News Highlights

Article: "When Jon Huntsman Jr. endorsed John McCain's presidential aspirations in July, he said he agreed with McCain on a wide range of issues -- including a solution to the war in Iraq. Now, with the Arizona senator's more recent push for a 'Go Big' approach -- deploying an overwhelming number of troops in the war-torn nation to quell rampant violence there -- getting more consideration from the White House, Huntsman remains committed to McCain's vision" (Salt Lake Tribune).

Utah’s contribution of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan ranks among the lowest in the nation, according to Department of Defense records (Salt Lake Tribune).

New group organized in Utah County to support full university status for UVSC, at a likely cost of $10 million (Deseret Morning News).

Quote of the Day

“Opinion polls have been consistent and clear. When county voters approved the tax hike in November by a 64-36 percent margin, they believed they were voting for rail transit.”

-- Morning News editorial lauding the Salt Lake County Council decision to build mostly rail transit with quarter cent sales tax boost.

The Week Ahead

OK, it’s back to work – at least for some of us. This is the quietest week of the year for politics, as it should be. It’s transition time, when retiring (voluntarily or involuntarily) politicians return to normal life and newly elected politicians anticipate the excitement ahead. Congress is obviously not at work (they don’t work much, anyway) and Utah legislators are taking time off before things get really busy. So enjoy a (mostly) politics-free week.   

Boost Ed Funding, But Require Real Reform

Last week in a brief essay I suggested that a large funding increase for public education is appropriate in the upcoming legislative session. School teachers need a raise. But the big funding boost should be accompanied by some real education reform, so lawmakers aren’t simply spending a lot more money and getting the same results.

Outgoing Rep. Jim Ferrin of Orem apparently had some of the same thoughts and he addressed them to the KSL Radio/TV editorial board in a response to a previous editorial.

Ferrin offered what he described as seven "practical steps to better education." They include:

1. Support a bonus plan for new teachers.
   
2. Support added incentive pay for teachers with needed specialties like science, technology and math.
   
3. Institute merit pay for quality teachers. Pay good teachers more; bad ones less.
   
4. Build less elaborate and expensive buildings. Buildings can be engineered and built to last 100 years, or at least as long as we need them, and still be built for much less than what our school districts pay. Less debt payments leave more money for more teachers, more classes, and smaller pupil/teacher ratios.
   
5. Replace "dollar one" health insurance coverage with a high deductible major medical policy and a medical savings account. Funding increases are disproportionately used to fund health insurance costs that rise faster than funding sources. So, teacher salaries don't rise as much.
   
6. Pass a voucher bill. Let the private sector pick up some of the enrollment growth at a much lower cost to the state, leaving the state budget in a stronger position to fund the majority of students who remain in public ed
   
7. Encourage competition (and the excellence and efficiency that competition always breeds) in public schools by allowing for more charter schools. Choice and competition never hurt anyone (except those who don't wish to compete or excel).

"With reforms like these in place," wrote Rep. Ferrin, "even tightwad Utah legislators could feel good about significant overall funding increases for public ed."

States Can Resolve Complex Issues

The Wall Street Journal’s OpinionJournal.com featured a recent essay lamenting the fact that states are getting together to figure out a way to levy sales taxes on Internet purchases. Whether or not you think Internet sales should be taxed (see below), this initiative shows that states can collaborate and accomplish complicated things across state boundaries.

Some critics of traditional federalism have argued that modern society is too complicated for states to have a lot of freedom and autonomy. They reason that national uniformity and centralized decision-making are necessary because 50 states doing things 50 different ways just won’t work.

But in meeting court mandates and voluntarily collaborating to resolve such a big, complicated issue as how to levy sales taxes across state boundaries on Internet sales, the states are showing that they can work together and develop common standards. They do it on myriad other issues, as well. Central coordination with local control can work just fine. Many governmental functions now being administered (badly) at the federal level could be devolved to the states, along with funding sources, and we’d all be better off.

