Hatch Begs to be a Bush Crony

UPDATE: Sen. Hatch give a non-denial denial.

David Hansen, Hatch's campaign manager, said Hatch has not received a call from the White House to fill the Cabinet spot.
"It is not going to happen," Hansen said.
Staffers in Hatch's Senate office said they knew nothing of a potential job switch. Hatch declined any media interviews Monday.
[...]
Hatch has said he doesn't believe the president would nominate him for the position but he also noted that he wouldn't turn down the president if he asked.

If you haven't been out of it this morning, by now you have surely heard that Alberto Gonzales finally resigned of Attorney General (he called Bush on Friday, Bush asked him to think about it, and then they announced on Monday, during which time they lied to reporters about it, naturally).

What you might have missed is the next phase in this saga... who is going to replace Gonzo? The rumor mill has DHS head Michael Chertoff, a Bush loyalist who was appointed to the DOJ in 2001, then to the 3rd circuit, and gave it up to head DHS. And besides the obvious terrible management of the agency during Katrina, Chertoff also has a number of other scandals under his watch waiting to surface.

With Chertoff hearings looking to be a gold-mine for Democrats in Congress, a smart White House would pick someone who was equally loyal and partisan but less likely to have contentious/embarrassing hearings. Enter Sen. Orrin Hatch:

Many Democrats — and some Republicans — had been calling for Gonzales' resignation for months based on his involvement, or lack thereof, of the Justice Department's firing of eight U.S. attorneys and the administration's policies on warrant-less wiretapping.
[...]
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said on "Meet the Press" April 1 that Hatch was "actively running" to be Gonzales' replacement to which Hatch replied, "Oh come on, Pat." Hatch was just re-elected to another six-year Senate term in the 2006 election.
[...]
Hatch has repeatedly sided with the Justice Department and Gonzales' role as attorney general. He said in a statement issued Monday that Gonzales "has been the president's strong right arm in fighting terrorists using the tools of law enforcement, and he helped successfully protect the American homeland during his tenure."

"I hope that history will remember Attorney General Gonzales for his honorable service to his country, rather than for the absurd political theater to which some critics have subjected him," Hatch said in a statement. "He has overseen the Department of Justice's efforts to protect children from Internet predators, to combat human trafficking, and to prevent the spread of meth in our communities."

Hatch played coy in April, but now he is probably trying to add his name to the rumor mill and placing calls into the White House. One would think that a fellow Senator would be harder for Democratic Senators to vote against, especially one that had been there so long.

It would be great to have the GOP have to defend another open seat, and to watch Utah GOPers scramble to out-conservative each other for the spot. I have no illusions about a Democrat's chances in the inevitable election, but beating an 2 to 4-year Senator is a lot easier than beating 40 year Senator for life. That means better quality candidates would emerge on the Democratic side. Not to say that our last two were bad, but more folks would consider running and more folks would be willing to donate.

Bob Murray Loses Another Round

(Photo Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, courtesy of KSL.com)

See below for an update

Poor Bob Murray. He is so old school that he refused to listen to media consultants in the beginning who would have told him to STFU and get his mug off the TV. Murray talked his way into a mess, especially when the results on the ground got worse and worse for the miners trapped in Crandall Canyon and those 3 rescuers died.

Meanwhile, businessman-turned-ambassador-turned-governor Huntsman sat back and watched the implosion. Not until it was clear how badly everything had gone and how little chance there was of changing things around his Jon jr. begin to trash Murray in his own press conferences.

Rather than pointing out this Jon-y-come-lately and hindsight aspect, Murray went to the old school "we have be reckless with human life because that's the only way to make a profit" mentality:

"If you persist in your statements and course of action, you, Governor, are going to jeopardize 700 jobs in Carbon and Emery Counties," Murray said in a letter [PDF] obtained Friday by the Deseret Morning News.
"I cannot maintain them alone, and I definitely cannot do it if I am going to be your whipping-boy."

Yes, apparently Bob Murray employs all of Emery and Carbon Counties. It is this man's benevolence in allowing these rural men to work in his unsafe mines.

This from a man that is about to be sued by the miners' families to keep the mine from being sealed so that they can at the very least extract their loved ones bodies out from the rubble.

