Keep Utah Moving

Keep Utah Moving!
Vote FOR Proposition 3 on the Salt Lake County ballot and the Opinion Question on commuter rail and roads in Utah County. Help Utah avert a transportation crisis, build FrontRunner commuter rail across Utah's four most populous counties, expand the TRAX light rail system, preserve highway corridor, and construct other top-priority highway projects.
Imagine having most of the Wasatch Front’s major shopping, business, entertainment and educational centers connected by a fast, efficient and dependable public rail transit network. From most anywhere on the Wasatch Front, hop on a TRAX or FrontRunner train and commute to work or school, take in a concert at the E Center, a family outing at Lagoon, a shopping spree at Cabelas, dinner at Thanksgiving Point, a football game at the U., or a Jazz game downtown. And avoid congestion, travel more safely, and at less cost, than driving a car.
The campaign needs endorsements and volunteers willing to put up lawn signs. To help, go to http://www.votefor3.com/ and fill out a simple form. See Morning News story about the campaign kickoff event.

Hatch says House feared anti-gay label

Hastert's busy schedule also may have delayed action on Foley, he adds
By Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

U.S. House leaders may have delayed taking action against former Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley because they were afraid of appearing anti-gay, according to Sen. Orrin Hatch. Utah's senator called Foley's sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages to congressional pages "abysmal" and inexcusable, but he also defended House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has drawn repeated criticism for not acting on concerns brought to his office earlier. Hatch's defense, presented to the Tribune editorial board earlier this week, centered on how busy Hastert is as the Republican leader in the House. But he also said: "I don't know anybody today in the Congress who wants to act or be homophobic, so that may be part of the problem here." Hatch's campaign opponent, Democrat Pete Ashdown, bristled at Hatch's remarks. "I think it is ridiculous," he said. "Protecting children has nothing to do with homosexuality." Equality Utah, a gay rights organization, also doesn't buy Hatch's explanation. "It's interesting that Senator Hatch and other members of Congress would express a concern about being homophobic when they have supported a constitutional amendment to define marriage. Do they not consider that be homophobic?" asked Mike Thompson, Equality Utah's executive director. Foley resigned in September after sexually
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explicit instant messages he sent to a male page were made public. Since then, House Republicans have been embroiled in a scandal that may cripple their bid to hold the majority. Hastert has been at the center of the controversy, since some lawmakers have said they relayed concerns over Foley's messages with pages and former pages years ago. While Hatch may defend Hastert, most Utahns want to see him punished, according to a recent poll conducted by Survey USA on behalf of KSL TV. The poll of 500 people said that 68 percent don't believe House leaders did enough when they learned of allegations against Foley, with 28 percent believing Hastert should resign his leadership posts and another 34 percent saying he should leave Congress. The FBI and a House ethics investigation are looking into Foley's actions and the response of House leaders. "There were mistakes made in my opinion that were human mistakes, but I think they are now approaching it in an intelligent way," Hatch said. Ashdown said if those investigations find that Hastert didn't act quickly enough, then "he should be removed." But until the investigations are done, Ashdown doesn't want to make a judgment. "I'm not gong to be judge and jury on Hastert," he said. Earlier this year, Hatch teamed with Foley to pass a child sex offender bill, requiring a nationwide database. Convicted sex offenders who fail to register could be charged with a felony. The irony hasn't escaped Hatch. "Here is a man who has co-sponsored the sex offender bill. He may very well be the first person prosecuted under that bill." mcanham@sltrib.com

REDISTRICTING: FACT AND FICTION.....

October 12, 2006
Is gerrymandering responsible for the fact that it's virtually impossible nowadays to defeat an incumbent in the House of Representatives? Reporters and pundits seem to accept this without question, but academic research suggests otherwise. For example, Alan Abramowitz, an Emory political science professor who's studied the decline in competitive seats, recently published a paper concluding that redistricting has had "little to do with the recent decline in competition in House elections. Other developments, such as the growing financial advantage of incumbents and increasing partisanship in the electorate, appear to be more responsible." He figures that only 12% of the decline in marginal districts has been a result of redistricting.
Still, 12% is 12%, and when the House is split as evenly as it is now that can make the difference between being in the majority and being in the minority — something that Republicans seem to understand better than Democrats. In "The Race to Gerrymander," in our November issue, Rachel Morris provides a fascinating 20-year history of Republican efforts to gain control of state legislatures in 1990 and again in 2000 so that they'd be the ones in control of redistricting:
Republicans prepared earlier and poured money into the 2000 legislative elections in critical states like Pennsylvania. Some Democrats, particularly [Martin] Frost, advocated a similarly ambitious approach, but the 1994 wipeout had thrown the party into something of a tailspin, and for the next few years presidential contests consumed much of its energy and money. Eventually Democrats did devote considerable attention to state elections and preparing for the census, but they had already lost valuable time.
After 2000, Democrats found themselves entirely locked out of redistricting in four large swing states where Republicans had won all three branches of government: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. “In those states we got hammered,” one Democratic redistricting operative said.
It may be that Republican gerrymandering has produced a net gain of no more than 20 seats for the GOP over the past couple of decades. Still, that's enough, and it's one of the reasons I think Howard Dean's focus on rebuilding state party infrastructure is so pivotal. When 2010 rolls around Democrats need to be in a position to compete in every state, either to gain control of the redistricting process outright or to at least win enough control to prevent Republicans from dominating the process the way they have for the past two cycles. 2004 was none too soon to start working on that.—Kevin Drum 1:43 AM Permalink Trackbacks Comments (12)