Party has launched a new website. To check it out, click here.

Utah’s Top Issues

It’s important for Utah policymakers and opinion leaders to be aware of and up-to-speed on the top issues facing the state. Here is our weekly list, generated by observing what’s hot in the news media, what’s on the agenda of various policymaking groups, and what’s being discussed among opinion leaders and policymakers. We welcome suggestions and input from UPD readers. E-mail daily@utahpolicy.com.

Hottest of the Hot

• High gas prices
• Cyber-safety issues (cyber predators, child pornography, identity theft, Internet scams, etc.)
  

Emerging

• Education achievement gap of disadvantaged students
• Western states primary
• SLCIA nonstop service to Europe
• 4th congressional seat for Utah
• Tolling on highways
• Snake Valley water pumping for Las Vegas
• SITLA land sale on Green River
• Minimum wage increase

Mature

• 2006 election campaigns
• Downtown SLC revitalization
• Immigration
• Washington County land sales
• Open space funding
• Guns at college

Getting Old (but not totally resolved)

• Real soccer stadium

Oldies But Goodies

• Banks/Credit Unions
• Highway funding
• Vouchers/School Choice
• Tax cuts vs. education funding
• No Child Left Behind
• Healthcare reform/Intermountain Healthcare

Elected Officials Birthday List

Utah Policy Daily is a service
of Utah Policy.com

Publisher: LaVarr Webb
Editor: Paul Hollingshead
News: Golden Webb
Calendar and Subscriptions: Luci Hollingshead

Utah Policy Daily
American Plaza III, Suite 105
47 West 200 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
801.537.0900 Office
801.537.0901 Fax

Special E-Mail Messages: Utah Policy Daily may send subscribers e-mails with information about new features, special offers, or messages on public policy issues from clients and advertisers. If you do not wish to ever receive these e-mails, please let us know by e-mail at daily@utahpolicy.com.

Utah in the National News

Columnist: "In a radio interview last week, prominent evangelical activist James Dobson said that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Mormon faith 'could pose a serious obstacle' if he decided to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. ... Sure, plenty of evangelical Protestants refuse to consider Mormonism a branch of Christianity. A Pentecostal missionary recently referred to the heavily Mormon state of Utah as the 'last frontier' for Christian proselytizing in the United States. ... But when it comes to American politics, it seems clear that cultural affinity and a shared political agenda can trump theology" (Los Angeles Times) (see also related The State and Associated Press stories).

Columnist: "In recent years, the political geography of the West has seemed clear and simple: the Pacific Coast states are blue, and the interior West is red. But while the Pacific Coast is likely to stay solidly blue for the foreseeable future, the partisan tilt of the eight states of the interior West -- Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico Utah and Wyoming -- is changing. These states will be worth watching in the November elections. And the region’s political hue in 2008 will speak not only to the question of who wins the White House but also to the durability and future character of the Republican coalition" (Dallas Morning News).

Columnist: "Kanab, Utah, is a mostly Mormon town of about 3,500 people, beholden to the roughly quarter-million tourists who come through the county on their way to nearby Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. So why have some people called for a boycott of Kanab? Simply put, the mayor and town council had the audacity to unanimously pass a non-binding resolution calling for government to support and uphold the 'natural family.' ... Not exactly shocking stuff, but response to the resolution was swift and vociferous. ... Has our society come to the place where the very concepts of marriage and family are now up for grabs, and if so, what are the ramifications of that new reality?" (AgapePress).

Article: "A Utah lawmaker has abandoned plans to bring back a bill to require abortion practitioners to tell women about the pain their unborn child might have during an abortion. ... Rep. Paul Ray, a Republican, told the Associated Press he worried that his measure would have legal problems" (LifeNews.com).

Gov. Huntsman says of Novell Inc. founder Ray Noorda, who died Monday of complications from Alzheimer's disease: "Ray was one of the innovators of the Utah Miracle. He launched what would become Utah's technology sector. He has left behind a monumental legacy and we are all in his debt" (Associated Press).

Utah and Wyoming water officials say a proposed $4 billion pipeline from Flaming Gorge to Colorado's water-craving Front Range could harm the endangered fish recovery project on the upper Colorado River (Rocky Mountain News).

