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The Week Ahead
Welcome to the last week of March. Spring really is here! . . . Today, SLC mayoral candidates speak at a candidate forum at the University of Utah College of Law, 5 p.m., 332 S. 1400 East. . . . The Legislative Management Committee, which consists of Republican and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate, meets Tuesday, 3 p.m., in W135. On the agenda is discussion of a possible immigration summit and a request for a privatization study. Assignments to Interim Committees will be made from the Master Study Resolution passed in the last session. . . . On Friday, a Rudy Giuliani fundraiser is scheduled at the home of Kelly and Steven Harmsen, 6 p.m. Contact Kristy Coleman at krjcoleman@gmail.com or 801-604-6303. . . . Downtown Salt Lake City fills with people from all over the world this week as LDS General Conference is held next Saturday and Sunday. For more political events, see the Utah Policy Daily calendar.
Monday Profile
Greg Hopkins: Cleaning Up Nuclear Legacy
By GM Jarrard
 In late 1987, a 30-year old Capitol Hill staffer watched on the White House lawn as history was being made. Greg Hopkins had managed to finagle himself a couple of tickets to the signing of the “Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces” (INF) treaty. On that day, he witnessed Pres. Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev sign that historic document which would eliminate all missiles in that class and call for inspections on both sides.
The event marked the most stringent strategic weapons ban up to that time as well as the beginning of the end of the Cold War. And it began the countdown on the end of the Soviet Union. “There was a sense then that the world was changing – that 40 years of American resolve during the Cold War would ultimately pay off,” Hopkins said.
Today, the Cold War is still on Greg Hopkins’ mind. But for a different reason.
As the new senior vice president, communications, for EnergySolutions, his task is to explain to the public — in Utah and around the country — that lingering effects yet exist from the Cold War that Americans cannot ignore and will not go away. At least not without a significant effort and unique expertise.
For Hopkins, political strategist and public affairs consultant, it has been a long, circuitous route back to where he was 20 years ago—witnessing the ebbs and tides of the Cold War.
Following graduation from the University of Utah and graduate studies at BYU, he spent a half-dozen years in Washington, D.C., working in several capacities on Capitol Hill. In 1988, Hopkins returned to Utah to become executive director of the State Republican Party.
After another stint in D.C. with the Bush 41 administration, Hopkins was back in Utah with the task of managing the campaign of U.S. Senate hopeful Ted Stewart (now a federal judge in Salt Lake City) – a long shot for the Republican nomination in a field of well-funded candidates. The year was 1992, a year when more money was spent by candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate than in any prior election. In the Republican convention Stewart came in a close third -- a 24-vote swing would have changed the outcome -- behind Bob Bennett, former CEO of Franklin Quest, and Joe Cannon, a Geneva Steel executive. Hopkins then went to work for the Bennett campaign. When the campaign was over and the votes were counted, Robert Bennett was Senator Bennett and Greg Hopkins followed him to Washington as his new chief of staff. (Read full story.)
Washington Watch
Hatch Criticizes Resolution
Sen. Orrin Hatch says the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Resolution currently before the Senate is "a miracle cure that will lead to one of two maladies -- over time, it will greatly increase the deficit or it will require massive tax increases" (see press release).
Matheson Meth Bill Approved
The House passes legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson that "will allow tribal governments to apply for federal grants that are intended to combat methamphetamine production and abuse" (see press release).
Cannon Blasts Funding Vote
Rep. Chris Cannon says of the House's approval of a war spending bill that requires combat operations in Iraq to cease before September 2008: "This vote is shameful, a slap in the face to our fighting men and women in the war on terror, and does nothing more than encourage the terrorist insurgents to just hold out another year. ... In fact, setting an arbitrary deadline for raising a white flag is so ill-advised that I have to believe many of those who voted yea did so only because they know the Senate is not likely to go along. That is no way to legislate, and they should be held accountable."
Today in Political History
March 26,1962: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the landmark Baker V Carr Case, beginning the modern era of redistricting. (Source: National Journal 2007 Calendar of American Politics)
March 26, 1989: Free elections are held in the USSR. Boris Yeltsin gets 89% of the vote among his Moscow constituents. (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”
--Arthur Golden (Source: Quote Garden)
Leadership Tip
Basic Principles for Doing Your Job
By Admiral Hyman G. Rickover U.S.N.
Responsibility: "Along with Ownership comes the need for full acceptance of full responsibility for the work. Shared responsibility means that no one is responsible. Unless one person who is truly responsible can be identified when something goes wrong, then no one has really been responsible."
Hard Work: "For this, there is no substitute. A manager who does not work hard or devote extra effort cannot expect his people to do so. You must set the example. Hard work compensates for many short-comings. You may not be the smartest or most knowledgeable person, but if you dedicate yourself to the job and put in the required effort, your people will follow your lead." (Source: Night Scribe)
Hinckley Forum
The Hinckley Institute of Politics is hosting a forum tomorrow titled "Redistricting Reform in Utah: Where Should We Draw the Line?" Rep. Roz McGee, Sen. Michael Waddoups, and Kirk L. Jowers will participate. The forum is being held in the Hinckley Caucus Room (OSH 255) and will begin at 11 a.m.
New Voucher Website
Susan Morris, director of American Heritage School of Spanish Fork, has launched a new website, UtahVouchers.com, which is designed to help answer the "most pressing questions on Utah's new private school voucher program" (see press release).
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
Chicago Sun-Times: Columnist Robert Novak reports that "[t]he I-word (for incompetence) is [being] used by Republicans in describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I talked to described a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco. 'We always have claimed that we were the party of better management,' one House leader told me. 'How can we claim that anymore?'
Weekly Standard: Columnist Noemie Emery says of this Time Magazine cover story that imagines Ronald Reagan weeping over the current state of the GOP: "[H]ow did [the Reagan era, which was roundly criticized by writers in Time and other MSM publications in the 80's], change two decades later into a golden age, led by a prince among men? The reasons are these: First, the only times conservatives are praised in the press is when they can be used to run down other conservatives; and second, it is a general rule of the press and of the establishment that the best conservatives are those dead or retired; and the more dead or retired, the better they are."
New York Times: At a forum on health care in Las Vegas over the weekend, seven Democratic candidates for president, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, promised "to guarantee health insurance for all, but they disagreed over how to pay for it and how fast it could be achieved" (see also related Politico story).
Lighter Side
A little girl asked her father, "Daddy? Do all Fairy Tales begin with 'Once Upon A Time'?"
He replied, "No, there is a whole series of Fairy Tales that begin with 'If elected I promise'...."
Blog Watch
-- Utah House Majority reports that Rep. Paul Ray is out of surgery and on the mend (see also Out of Context).
-- Utah Taxpayer says: "Last week, the Provo Daily Herald published an anti-voucher letter by BYU professor Richard Davis and two others. Not surprisingly, they falsely claimed that vouchers would financially hurt public education. ... [W]e can't help but be shocked that a BYU professor would be opposed to vouchers, especially since tens of thousands of BYU students have received vouchers (Pell Grants, GI Bill) over the years. Surely, Professor Davis himself has taught hundreds of students that have received taxpayer funds to attend LDS Church-owned BYU. Davis dismisses vouchers as a 'government subsidy, a handout if you will'. Unless of course those receiving the voucher subsidies are BYU students. Then it's OK" (for more on the voucher issue, see SLCSpin).
-- Lincoln Shurtz discusses how recent changes in Utah tax law will affect the state's cities and towns (for more on the tax reform issue, see The Senate Site).
-- Barney Madsen calls for the impeachment of SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson. |
