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The Week Ahead
Education Summit
It’s a big week for education issues as five key education oversight entities and Gov. Jon Huntsman meet jointly, Wednesday, 8 a.m., at the Granite District Central Office, to discuss major education matters (see agenda). Participating will be the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Education Interim Committee, State Board of Education, and the State Board of Regents. Discussion items include teacher shortages, school schedules and teacher pay, remedial education, budget priorities and education governance.
The voucher issue is not on the agenda, but given the current tension over vouchers between the Legislature and the public education establishment (see Blog Watch below), it could impact the discussions. For all the week’s political events, see the UtahPolicy.com calendar.
Washington Watch
Matheson: Yes to Stem Cell Bill
Rep. Jim Matheson votes for a bipartisan bill that would expand federal funding of stem cell research within narrow limits and under strict ethical guidelines. Says Matheson: "This research holds tremendous promise for curing terrible diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes that cause so much heartbreak and suffering for thousands of Utah families. I believe that such potentially ground-breaking research should be ethically conducted in an open and transparent environment, with government oversight and accountability" (see press release).
Today in Political History
June 11, 1942: The United States and the Soviet Union sign a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II. (Source: New York Times)
June 11, 1963: President John F. Kennedy federalizes Alabama's National Guard and orders Gov. George Wallace to allow two black students to be enrolled at the University of Alabama.
June 11, 2001: Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of building and delivering the bomb that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995, is executed at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, IN. (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.” -- Barbara Jordan (Source: Quote Garden)
Leadership Tip
By Al Gini, Loyola University, Chicago, Ethics & Leadership Working Papers
I am convinced that without the continuous commitment, enforcement, and modeling of leadership, standards of business ethics cannot and will not be achieved in any organization. The ethics of leadership -- whether they be good or bad, positive or negative -- affect the ethos of the workplace and thereby help to form the ethical choices and decisions of the workers in the workplace. Leaders help to set the tone, develop the vision, and shape the behavior of all those involved in organizational life. The critical point to understand here is that, like it or not, business and politics serve as the metronome for our society. And the meter and behavior established by leaders set the patterns and establish the models for our behavior as individuals and as a group. Although the terms "business ethics" and "moral leadership" are technically distinguishable, in fact, they are inseparable components in the life of every organization. (Source: Academy)
National Politics
Best Stories From …
-- Washington Post: "Supporters of immigration reform launched new talks to save their tattered bill [Friday], with the chief architects of the bipartisan compromise confident that they could resurrect it -- even as recriminations flew over its stunning collapse."
-- Bloomberg: "The House approved expanding federal funding for human embryonic stem-cell research, while falling short of the support needed to override President George W. Bush's threatened veto. The House's 247-176 vote fell more than 30 short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. Minutes after the vote, Bush vowed to block the measure. 'If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos,' Bush said ... 'Crossing that line would be a grave mistake. For that reason I will veto the bill passed today.'"
--Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Reagan Democrats left their natural base in the 1980 presidential election because their party was no longer their champion. Thanks to a sour economy, weak national security and political pressure groups that hijacked the Democrats' agenda, they jumped ship in favor of Reagan. Since then, these habitual ticket-splitters have largely been ignored by their party of birth. Until now. Hillary Clinton's brilliant pitch to the right in the New Hampshire primary debate last week left no doubt. 'She scared me because I thought that she did so well,' said Charlie Gerow, GOP political strategist, uber conservative and former Reagan campaign staffer. 'I was sitting there watching this thing, and I thought, "Geez, there must be something wrong with me -- I agree with Hillary Clinton."'"
-- The Politico: "Jesus Christ never came easy to Sen. John F. Kerry in public. Kerry viewed faith as a private matter; that was his New England culture. He was weary of those who wear their religion on their sleeve, he said in an interview last year. That attitude helped lose him the White House in 2004, many people on both sides of the aisle agree -- and this cycle's top Democrats are determined not to make the same mistake."
Blog Watch
-- Rep. John Dougall says: "Buried deep within the legal and procedural manure of the voucher referendum debate, members of the State Board of Education claim to have discovered the missing 4th branch of government. ... Not content to have an Executive, a Legislative, and a Judicial branch, they are claiming that we have glossed over the Education branch -- a branch holier than all others and accountable to none. ... As we have watched this discovery play out, we have learned that the Education branch is above the law. This missing branch chafes under the fiduciary oversight and governance of the Legislature, signaling its contempt for the Legislative branch. It ignores the legal council of the constitutionally designated attorney for the Executive branch, expressing its disregard and hostility. Not appearing to be satisfied there, the Education branch appears to be asserting itself, preparing to take it's desired place, separate and apart from all others branches. Under the guise that 'education is just too important' for that messy separation of powers, the State Board of Ed is positioning to become a power unto itself -- the sovereign monarch of public education policy" (for more on the voucher issue, see The Senate Site, Utah Senate Democrats, Under The Dome, Educating Utah, Utah State Democratic Party, The Utah Amicus, Davis County Watch, Jeremy's Jeremiad, El Cartoonista, and Blue in Red Zion).
Lighter Side
Life With a Dog
If you like dogs, you’ll like this charming Sunday New York Times essay by novelist Arthur Phillips. |