Clearly, the federal government plays a dominant role with jurisdiction over many crucial functions, interstate commerce among them. But the states are capable of doing a lot more.

As for taxing Internet sales, sign me up as a supporter. It’s not fair for a brick-and-mortar retailer to charge customers for sales tax if Internet retailers are exempt. The best tax is broad-based with low rates. If the Internet sales tax brings in a big infusion of cash, then cut the overall rate, but don’t exempt one sales channel to the detriment of another.

National Politics

Nancy Pelosi plans four days of celebrations surrounding her swearing-in as the first female House speaker (Washington Post).  

Washington Watch

Bennett to Visit Andean Nations

Sen. Bob Bennett is departing on a tour of three Andean nations as part of a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators (Associated Press).

Blog Watch

Human Events' John Gizzi notes: "In a change among the hierarchy of Utah Republicans that can legitimately be called dramatic, State Party Chairman Joe Cannon recently announced he was leaving the GOP helm in the Beehive State to become editor of the Deseret News. Succeeding him is his vice chairman and someone written off as a political corpse a decade ago: former one-term Rep. Enid Greene, who was forced to leave Congress following the embarrassing escapades (some of them criminal) of her former husband in handling her campaign funding. To many, the idea of [Cannon] overseeing a major newspaper is nothing short of stunning. ... But the succession of GOP Vice Chairman Greene to the chairmanship is even more intriguing. A decade ago, having unseated a Democratic House member and secured a spot on the House Ways and Means Committee, the young Utah conservative seemed on the political rise. But she was suddenly thrust into the headlines following revelations that her then-husband Joe Waldholtz had embezzled substantial sums from her father to secure $1.6 million for her House campaign. ... Enid Greene held a memorable five-hour press conference (during which she wept) and announced she wouldn't seek re-election. That was then. Over the next decade, Greene returned to private law practice, remained active in the party, and, with Cannon's support, was elected vice chairman and now chairman. In her address to the state convention that elected her, Greene told delegates: 'I chose the wrong man once, and I won't do it again'".... Hugh Hewitt says: "Part 218 of the Boston Globe's attempt to derail Mitt Romney's accelerating presidential campaign details the governor's travels and his PACs' spending this year. (The Globe neglected to give us the citation to its parallel story on John Kerry's absences from DC or Massachusetts in 2002, or Mike Dukakis' journeys in 1986. Perhaps they are in the same file as the Globe's stories on the citizenship/green card status of the crews working on Kerry's many homes?) Rarely have we ever had such a clear demonstration of the hard-left nature of a modern MSM paper than in the side-by-side comparison of the Globe's Kerry/Romney coverage. What the paper's staff doesn't seem to understand is the incredible lift they are giving the Romney campaign. There is no surer signal to the GOP base of a candidate's conservative principles, competence and electability than an early and sustained attempt to damage him by the MSM. One of the reasons that Senator McCain is viewed with such distrust by the Republican base is the fawning coverage he receives from the Beltway-Manahattan media elites.  One of the reasons Rudy Giuliani has credibility with base despite his views on abortions rights etc is that the MSM clearly fears him. Negative MSM coverage of Republican candidates is like a divining stick pointing towards those Republicans the Democratic Party fears the most" (see also here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Utah’s Top Issues

Here is our weekly issues 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

• Utah’s 2008 budget and big surplus; House/Senate/Governor differences on tax cut/tax reform
• Real soccer stadium funding
• Tolling on highways
• Cyber-safety issues (cyber predators, child pornography, identity theft, Internet scams, etc.)