Not only is Murray's argument as ridiculous as it is specious, the miners' families seem to be echoing what Huntsman is saying:

the families feel Murray Energy Corp., the mine owner, has misled them about the effort to find, rescue or recover their loved ones - Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Alonso Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez.
[...]
"We don't intend to abandon them," [their attorney Colin] King said.
[...]
King cited several reasons for the families' perception that Murray Energy officials had given up on their loved ones.
He said the families were told repeatedly that a large-diameter drill rig capable of boring a hole big enough for a rescue capsule was en route to the mine, "but it never arrived on site and we're suspicious about those statements."
As early as Monday, King added, Olsen and the families had requested the full study done by eight outside experts brought in by Murray Energy and MSHA to evaluate the ground-control system used before the implosion that killed and injured the rescuers.
MSHA released only a three-paragraph statement from the expert panel that said it was too dangerous to send anyone underground to search for the missing miners.
King said "that may or may not be the case. I don't want to second-guess the experts. But we are upset that we were not provided a copy of the [full] report and they did not provide a reason why.
"We would like to see [the report] so we can analyze it and talk to our experts about how we can get in there and get these people out," he added, noting that he already has begun obtaining mining experts as consultants.
King asked Murray Energy officials whether there had been a major bump in March, as reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, that forced the company to stop mining a long "barrier pillar" of coal adjacent to a large mined-out area. That barrier pillar was left to hold up the mountain overhead.
"Mr. Moore refused to answer," King said.
Was a report about this collapse filed with MSHA, as required by law? he asked.
"Moore refused to answer," King said, while MSHA official Jack Kuzar, who was brought in only recently from Pennsylvania to help with the operation, said he did not know.
"MSHA ought to know at this point," King contended.
Given all of these unsatisfactory responses, the lawyer added, "I can't imagine how [missing miners' spouses] Martha Sanchez and Nelda Erickson are even coping. You do what you have to do. But they need closure."

Mr. Murray is not arguing from a position of strength. He has shown his true colors during the course of this debacle and it isn't pretty. While Huntsman might not have been as "take charge" as others in similar disasters in PA and WV, he avoided having to say that the miners were alive when they were in fact all dead like Gov. Joe Machin did. Politically, Huntsman played this as well as he could without taking unnecessary risks.

Mr. Murray, the letter makes you look only worse as a megalomaniac ower-first businessman of a extraction industry. If I was your PR guy/atttorney, I would have never have let you send that letter.

But as a blogger, you are posting-gold. Keep it comming.

UPDATE:

Thanks, Mr. Murray!

Bob Murray made good on his threat to cut jobs in Utah's coal country early this morning.
The owner of three Utah mines met with workers at the Tower Mine in Carbon County at 7 a.m. today. During the meeting, Murray told workers he is shutting down the mine and offered workers there jobs at his other mines in Illinois and Ohio, several laid-off miners said.

He really doesn't think he has the upper hand, does he?

This reminds me of Dr. Evil holding the world hostage for "One MILLION dollars!"

The man gets more cartoonish by the minute. Yeah I am sure a x-th generation central Utah miner is going to pick up and move to Illinois or Ohio. This guy has no clue about our state, our people, or people in general.

the perfect job for Scott Jr.

(Photo Credit: © 2007 Rick Egan/Salt Lake Tribune)

I am sure Scott M. Matheson Jr. wishes he was in the governor's mansion as Governor, but I think the set up is actually best for both men. The son of the last Democratic governor, my friend and former Dean of my law school is best suited to be the head of this state mine safety commission. He is a brilliant thinker and able to argue and reason with others behind closed doors to come out with some great policy. That's his strength.

