Mayoral Race Watch
Holbrook
Announces Mayoral Bid
Meg Holbrook has formally
announced her candidacy for Mayor of Salt Lake City with
a videocast on her website.
Buhler Supports
HB224
Mayoral candidate
and Salt Lake City Council member Dave Buhler has joined a growing list
of Utah legislators, business leaders and civic officials
who are supporting HB224, the Land & Water Reinvestment
Act, which is sponsored by House Majority Leader David Clark.
If approved,
HB224 would provide funding to restore and enhance watersheds
(administered through the Utah Department of Natural Resources),
protect and restore rangelands for cattle and wildlife (administered
through the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food), and
preserve farms and ranches and open spaces. A brochure about
the legislation says, "The lands that collect the rain
and snow that feed our rivers and lakes also clean our air.
These lands provide habitat and forage for cattle and wildlife,
and they produce timber, food and fiber for all Utahns. We
must invest now to manage these lands for fuels reduction,
restoration, enhancement and, when appropriate, long-term
preservation."
Several dozen
legislators have announced their support for the legislation,
along with numerous civic leaders and a broad group of organizations
ranging from the Utah Cattleman's Association to Sportsmen
for Fish & Wildlife, to The Nature Conservancy and Utah
Association of Counties. Key state leaders, including several
state department directors, are also supportive. For more
information, see the Utah
Conservation Forum web site. See also KSL
Radio/TV editorial.
United Way Backs
CHIP
Earlier this
week, the Legislature's Health and Human Services Appropriations
Subcommittee cut more than $2 million from Gov. Jon Huntsman's recommendation to infuse
an additional $4.2 million in the Children's Health Insurance
Program (CHIP), and ranked the funding proposal 15th on its
priority list. This week's issue of the United Way of Salt
Lake's e-newsletter, Making an Impact , says Utahns
overwhelmingly support the CHIP program. In fact, 87% agreed
that the state should use part of its budget surplus to increase
funding for CHIP.
United Way is
convening a broad-based group of business, civic and community
leaders in what it calls the "Financial Stability Council,"
which will develop and make recommendations for addressing
the state's systemic health care challenges, as
well as other components of financial stability (income, asset
formation, and financial education). This Financial Stability
Council will begin meeting in April to develop proposals for
the 2008 Legislative Session. (Read
more here)
National Economy
is Solid
Utah economist Jeff
Thredgold's Tea
Leaf
economic update this week focuses on the national
economy and pronounces it "just fine." Here's the
bottom line: "Solid U.S. economic
growth with minimal inflation &historically low short-term
and long-term interest rates, with the Fed on hold &solid
employment gains with low unemployment and rising real wages...all
combining to boost stock prices...not a bad combination."
Washington Watch
Hatch:
Divine Strake Needs Review
Sen. Orrin
Hatch calls on the federal government "to submit
its Environmental Assessment draft for a peer review to address
lingering questions about the safety and wisdom of conducting
the Divine Strake experiment" (see press
release); in Senate speech, Hatch challenges "those
preparing for withdrawal from Iraq, saying he is not conceding
defeat and is supporting a strategy for success" (press
release).
Matheson Meth
Lab Bill OKed
The House passes
legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson
that "requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
develop model, voluntary, health-based clean-up guidelines
for use by states and localities to ensure that former meth
labs are safe and livable" (see press
release).
Today in Political History
Feb.
8, 19-22:
President Warren G. Harding installs the first
radio in the White House.
(Source: National Journal
2007 Calendar of American Politics)
Wise Words
"When I
was a boy I was told that anybody could become President;
I'm beginning to believe it."
-- Clarence Darrow (Source:
Quote
Garden)
UTC Breakfast
Senate President
John Valentine and House Speaker Greg
Curtis "will discuss the most pressing technology
and business issues on Utah's Capitol Hill" at a breakfast hosted
by the Utah
Technology Council on Friday, February
16, at 7:30 a.m. at the Marriott City Center Hotel, 200 South
State Street, Salt Lake City (see press
release).
Blog Watch
At Out
of Context, Matt Canham reports:
"Love -- and laughter -- was in the air at a House committee
Wednesday. Rep. Mark Walker called gun-rights
lobbyist Clark Aposhian 'either my No. 1
or No. 2 constituent.' Aposhian quickly reciprocated, calling
Walker his 'No. 1 Representative.' 'That was a Snickers Bar
moment,' joked Rep. Paul Ray, which cracked
up his fellow committee members. Ray was referring to the
Super Bowl ad where two men inadvertently kiss while eating
the same candy bar. Then to show how manly they are they rip
out some chest hair. Snickers has since pulled the ad because
of complaints that it was homophobic" (for more Legislature-related
posts, see The
Senate Site, Utah
Democratic Caucus, Utah
Taxpayer, Reach
Upward, Paul
Rolly, RabDawg,
New
West, Lincoln's
Legislative Blog, Chronicle
of Ideas, KVNU's
For The People, UAC
Blog, Red
Pills, Dee's
'Dotes, Davis
County Watch, and Anderson
Development Blog).... Mark
Towner discusses "the current state
of our Utah Republican Party".... Gristmill
posts a photo gallery of SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson
showing off the environment-friendly accoutrements of his
home.
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