Emerging

• School nurse shortage
• Education achievement gap of disadvantaged students
• Western states primary
• Snake Valley water pumping for Las Vegas
• SITLA land sale on Green River
• Minimum wage increase

Mature

• Downtown SLC massive construction
• Immigration
• Washington County land sales
• Open space funding
• Affordable heath insurance

Oldies But Goodies

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

Utah in the National News

Article: "Two weeks before Democrats take control of the U.S. House for the first time in 12 years, new Census estimates suggest they may have to battle demographic tides to keep it. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Texas and Utah are projected to gain seats in Congress after the 2010 Census, according to an analysis by Election Data Services. All six tilt Republican: President Bush won all in 2004, ranging from 50% of the vote in Nevada to 72% in Utah. Even more significant, Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office in five of those states, which gives the party the upper hand when state elected officials redraw congressional district lines every decade" (USA Today).

Series of articles looks at the economic and political forces threatening Utah's Arches and Canyonlands National Parks (Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Daily Sentinel, and Daily Sentinel).

Mitt Romney Watch
Article: "Governor Mitt Romney is expected to file paperwork to seek the Republican presidential nomination the week of Jan. 2 and to formally announce his candidacy in the weeks afterward, a senior adviser said .... Romney ... said he will consult with his family during a 10-day ski vacation at his home in Deer Valley, Utah. 'I've got a lot of data,' Romney told the Associated Press. 'Now I have to sit down with my family and spend some time. The real question is, could I be able to make a real contribution to the people of this country, could I make America's future brighter, and that's something which I'll give consideration to over the holiday'" (Boston Globe) (for more Romney coverage, see Slate, BBC News, Boston Globe, Boston Globe, and Concord Monitor stories, and Kathryn Jean Lopez column).

Local Headlines

Deseret Morning News

- Group backs UVSC's bid

- Attorney seeks diversity

- Bar president looking at minority directory

- Davis' new DMV in the works

- Editorial: A good transit decision

KCPW

- Public Hearings Scheduled for Divine Strake
- State Could Challenge Census Figures

Salt Lake Tribune

- Utah politicians split on 'Go Big' approach

- Utah lagging in war deployment figures

- Sandy keeps its mouth shut on stadium issues

- County asked RSL for more

- Tribe prospers under financier, but at a price

- Old council hand back to tackle new ills

- Editorial: State, not church: Kaysville policy should ignore religious practices

Monday, December 25

Salt Lake Tribune

- Adoption a 'joyful thing' for Huntsman family

- Delta, US Airways getting hostile

St. George Spectrum

- Op-ed: Some gifts were received early

Daily Herald

- Orem still taking applications for council positions

- Uncounted LDS missionaries could cost Utah representation in 2020

Sunday, December 24

Deseret Morning News

- Education wake-up call

- Should county posts be appointed?

- North S.L. buys 95 acres for trail system, park

- Shurtleff honors top attorney, employee

- Pignanelli & Webb: Forget politics — let's talk Christmas

- Op-ed: Portrayal of state efforts to help minority students is sadly unfair

Standard-Examiner

- Utah rated as a good place for women to start businesses

Daily Herald

- Legislature has wish list of concerns

- Soft research has critics questioning effectiveness of statewide program

- Cloud seeding - Q & A

- Funding weather modification programs

- American Fork looks to update city logo

- Editorial: Utah's 'heavy' tax burden

Salt Lake Tribune

- Utah's bacon frozen with rest of pork

- Accelerated learning or buying a diploma?