It is not giving speeches or shaking hands or being a physically commanding presence in a situation. It seems Jon Huntsman Jr. is better at that. So while Huntsman will get all the glory for taking leadership after sitting back and watching the Feds and Murray Energy's incompetence cost at least 3 miners their lives, Matheson will do the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

Matheson will skillfully find positions that pro-industry/mining region politicians (like Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price), mining union officials, and experienced hands from the Sego mine disaster all agree on. The irony that Matheson would be the best at the real work of being a governor, but is bad at running for governor. Meanwhile, Huntsman is good at being the public face of the governor. I hope these two team up more for the sake of our state.

this post writes itself

(AP Photo/Courtesy of Robert Murray)

Mine owners like Bob "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss" Murray are going to have a much less regulatory worries if the Bush Administration has its way

The Bush administration wants to quit requiring coal operators to prove that their surface mining will not damage streams, fish and wildlife.
Under proposed new regulations that it will put out Friday for public comment, strip mine operators would have to show only that they intend "to prevent, to the extent possible using the best technology currently available," such damage.
[...]
Interior officials have said that complying with that buffer zone requirement is impossible in "mountaintop removal mining," which involves shearing off the tops of ridges to expose a coal seam. Dirt and rock are pushed below, often into stream beds, a practice known as valley fill.

Meanwhile, Bob Murray has really been great to those families of the trapped miners

In an unsigned, written statement released Wednesday, the family of one trapped miner lashed out at Murray. The family members asked the Deseret Morning News not to use their names out of fear of recrimination.

"He very aggressively told the families to give up," the statement said.

After the Aug. 16 deadly collapse that killed three rescuers and injured six others, the statement said, Murray placed the blame on the families.

"He said to us that 'We are a team, all of us, to include you family members. We have made all of these decisions together. But last week I, no, let me correct that, we killed three people,"' the statement said.

But wait there is more

"I do think the way the families have been treated is unconscionable," [Gov. Jon] Huntsman [Jr.] said.
[...]
"I didn't desert anybody," Murray told The Associated Press. "I've been living on this mountain every day, living in a little trailer."

He said he rushed into the mine in his street clothes and began digging out the men, buried under 5 feet of coal, with his bare hands. "I never hesitated to go in there. I was the first man in and the last man out," he said.

Just like Rudy! was a 9/11 rescue worker because he spent a whole 28 hours at Ground Zero giving tours to big shots (Giuliani spent more time at Yankees games that fall). The brave Republican authoritarians.

At the beginning, Murray said that "not leave this mine until those men are rescued, dead or alive." but now he says the mine is going to be sealed and closed. "I can tell you right now, we are not going back into that mountain," he added. Which is it?

And why were they mining in this depleted mountain anyway?

Prices for coal are up, and more revenue came out of Utah's coal mines this year than any time in the past decade, according to the state's "Annual Review and Forecast of Utah Coal: Production." Production grew, along with the number of jobs in the mines, the report said.
[...]
New safety precautions may thin the line between the price Utah's hard-to-mine coal can fetch and what operators spend to mine it, the report also suggests.

And speaking of money

At a funeral Tuesday for one of the rescue workers who died, a friend of one of the trapped miners confronted Murray and accused him of skimping on the rescue efforts. He then handed Murray a dollar bill.

"This is just to help you out so you don't kill him," the man said.

Murray's head snapped back as if slapped. When the man wouldn't take back the bill, Murray threw the money on the ground. "I'll tell you what, son, you need to find out about the Lord," Murray said.

Murray isn't the only person to come out of this catastrophe with a PR mess on his hands

"Richard Stickler is a very competent MSHA official," Sen. Orrin Hatch said. "He has done his best to see that the job is done right. He cares greatly about these miners."
[...]
President Bush tapped the then-retired Stickler last year to head MSHA, but several senators balked, including [Ted] Kennedy [D-MA]- who charged that when Stickler was a senior manager at a mine in West Virginia, the injury rate was three times the national average.
Kennedy also argued that when Stickler ran the Marianna mine, the injury rate climbed "dramatically" and that mines he managed before heading the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mining had a total of 3,000 safety violations.
MSHA and Stickler's supporters dispute those statistics. Stickler also said current laws were "adequate" when asked about changing regulations with the MINER Act, a sweeping overhaul of mine laws that passed overwhelmingly last year.
The Senate twice sent Stickler's nomination back to Bush.
But when Congress left town last October for a break, Bush used his power to temporarily put Stickler in charge of MSHA. His recess appointment ends this year.

