Utah Policy Blog Watch by Golden Webb
UPD Blog Watch
At the House Democratic Caucus blog, Rep. Rosalind McGee says: "I suppose one of the luxuries of being a Democrat in Utah is you don't have to apologize for voting against your conscience, because you don't HAVE to vote against your conscience. Regardless of your party however, it is always difficult to listen to good people apologize for bad decisions. Rep. Scott Wyatt's ... speech on the House floor during the recent special session ... was once such event. Such speeches are generally predictable, but jaws dropped when Scott said, 'I submit that the best thing we can do for the children of Utah is to invest in their future by stimulating the economy.' Had I really heard that? I conferred with some of my colleagues, and sure enough my hearing is just as good as Ralph Becker's. ... It was the first time in my life I've heard someone attempt to explain how a tax cut for the wealthy is in the 'best interest of our children' and that economic stimulus is a long-term benefit whereas 'investing in education is a short term benefit'" (see also here, here, and here)... Rep. Craig Frank relates: "[An acquaintance said] someday he'd like to get involved in the legislature and inquired as to the salary of a Representative. That's always a loaded question ... (the implication, often, is legislators are a bunch of 'fat cats' making exorbitant amounts of cash on the backs of the citizenry). $120 a day, was my answer. $120 a day?! Gulp! And then the next, almost predictable, obligatory, sympathetic question: How do you live on that? Well, the fact is, I don't live on that. And if it weren't for my 'real' job in the structural steel industry, I could never afford to serve in the state legislature"... CoolestFamilyEver explains why "blogging is politics for the lazy"... At Out of Context, George Pyle says: "The 2nd District congressman from Utah, Jim Matheson, has often been attacked for being a DINO -- Democrat in Name Only ... The Realpolitik excuse offered by observers ... is that ever since his Salt Lake County-only congressional district was shamelessly gerrymandered by the Republican Legislature to include scads of red-state voters in red-rock country, Matheson has had to scamper to his right to keep his job. Now, as part of a political deal to gain Utah the fourth seat in the House that it was rooked out of after the 2000 Census, the state's Republican leaders are basically promising to gerrymander Matheson into a safe seat. They've come up with a tentative map that gives Matheson all of Salt Lake City and its nearest suburbs, plus Robert Redford country up in Park City. ... [But as] solidly liberal as the new district stands to be ... it would be entirely possible that he'd be vulnerable to a challenger from the left, making Congress a little bit more liberal, if not officially more Democratic. The Republicans may have outsmarted themselves on this deal. They say Rocky Anderson's looking for a job" (see also here and here)... Hotline On Call notes: "We can't find the link for this, but it appears as if those Fox News appearances are paying off for Mitt Romney. From the MIRS Capitol Capsule: 'Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly told a gathering here today that Massachusetts Gov. and former Michigander Mitt Romney is his early favorite to win the 2008 presidential election over U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in what he sees now as the likely head-to-head race. Speaking at the Michigan Future Forum, sponsored by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, O'Reilly said former frontrunner U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be hurt for his "soft" positions on the terrorist interrogation and border security issues'" (see also here and here).
At the House Democratic Caucus blog, Rep. Rosalind McGee says: "I suppose one of the luxuries of being a Democrat in Utah is you don't have to apologize for voting against your conscience, because you don't HAVE to vote against your conscience. Regardless of your party however, it is always difficult to listen to good people apologize for bad decisions. Rep. Scott Wyatt's ... speech on the House floor during the recent special session ... was once such event. Such speeches are generally predictable, but jaws dropped when Scott said, 'I submit that the best thing we can do for the children of Utah is to invest in their future by stimulating the economy.' Had I really heard that? I conferred with some of my colleagues, and sure enough my hearing is just as good as Ralph Becker's. ... It was the first time in my life I've heard someone attempt to explain how a tax cut for the wealthy is in the 'best interest of our children' and that economic stimulus is a long-term benefit whereas 'investing in education is a short term benefit'" (see also here, here, and here)... Rep. Craig Frank relates: "[An acquaintance said] someday he'd like to get involved in the legislature and inquired as to the salary of a Representative. That's always a loaded question ... (the implication, often, is legislators are a bunch of 'fat cats' making exorbitant amounts of cash on the backs of the citizenry). $120 a day, was my answer. $120 a day?! Gulp! And then the next, almost predictable, obligatory, sympathetic question: How do you live on that? Well, the fact is, I don't live on that. And if it weren't for my 'real' job in the structural steel industry, I could never afford to serve in the state legislature"... CoolestFamilyEver explains why "blogging is politics for the lazy"... At Out of Context, George Pyle says: "The 2nd District congressman from Utah, Jim Matheson, has often been attacked for being a DINO -- Democrat in Name Only ... The Realpolitik excuse offered by observers ... is that ever since his Salt Lake County-only congressional district was shamelessly gerrymandered by the Republican Legislature to include scads of red-state voters in red-rock country, Matheson has had to scamper to his right to keep his job. Now, as part of a political deal to gain Utah the fourth seat in the House that it was rooked out of after the 2000 Census, the state's Republican leaders are basically promising to gerrymander Matheson into a safe seat. They've come up with a tentative map that gives Matheson all of Salt Lake City and its nearest suburbs, plus Robert Redford country up in Park City. ... [But as] solidly liberal as the new district stands to be ... it would be entirely possible that he'd be vulnerable to a challenger from the left, making Congress a little bit more liberal, if not officially more Democratic. The Republicans may have outsmarted themselves on this deal. They say Rocky Anderson's looking for a job" (see also here and here)... Hotline On Call notes: "We can't find the link for this, but it appears as if those Fox News appearances are paying off for Mitt Romney. From the MIRS Capitol Capsule: 'Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly told a gathering here today that Massachusetts Gov. and former Michigander Mitt Romney is his early favorite to win the 2008 presidential election over U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in what he sees now as the likely head-to-head race. Speaking at the Michigan Future Forum, sponsored by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, O'Reilly said former frontrunner U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be hurt for his "soft" positions on the terrorist interrogation and border security issues'" (see also here and here).
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