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The Week Ahead
Have a happy Pioneer Day holiday tomorrow. Utah Policy Daily will take the day off and will resume publishing on Wednesday. The hot issue of splitting school districts will be discussed by the Legislature’s Local Issues Task Force today in W110 at the Capitol. The agenda says the discussion is to begin at 12:30 p.m., but could be moved up if morning agenda items are finished early. Countywide and statewide school capital outlay proposals will be discussed. For all the week’s political events, see the Utah Policy.com calendar.
Monday Profile
Richard Carling: Political Running Machine
By GM Jarrard
 After spending nearly a quarter of a century in the Legislature, first as a state representative and then as a state senator, Richard Carling is still asked if he would ever consider running again.
His reply is always the same: “I do it every day.”
At 69, the Republican ex-senator follows the same routine he did while representing the east side of Salt Lake City. He ties on his running shoes and puts in nine or ten miles at noon instead of picking at a filet in the Alta Club with a lobbyist or old political crony. While other ex-politicians his age count liver spots, he counts miles. While they’re reading Modern Maturity, he reads STOP signs and checks for traffic.
A self-confessed Type A personality, Carling began his political career fresh out of the U. of U. law school. Married five years and newly minted as a practicing attorney, he was recruited to run in a central Salt Lake district that was as Democratic in 1966 as it is today. But being the driven man he is, Carling outworked his opponent and won by 200 votes. “I wasn’t just going to be a sacrificial lamb; I was in the race to win,” he says 40 years later.
In 1968, the margin was 100 votes as the Democrats in his district came to realize their man was gone. Two years after that, the margin had shrunk to 17 votes.
It was time to move — to make room for three small children (at that time) and run in a more Republican east side district (in the Oak Hills area where he currently resides), first for the House and two years later for the State Senate. When he was first elected, he had no children; when he finally retired from the Senate in 1990, all four of his children were old enough to vote from him, although he admits he doesn’t know if they did or not. In all, he was elected to the House four times and to the Senate four times — add it up: it’s 24 years of service in the state Legislature.
Over the years, Carling has had plenty of opportunity to reflect on how things were and how they’ve changed.
According to Carling, those changes are not necessarily good. (Read full profile)
Sierra Club: Support Huntsman
The Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, noting that "certain state legislators and some power providers are working to oppose Governor Huntsman's recent decision to join the Western Climate Initiative and other efforts he has initiated to address climate change," is urging its members to "consider writing a newspaper editorial or letter to your legislator expressing your support of Governor Huntsman's climate change and renewable energy efforts." For more info, click here.
Best Places to Live
Money Magazine ranks Tooele County first in its list of the top 25 best places to live. "Since its inception in 1850, Tooele had always been a mining area -- but now scientific and technical fields are blossoming too. The county -- one of the first in Utah -- is near full employment and wages are growing at an above-average rate. Helping out is a plan by Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Technologies Inc. to build a $325 million metals plant that will employ 150 people at an average salary of $45,000," says Money Magazine.
Today in Political History
July 23, 1851: Sioux chieftains cede all Sioux lands in Iowa and some in Minnesota to the U.S. Government by treaty. (Source: Perspicuity)
July 23, 1914: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute leads to World War I. (New York Times)
Wise Words
“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower (Source: Quote Garden)
Management Tip
Building Leadership
“Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done. For this reason, subordinates must be given authority and responsibility early in their careers. In this way they develop quickly and can help the manager do his work. The manager, of course, remains ultimately responsible and must accept the blame if subordinates make mistakes. …One must permit his people the freedom to seek added work and greater responsibility. In my organization, there are no formal job descriptions or organizational charts. Responsibilities are defined in a general way, so that people are not circumscribed. All are permitted to do as they think best and to go to anyone and anywhere for help. Each person then is limited only by his own ability.”
-- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (Source: Gov Leaders)
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- Washington Post: "President Bush called on Congress [Friday] to pass new legislation to fund the war in Iraq and denounced lawmakers who say his strategy has failed. ... In response, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) accused Bush of 'hypocrisy' and said Congress needs no lectures from him about supporting American troops."
-- Los Angeles Times: "Sen. Harry Reid offered his cooperation in December when the Iraq Study Group unveiled its recommendations with a plaintive call for a bipartisan effort to change the course of the war. ... Eight bitter months and nine major Iraq-related votes later, the meaning of Reid's pledge has come into sharp focus: Democrats will work with any GOP lawmaker willing to vote for a mandatory troop withdrawal; other Republicans need not apply."
-- New York Times: "Women view Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton more favorably than men do, but she still faces skepticism among some women, especially those who are older and those who are married, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll." (See also related New York Times story).
-- Wall Street Journal: "John Edwards may be stuck in third place in the polls and fund raising in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. But the populist seems to be playing an outsized role in driving the terms of the party's debate -- generally to the left -- on everything from Iraq to health care."
Lighter Side
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
-- Sir Winston Churchill |