The only one looking good hear is the Governor.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. asked the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration today to immediately inspect two additional mines owned by Murray Energy Corp. in Carbon County...
[...]
Huntsman also is preparing to appoint an independent investigation committee to make recommendations to ensure safety in Utah mines, his office said.
"These additional inspections are only the beginning of a larger investigation that needs to be conducted in Utah's deep mines to secure safety for our miners," Huntsman said in the release. "We must do all we can, at every level, to be prepared for a catastrophe like this one. This is the least we can do to ensure that the lives lost have not been in vain."

UPDATE:

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. today named his former political opponent, Scott Matheson Jr., to lead the newly formed Utah Mine Safety Commission that will consider what the state's role should be in protecting coal miners.
[...]
Utah ceded mine safety to the federal government in 1977, a decision that the governor said may be reconsidered.
[...]
During the taping of the governor's monthly news conference broadcast on KUED Channel 7, Huntsman said he's "not sure anyone cares what (Murray) has to say right now."

The more you read about all this, the worse you feel, but you have to keep reading...and praying.

(Thanks to Katie Halper for all the great Murray quotes)

Romney sweeps up the crumbs

(Photo Credit: Chris Glass © 2004)

After several trips to Utah to raise money from big donors, Mitt is coming back to take small contributions from the little people. Shows his priorities doesn't it?

His visit is part of a nationwide "Rally for Romney" effort announced Wednesday. Events are being held in more than 40 cities in 20 states through September. The Utah rally is set for Sept. 28 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, from 2 to 8 p.m.

Participants will be asked to call family and friends for smaller contributions, money that Romney told the Deseret Morning News is key to his campaign.

"I'll tell you, to raise the money you need to run for president, you've got to get donors who will write $100 checks or $50 checks to be part of your campaign," Romney said in a recent interview.
[...]
...This year, Romney has collected big checks in Salt Lake City, St. George, Logan and Deer Valley.

But the problem with big-money donors, Romney said, is that "you run out of them. So I've got to broaden the base of my supporters to people who haven't given before and who are willing to write what to some are small checks but to them are large checks."

The problem with big-money donors isn't just that there are fewer of them, but that it distorts your policies towards them. And Romney's big money first hasn't been so successful.

Sure he has raised the most money ($44M)...among Republicans, but he has been spending it hand over fist to get the Ames straw poll victory he needed, as well as leads in IA and NH. Obama has the most cash on hand ($36.2M) of any candidate And he did it my getting near 260,000 donors. "$9.7 million of the $33 million he raised in the second quarter of 2007 came in increments of less than $200"...that's right a third of all his money last quarter.

The campaign ad Utah Republican Party press release Deseret News article ends with this information: "Utahns can sign up to attend the rally by calling 801-961-4070. For more information, go to the Internet at www.mittromney.com/rally." Go to the Internet at? That is even worse than "Log on to"... how hard is it to say "visit" or "go to" without saying the Internet or Online. If you see www. or .com, people who would go to that website know it is on the Internet.

I wonder if I would get kicked out if I brought a sign for someone like Obama or just wore a anti-Bush T-shirt. I also look forward to the local press inflating Romney's crowd numbers. Let's see if he can get more than Obama did with his last minute roadside rally. I have a feeling it will be underwhelming.

After all, this is the map that Chris Bowers made culling all the recent state by state polling from three different polling firms on a Romney vs. Clinton matchup:

Republicans for puppy torture

There really is no other valid explanation for the fact that twice now Republicans in the Utah legislature have used their majority to impose procedural blocks on a popular bill to make animal abuse a third degree felony... But let's look at their excuses:

During the regular session, it was the old "saved by the bell" excuse (aka oh look at the time, we will have to vote on that next session, they promised), which Gov. Huntsman called them on. This special session, they have a new one

Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, argued that the bill could potentially ruin the life of someone "who does a one-time stupid thing," and proposed an alternative that would make animal torture a felony on a second offense committed within five years.
Sen. Jon Greiner, a Republican who is Ogden's police chief, said the Legislature may be making it a crime to drop an animal off near a shelter if the shelter happens to be closed.
He also noted other crimes - child abuse, sexual abuse of a minor, assault of a police officer, and assault of a school employee - that are Class A misdemeanors under Utah law.
"How do we get to a third degree felony [for animal torture] when we don't have enough respect for human life, sexually abused children, that we don't have a higher standard of care for them?" asked Greiner.
The argument didn't wash with [Rhonda] Kamper [who's small black terrier-Chihuahua mix Henry lost an eye when her now-ex-husband chased the dog with a leaf blower, stuffed him in an oven and cooked him for five minutes at 200 degrees].
"They're the lawmakers. If they have a problem with child abuse being a Class A misdemeanor, then change the law," she said.
Greiner suggested jettisoning the bill until January, and the Senate approved the motion 18-11.

As JM Bell pointed out, Michael Vick is a first time offender and will be pleading guilty to federal felony charges on Monday (and faces state felony charges as well). So would Sen. Christensen advocate giving Vick a second chance to hang, drown, and electrocute dogs?

And seriously, what's up with Ogden Republicans? They all love torturing animals? Commenters, please give me any good reason to vote against Henry's law.

SLC mayor's race ad watch

First there's Ralph Becker's who was up first on TV and whose I saw first on TV.

My wife really disliked the ending. She said, "that [Blueprint man cartoon] really ruined the whole thing." It has low production values, just a series of photos and voice over, but it again hones the message that all of Ralph's ad money (be it for mailings or TV) goes for: I AM A DEMOCRAT!!! (and big name Democrats support me) My wife noted the big names and was impressed. She might think the ending is hokey, but the endorsement's stuck with her.

Speaking of hokey, have you seen Dave Buhler's ads? Man he has a lot of them. I have seen two different ones, but there are tons more on YouTube, if you can bear it.

First off, what is the deal with the Dave Letterman T-shirt? Letterman was sort of cool in maybe 1994! And old men with pot bellies don't look good in Ts, shorts and Tevas. He looks a little silly even before you notice the puppet squirrel on his shoulder. Plus, these ads talk about all the things he did on the city council, failing to note his other experience, as a state senator in the REPUBLICAN leadership. Gee, I wonder why.

Here's the next one. And I am glad he is wearing a suit this time, but the shades, please. And in general, I guess they are going for an homage to the Apple ads, but it doesn't really work if there aren't two people bantering back and forth. The small print lines are clever and a bit corny but I am a corny guy.

But the thing that troubles me is the misappropriation of the line that launched arch-conservative Ben Stein's acting career.

It is a good way for people to remember Dave's name, but it might violate IP law. Stein is an attorney I think, so I hope pointing this out will apprise him of what's going on. I don't think he has made claims like the "let's get ready to rumble" guy but I haven't exactly followed Stein's career closely.

OK back on topic. Final grades: Becker B, Buhler C+. Buhler's ad have more content of what he did on the city council than Christensen and suffer from none of the sloganeering, but is very dorky. Becker's is pretty clear cut in its messaging, but the Blueprint man ending is a bit jarring.

Why do Leavitt and Bush hate children?

ex-Gov. Leavitt is doing the bidding of his overlord president, George W. Bush, and fighting the "good fight"

The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult...to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.

Administration officials outlined the new standards in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, in the middle of a month-long Congressional recess. In interviews, they said the changes were aimed at returning the Children’s Health Insurance Program to its original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage.

After learning of the new policy, some state officials said today that it could cripple their efforts to cover more children by imposing standards that could not be met.

Sure, children will get health care, but what about the poor suffering health insurance companies? FDL has the horrible details of the Bush-Leavitt plan.

If you are not angry now, how about his tale?

An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church’s pastor said.
[...]
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is now living with Coleman’s family. During a news conference in Los Angeles after Arellano’s arrest, the boy hid behind the pastor’s wife and wiped away tears.

The boy will be separated from his mother because he was born in the US and per the 14th Amendment, he is a US citizen. This is the consequences of "enforcement" and conservative-nativist "family values." (H/T as always, FDL)

How Republicans plan to win in 08

Quick, what's the number one issue on Americans minds now? Iraq right? Well if Republicans have their way:

"I think the defining issue in '08 is going to be Hillary Clinton."

-- Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell, Louisville Courier-Journal, 8/5

That's right the same McConnell that is getting blasted at home about the war with ads, protesters, and sinking popularity rankings.

At first I thought this was a GOP fantasy, but then I realized it was a real strategy.

On conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh's show Wednesday, Rove predicted the New York Democrat would win her party's nomination but said she was "fatally flawed" and would ultimately lose the race for the White House.

"There is no frontrunner who has entered the primary season with negatives as high as she has in the history of modern polling," said Rove

For her part, Hillary spun this as Rove is "obsessed with" her because she and her husband are the only ones who have been able to beat "these guys."

Here's Rove's plan in a nutshell: keep the story on Hillary and keep her negatives up. Sadly, the media will happily play along with stories about the Clinton's sex lives, the 1990's "scandals," Hillary's sealed WH records (when Bush sr.'s and Reagan's are still sealed thanks to George W.), and even her clothing/hair choices.

The idea doesn't sound that unreasonable when you consider that is exactly what Rove did to Al Gore and John Kerry. The races became about those men's supposed flaws rather than George W. Bush's.

Sen. Clinton is right to say that the Right Wing Attack Machine will do the same thing to whomever the nominee is. But the question is, who has more built-in fodder?

It is true that Hillary/Bill drives conservatives as nuts as Karl Rove/George W. Bush drives liberals nuts. But that doesn't mean that a base election will mean either a 2004 type GOP victory or 2006 type Democratic one.

Personally, I am tired of my party nominating the same old candidate who checks off all the boxes for the party's interest groups but doesn't really excite anyone. Gore and Kerry were exactly those types. Hillary to me looks to be the same type. Granted, professional woman really are excited about her and will rally towards her when she is inevitably attacked.

Nevertheless, the dramatic change that someone like Obama represents (whether or not he would actually change things) seems like just what the country needs right now. His negatives are, according to right wing groups: his middle name, his attendance at a school in a Muslim country when he was 3-6 years old, his willingness to talk to America-hating dictators like Kim Jung-Il, his willingness to take nukes off the table, (and that is half-black).

The first two have tried and failed miserably. The last one is a covert attack line that must be used very carefully since racism isn't very hip these days. The middle two are ones that Hillary and other Washington establishment types seem to think are a big deal, but I bet polling would say that these are mainstream American positions.

Generally, it will be much harder for Republicans to make the election about Barrack Obama than it will be for them to make it about Hillary Clinton or John Edwards' hair.

direct mail diagnosis

Yesterday, I got a few interesting pieces of mail, mailers from Keith Christensen and Ralph Becker (as well as my diploma). What a contrast in styles.

Both were the same size (~10x5)when they arrived, but Ralph's was thin colored paper that was actually folded in half. Keith went for the heavier card stock with half the surface area as Becker's.

Ralph's front page headline "Salt Lake City Democrats like Christine Johnson & Scott McCoy support Ralph Becker for Mayor" (with photos of both standing shoulder to shoulder with Ralph. This is a great way to say "Democrat" as soon as possible without sounding too strained (i.e. not "Democrats like Christine Johnson and Scott McCoy...") It is a not to subtle hint that Becker is also a Democrat.

Keith opts for another I-can-ride-a-nice-bicycle-in-my-campaign-jersey motif. This time with what I assume is his family also riding near by. The tag line? "Fighting crime starts at the street level." Get it, he is riding on the street so he must somehow be fighting crime by wearing that cool jersey and expensive road bike. In smaller print, his campaign "explains" that "Solid leadership and vision can be deterrents to crime." Really? I thought strict enforcement, harsh penalties, strong communities, and good economic conditions deter crime. I have trouble imagining a would be criminal saying/thinking "I would rob that bank, but Mayor Christensen's strong leadership and vision make me think twice."

While neither mailing has any real policy stuff on it, Keith is pretending to give policy-based reasons for voting for him. Ralph opts for the more crass (but possibly more effective) "Ralph Becker is a Democrat. Other big-name Democrats and liberals support him, so you should too."