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

- SLC talks of a ban on lighting up in its parks

- Computer networking giant leaves tech legacy

- Koreans express surprise, worry

- Dump wants to pile it on

- Seniors are urged to rethink drug plan

- UTA seeks to lure commuters with Wi-Fi setup

- Brierley trying to break GOP stranglehold on Utah County

- Jordan schools support fees on housing

- San Juan votes to back new hospital

- S.L. County councilman pushes restriction of payday-loan outlets

- Activists put Zions Bank on the spot

- Union seeks to encourage women voters

- Idaho Falls may buy coal-fired power from Utah

- Editorial: A clear choice: In District 52, Spencer strong on public education

- Editorial: Follow the money: Donor, campaign reports must be cross-checked

Standard-Examiner

- Letter of interest from Susan E. Van Hooser for Ogden City Council

- Read two proposed ordinances for Syracuse government

- Hooper mulls business future

St. George Spectrum

- State political leaders speak out on N. Korea nuclear test

- Downwinders concerned over nuke

- County to adopt higher fire standards

- Op-ed: As a society, we're really never better than least among us

- Editorial: U.S. Senate debate tomorrow

Daily Herald

- Tech guru Ray Noorda dies at 82

- Editorial: State insurance

KCPW

- West Jordan dog park debate back at SL County Council

- Smoking ban proposed for SLC parks

- Limiting payday lenders in SL County

KSL

- Drive-through voter registration a hit in Utah

- Editorial: The achievement gap

Deseret Morning News

- No fund exemption yet in 2nd District

- Potential change to rape law getting support

- Nuclear predicament — Tremors: Utahns, others voice shock

- Global warming — a hot topic

- Novell co-founder dies

- Alpine schools worried about tax-hike 'fatigue'

- Bountiful is looking to revitalize Main Street environs

- Head Start funds will again flow to Navajo Nation

- Wording of voter pamphlet to be OK'd

- Aid poor, not lenders, coalition urges banks

Please submit calendar items to Daily@UtahPolicy.com

- 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: Gov. Huntsman to attend "Power Tour" with First Lady Mary Kaye Huntsman, 10 a.m., Dee Events Center, Weber State University.
- Oct 10: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on KCPW 88.3 FM features conversations with Joe Shirley, president of the Navajo Nation; Tim Brown, executive director of the Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park; and Sara Baldwin of Utah Clean Energy on this weekend’s Solar Building Tour.

- 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 10: Lt. Gov. Herbert to address attendees of the Utah Manufacturer's Association Board of Directors Mtg, 5 p.m., Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Salt Lake City.
- Oct 10: Gov. Huntsman to attend Huntsman World Senior Games 20th Anniversary Opening Ceremonies, 7 p.m., Dixie Center, St. George.
- Oct 11: Water Issues Task Force, 8:30 a.m., room W125.
- Oct 11: Lt. Gov. Herbert to hold a Press Conference with Governor Jon Huntsman to announce a Cervical Cancer Awareness Initiative instituted by the National Lieutenant Governor's Association, 9:30 a.m., Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City.
- 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.
- Oct 12-13: 2006 UEA Convention, Salt Palace Convention Center. The focus of the convention will be "Closing the Achievement Gaps in Education." For more information visit www.utea.org.
- Oct 12: Lt. Gov. Herbert to address attendees of the 2006 Annual Association of Contingency Planners Utah Chapter Symposium, 8:15 a.m., South Town Expo Center, Sandy.
- Oct 12: Sutherland Transcend Series “The Nature of Public Policy – Understanding Policy Frameworks," 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Gateway Tower West building, 15 West South Temple, Salt Lake City. Congressman Rob Bishop will facilitate a discussion on principles, policies, and politics. For more information and to register, call 801-355-1272, or email srasmussen@sutherlandinstitute.org.
- Oct 12: Tenth Annual Rocco C. and Marion S. Siciliano Lecture, 12 p.m., University of Utah, Dumke Auditorium, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive. The topic will be Considerations on the Status of American Society, with keynote speaker Laughlin McDonald, director of the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Atlanta. For more info, call 801-587-3556 or visit www.csbs.utah.edu.
- Oct 12: Gov. Huntsman to give speech at the Jobs for Youth Initiative Luncheon, 12:30 p.m., University Park Hotel, 480 Wakara Lane, Salt Lake City.
- Oct 13: Lt. Gov. Herbert to meet with delegation from Peru, 11 a.m., East Capitol Building, Salt Lake City.
- Oct 13: Hinckley Forum "Making the Invisible Visible: Marching for Immigrant Rights in Utah 2006," 12 p.m. Guest is Tony Yapias, Organizer of the “Dignity March” for Immigrant Rights in Utah; former director of Utah’s Office of Hispanic Affairs; Director, Proyecto Latino of Utah and Chairman of the Utah Hispanic Democratic Caucus.
- Oct 13: Governor's Gala, 6 p.m., Salt Lake Convention Center.
- Oct 14: Davis County Democrats monthly breakfast, 8:30 a.m., Granny Annie's Restaurant, 286 N 400 W, Kaysville. Featured guest speaker will be Representative Neil Hansen from Weber County, District # 9. In addition many of the Davis County Democratic candidates will be present to give campaign updates. Please bring an item of food (non perishable) for the Davis County Food Bank.
- Oct 16: Hinckley Forum "Campaign 2006: The Race for Utah 1std Congressional District," 10:45 a.m.. Representative Rob Bishop (R) v. Steve Olsen (D).
- Oct 16: Privately Owned Health Care Organization Task Force, 1:30 p.m., room W135.
- Oct 16: Utah Medicaid Policy Partnership meeting, 3 to 4:30 p.m., room 5112, State Office Building. The subject of the meeting is to map out next steps in the campaign to protect, sustain, and seek efficiencies in Utah's Medicaid program. All are invited who would like to help ensure that the Utah Medicaid program provides access to quality, affordable, and comprehensive health care coverage to eligible Utahns.

- See the entire calendar