- Even developer Thomas is awed by project's dimensions

- Location, low price of land attract industry

- Off the Agenda: Leaders lick their wounds at Lamb's

- Rolly: Bah, humbug from the Legislature

- Op-ed: RSL stadium deal is a great investment for Salt Lake County

- Op-ed: Forest Service should consider the needs of all land users

- Op-ed: Swift raid: We can do better than this

- Op-ed: Utah risks losing its best teachers

- Editorial: Clippings

- Editorial: The Thumb

Saturday, December 23

Salt Lake Tribune

- Romney plans two-stage launch

- Report concedes toxic dust may be dispersed but says there is no threat

- Logan Canyon compromise brings few cheers so far

- Mobile homes may get a break on the Hill

- New local columnist to be chosen after Mullen leaves

- SLCC biotechnology program gets a leg up

- Three finalists chosen for 7th District Court

- 2007 state calendar shows what Utah has to offer

- Liquor stores' cutouts outline dangers of underage drinking

- Editorial: Delusions of influence dance in county Demos' heads

Standard-Examiner

- Roy looks at bonding options

- Editorial: Utah's homeland defense

Park Record

- Main Street's charm threatened

KCPW

- All I Want for Christmas Is an Engineer

- Western State Populations Booming

Daily Herald

- Op-ed: Spy program violates GOP principles

- Editorial: Beehives and Buffalo Chips

KSL Editorial Board
- Another Viewpoint - Education

Deseret Morning News

- Another Huntsman home

- Mitt, kin to talk in Utah

- New report clears test blast

- State office beefing up Title I reviews

- Bluffdale to vote on mayoral powers

- 'Neutering the mayor' criticized

- 3 energy producers sign lease deal with Ute Tribe

Please submit calendar items to Daily@UtahPolicy.com

- Dec 27: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on NPR Utah, KCPW 88.3 FM, features a special rebroadcast of Mary Mapes' March visit to Sundance as part of the Tree Room Author Series on Media. Mapes was a Peabody Award winning producer for CBS, breaking stories about Abu Ghraib and Strom Thurmond's biracial daughter. She was fired for her role in the story questioning President George W. Bush's National Guard service.
- Dec 28: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on NPR Utah, KCPW 88.3 FM, features a special rebroadcast of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Sundance Resort Tree Room Author Series. The Secretary of State for the Clinton Administration talks about foreign policy, Iraq and religion in a speech. Robert Redford makes the introduction.
- Dec 28: Salt Lake County Libertarian Party Meeting, 7 to 9 p.m., Grecian Garden, 4816 South State Street, Murray.
- Dec 29: Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) contribution deadline. To receive a Utah State tax deduction for 2006, contributions must be received in the UESP office no later than 5 p.m. See www.uesp.org.
- Dec 29: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on NPR Utah, KCPW 88.3 FM, features a special broadcast of Kevin Phillips, author of “American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century.” He spoke at Sundance in September as part of the Tree Room Author Series on Media.
- Jan 2: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on NPR Utah, KCPW 88.3 FM, features economist Jeff Thredgold on the year that was and the year that might be; DABC Commission Chair Larry Lunt on changes he'd like to make in Utah liquor laws; and Robert Gehrke, Washington Bureau reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune, with an assessment of the incoming 110th Congress. To participate, email midday@kcpw.org during the show.
- Jan 2: RadioWest on KUER FM 90: "Key Legislative Players - Part 1," 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. The beginning of a series of conversations with key legislative players for the 2007 session. Doug first talks to Rebecca Walsh of the Salt Lake Tribune about who the people are to watch. Then Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble and House Majority Leader David Clark are profiled.
- Jan 4: Davis County Democrats Planning Committee Meeting, 7 p.m., Commissioner's Chambers, Davis Courthouse, Farmington.
- Jan 5: Medicaid Interim Committee, 8:30 a.m., room W135.
- Jan 5: Senate Rules Committee, 3 p.m., room W110.
- Jan 9: United Way of Salt Lake third annual Legislative Preview Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown. For more information, please contact Bryson Despain at 801-736-7709.
- Jan 9: Utah State Senate Majority annual leadership breakfast, 7:30 a.m., Grand America Hotel. For more information contact Ric Cantrell 801-673-1603.
- Jan 10: What's Up Down South Washington County Economic Summit, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dixie Center, St. George. Summit will feature economic analysis, breakout sessions and bullet point addresses about 13 of the area's most influential 2007 projects. Early bird registration is $60 per person before Dec 26, $100 per person after the deadline. No tickets sold at the door. Register here, or email summit@dixie.edu.

- See the entire calendar

Elected Officials Birthday List

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