So let's go to Keith's backside and Ralph's inside (I will get to Ralph's back in a bit). Keith will keep us SLCers safe by "insit[ing] that our police and fire fighters have the tools, technology and facilities needed to protect all our citizens." Who except Dennis Kucinich wouldn't do that as mayor? His campaign promised me details, so here goes. "Keith knows we can only attract the highest quality [first responders] to serve our community by offering them competitive salaries, improved training opportunities, and the most cutting-edge technology." But guess what? Firefighter's (via their local union) have endorsed Jenny Wilson.

What kind of technology? Haz-Mat suits? Computer programs to get at fire risk? Compstat-style software to target crime-ridden neighborhoods? What kind of training opportunities don't our police fire and EMTs not have currently?

Public safety will be his top budget priority, and apparently the City's budget is $660M...that is about all I learned here. For a "I would be a good wonky mayor" he doesn't have much specifics, nor does he point to where one might find specifics.

On Ralph's inside, we see more of the same "These Salt Lake Democrats are voting for Ralph Becker because they know he'll stand up and fight for Salt Lake City values." And there is a list of all his endorsements and a brief bio. I dislike this sentence. It plays into the right-wing use of the word "values" as in LaVar Christensen's claim that a vote for Jim Matheson was a vote for "San Francisco values." And also, I am really sick of the word "fight" in Democratic sloganeering. It is straight out of the Bob Schrum playbook, who is 0-8 in presidential campaigns. "[S]tand up" is good, but I would prefer to connote the idea of being tough and sticking up for our city. How about "...they know he won't back down against anyone who want to harm our city." And then you can talk about leading the fight against vouchers, and for ethics, and for making and keeping SLC "green."

Ralph has a fake clipboard which gives a rundown of the bullet point vagaries of his plans for the city, but then points readers to the details on his website and gives people a number (if they are old and afraid of the InterTubes). It even includes a friendly reminder about when election day is.

Now for the back of the mailer. It has a still from the cartoon "Blueprint man" that Ralph's campaign put on YouTube and even has the temerity to ask for money, a lawn sign placement, or volunteers.

Overall, here are my grades: Keith's second mailer: C+(still too vague if you are running on competence and policy-know-how), Ralph's: B+ (maybe too much stuff on there to distract, but good use endorsements by the only gay and lesbian legislators to show how liberal of a Democrat you are).

Friday round-up

its that time of the week again...

• Bob Murray belongs in jail, not on TV.

  A catastrophic failure deep inside central Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine killed three rescue workers and cast grave doubt on whether a rescue mission to find six trapped miners should resume.
  Those killed and the six others injured Thursday night were part of a perilous operation to find the missing miners, who were caught in a similar failure 12 days ago.
  [...]
  Among those injured were Crandall Canyon employees and two MSHA managers who were involved in the rescue effort in the mine, which has been unstable for months.



• In other news of desperation,
  

  Parents for Choice in Education, which promotes vouchers in Utah, is sponsoring a telephone survey that links voucher opponents with advocates of same-sex unions.
  [...]
  But Parents for Choice defends the survey, one of several public opinion polls the group has done. The connection between teachers' groups and same-sex unions is already there, said Elisa Clements, the group's executive director. As with any survey, the group is trying to gauge public opinion.
  "Many Utahns would be shocked to know the policies and positions promoted by the National Education Association, the parent organization of the UEA," she said, referencing the Utah Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, which opposes vouchers.

  That is not a "opinion poll," Julia Lyon, it is a push poll. They are smearing the other side assuming that Utah's homophobia will overwhelm its desire for good public schools.


• Utah's legislators are nuts and corrupt, part #234
  

  tour buses pulled over at the gate to the Chevron refinery and four of their colleagues dramatically filed off to unholster concealed guns.
  [...]
  The four dug out their handguns (one from an ankle holster) and turned them over to National Rifle Association lobbyist Clark Aposhian, who stored them in his car until they finished the tour of the refinery.
  [...]
  [Rep. Curt] Oda, [R-Clearfield,] who regularly sponsors guns-rights legislation, acknowledged that the pre-arranged stop to stow their handguns was meant to make a point: "If we have to find ways to carry our guns, we'll find them," he said.

  
  Question #1, why do you need your concealed weapon with you when you are touring an oil refinery and Hill Air Force Base? Question #2, why is an NRA lobbyist going with you on said tour? Question #3, what is the point you were trying to make with your stunt?


