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The Week Ahead
-- Gov. Jon Huntsman heads to Canada this week with Utah business leaders for a trade mission.
-- Salt Lake Chamber Business Expo is Wednesday and Thursday. See the Chamber web site for all the details.
-- Tax Review Commission meets Friday, 1 p.m., W125. See agenda.
-- Next Sunday, April 29, First Lady Laura Bush comes to Utah to participate in the 2 p.m. rededication of the Zion National Park Nature Center near Springdale.
-- Several county Republican and Democratic political conventions and other party activities are noted, along with all the other political events this week, in the Utah Policy.com political calendar.
Washington Watch
Hatch, Bennett Key to Voting Act Approval
Washington Post editorial says Utah's two senators "could play a key role" in the upcoming Senate debate over the D.C. voting rights act: "Sen. Bob Bennett supports the bill. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch had been supportive, but a change to the bill that makes the Utah seat at large, instead of by district, has caused him to have some reservations. If both Utah senators get on board, it could help get the measure to the floor.”
Monday Profile
Dave Hansen: Dean of Utah’s Campaign Pros
By G.M.Jarrard
 The 6-ton pachyderm took one lumbering step after another. It pushed aside the curtains and headed over to the VIP table. The secret service agents exchanged confused glances.
“You can’t bring that thing in here!”
“Try and stop us” was the reply.
Before the agent could get his superior to advise him, the animal was in front of the candidate. After a couple of handstands and a curled-trunk salute, it held out its appendage, and Ronald Wilson Reagan received the animal’s “handshake.” The photo was splashed across the front pages of newspapers all over the country: Candidate Reagan and the symbol of the Grand Old Party pressing the flesh in Utah! The trainer’s only comment was, “I’m glad I didn’t need the shovel.”
It was Dave Hansen’s finest hour.
Former high school teacher Dave Hansen was running his first major event, the 1980 Utah State Republican Convention. The elephant was an afterthought, thanks to a circus performing at the old Salt Palace and Hansen’s quick thinking. He had been named the executive director of the state party the year before, right after he helped Bill Stevenson get elected chairman. For Hansen, though, the elephant stunt wasn’t the highlight of the event.
“It was meeting Gov. Reagan. He was as warm and as genuine as he appeared on TV. It was a privilege to be part of history. I’ll never forget it.”
Mixing candidates with large mammals can have its downside as many a Republican political operative can confirm (Rep. Burton’s “A Man to Match Our Mountains” campaign where the congressman rode off into the sunset and political history thanks to an out-of-state and out-of-touch ad agency’s moment of brilliance is a case in point). But for the young Dave Hansen and Utah Republicans wild about Reagan, the elephant episode was a genuine coup and one that has yet to be topped in the Beehive State.
Critters of all kinds were a frequent sight in David Hansen’s formative years in Syracuse, Utah. Most of them were just turkeys and horses, however. Hansen left the wheat fields of northern Utah for Brigham Young University to get a teaching certificate which he used for a few years at Layton and Clearfield High Schools. But, he couldn’t leave politics alone. He dabbled in one campaign after another. Then, in the early 70s, he jumped at the opportunity to work at it full time when he accepted the job as the executive director of the Montana State Republican Party. He returned to Utah — and teaching — in 1974. In 1978, he helped Bill Stevenson with a voter identification project in Davis County, and when Stevenson ran for state party chair the following year, he tapped Hansen to run his campaign.
It was Dave’s first win and one that took him out of teaching for good. (Read complete profile.)
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- New York Times: Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are competing for the support of Al Sharpton, who says he'll make an endorsement in a few weeks.
-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Columnist David Shribman says it's "hard to go (or call) anywhere in political America this month without hearing the same thing: Can you believe how far John McCain has fallen and how fast he's done it? How far? Far enough so that the onetime presumptive Republican nominee is, in at least one reputable poll, in third place, behind former Sen. Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee, who isn't even running, at least not now. How fast? In the blink of an eye."
-- Las Vegas Review-Journal: Editorial: "The Democratic strategy to use the ongoing violence in Iraq to their political advantage in the run-up to the 2008 elections requires some skill and nuance. But it's growing harder to believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- Nevada's own -- actually possesses those skills."
-- Washington Post: The resignations "of two Republican House members from their sensitive committee assignments have thrust lingering legal and ethics issues back into the limelight, potentially complicating GOP efforts to retake Congress next year. ... [T]he spate of bad news over ethics has clouded [the GOP's] efforts to portray the new Democratic majority as ineffective, while it has helped Democrats stay on the political offensive."
Today in Political History
April 23, 1791: Democrat James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, is born in Franklin County, Pa. He serves one term, 1857-1861, and dies June 1, 1868, in Lancaster, Pa. (Source: NBC5)
April 23, 1988: The U.S. bans smoking on short domestic airline flights (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”
-- John Quincy Adams (Source: quotegarden)
Leadership Tip
The Jack Welch Way
There is only one way -- the straight way. It sets the tone of the organization. … Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere, has to offer; transfer learning across your organization. … Get the right people in the right jobs -- it is more important than developing a strategy. … An informal atmosphere is a competitive advantage. … Make sure everybody counts and everybody knows they count. … Legitimate self-confidence is a winner -- the true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open. … Business has to be fun - celebrations energize and organization. … Never underestimate the other guy. … Understand where real value is added and put your best people there. … Know when to meddle and when to let go -- this is pure instinct. (Source: businessballs)
Blog Watch
-- Jesse Harris says: "As if we needed more reasons not to trust our local school districts. Reports are pouring in from all over that some school districts might try to hijack the money intended for teacher raises by either not giving them as much as the legislature intended or treating the money as a one-time bonus to be rescinded at the pleasure of the district. Needless to say, this leaves a lot of legislators hopping mad .... It's ironic that the Utah legislators [being] attacked for the voucher program are the main ones making noise over teacher raises being misdirected and the non-results from over a decade of classroom size reduction spending."
-- Holly Mullen says: "I'm still shaking my head at the puffball questions our own Sen. Orrin Hatch pitched [Thursday] at that obfuscating AG Alberto Gonzales. ... Go here for Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke's, dare I say 'acerbic' reporting on the Hatch embarrassment. (Very well-done, Robert. Insightful. I'm surprised your mangers let you get away with such brilliant little digs in the news section!)"
-- Mark Towner suggests a Giuliani-Romney ticket to keep the White House in GOP hands for years to come.
-- Rabbi Levi Brackman says of Mitt Romney's Mormonism: "In common with Judaism Mormonism is [tolerant] ... [A] true Mormon does not believe in a one size fits all religion where all unbelievers are condemned to hell and damnation or to a life as second class citizens. Like Judaism the Mormon Church ... respects the mode of worship of others different to their own. ... In essence this ideology makes me extremely comfortable with a president of Mormon faith" (hat tip: Article VI Blog).
Lighter Side
A Congressman was once asked about his attitude toward whiskey.
He replied: "If you mean the demon drink that poisons the mind, pollutes the body, desecrates family life, and inflames sinners, then I'm against it. But if you mean the elixir of Christmas cheer, the shield against winter chill, the taxable potion that puts needed funds into public coffers to comfort little crippled children, then I'm for it. This is my position, and I will not compromise." (Source: Political Jokes) |