• In the era of Barry Bonds, it is nice to know some sports records are being broken the hard way:

  The presidential vacation-time record holder is the late Ronald Reagan, who tallied 436 days in his two terms. At 418 days, and with 17 months to go in his presidency, Bush is going to beat that easily.

  (H/T ThinkProgress)

Chris Buttars thinks you're stupid

The West Jordan Republican is co-chairman of the Judicial Retention Election Task Force. And Sen. Buttars wants to revamp the voter packet on judges because it is too complex for their pea-brains to understand.

voters he's talked to can barely figure out the survey results, let alone understand the questions in the survey. [said Buttars]

During the task force meeting Tuesday, one legislative staffer admitted he and his wife studied the profiles of a few of the 62 judges up for retention election last year. After some intense study, the staff member said he and his wife found one judge whose performance appeared sub-par, but once at the voting booth his wife admitted to him that she forgot which judge it was.

Short of having a law degree or a degree in statistics, Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, said the pamphlet is just too confusing for the average voter and that a "Simpsons approach" should be taken to simplify the information.

"I don't think the public has a clue" who judges are or how they are evaluated, Buttars said.

Funny, but didn't Judge Lewis get kicked to the curb just last due to a YouTube video?

It seems when people know something about the judge they don't like, they will vote them out. If they don't hear anything bad about them, the judge remains in office. Isn't that the whole point of the system?

This is a classic case of a solution to a non-existent problem.

the fourth estate has failed us

There is only one part of our Constitution which incontrovertibly protects an industry.

Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...

As such, the press has a great responsibility to be a bulwark against government when the government's actions harm the people. That's why Thomas Jefferson said "If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter."

But what do you do when newspapers are either merely mouthpieces of the government, or when they help perpetrate a fraud on the court, or when they aide in criminal behavior? The Brown Alumni Magazine gives us a good litany of our press gone wild.

In 2001, for example, a planned FBI raid on an Islamic charity called the Global Relief Foundation was stymied when New York Times reporters Philip Shenon ’81 and Judith Miller, who’d learned of the raid, called foundation officials for comment beforehand. U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who would later become well-known for his prosecution of vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, ordered the journalists to turn over their telephone records so he could determine who’d leaked them news of the upcoming raid. (The case remains unresolved.)
...Relying on leaked information, [New York Times reporter James] Risen [’77] reported on March 8, 1999, that Lee had been fired that day and was "the prime suspect in a nearly three-year investigation of reports of Beijing’s theft of nuclear technology." Lee was eventually cleared of all spying charges and agreed to a plea bargain that included admitting to the felony of downloading restricted data. Lee then accused the government of violating the Privacy Act by leaking information about him to the press and asked a judge to subpoena reporters to prove his case. The reporters refused to respond in court. (Their news organizations eventually agreed to contribute $750,000 toward a $1.6 million settlement between Lee and the federal government.)
....In [the Scooter Libby] case,reporters were compelled not simply to reveal their sources, but to testify against them—to name them as leakers in a court of law. Ultimately, Miller spent eighty-five days behind bars for refusing to disclose her source for the Plame leak. (Libby, by contrast, was convicted of lying and obstructing a leak investigation, but served no jail time, thanks to a commutation ordered by President Bush.) More troublesome was the fact that of the nineteen witnesses in the trial, ten were members of the press called in to discuss the leak, "a spectacle that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago," wrote legal reporter Adam Liptak in the Times.
[...]
Although [San Francisco Chronicle reporters] Williams ['72] and Fainaru-Wade won't confirm that he was the leaker, BALCO attorney Troy Ellerman admitted that twice in 2004 he’d allowed Fainaru-Wada to take verbatim notes in his office of the grand jury testimony. Yet Ellerman is the same defense lawyer who’d earlier decried the leaks, telling the New York Times that "the jury pool has been infected and our right to fair trial has been jeopardized." He had even filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

If Ellerman is telling the truth, Fainaru-Wada returned to the attorney’s office at least once after Ellerman had filed his motion to dismiss, putting him and Williams in an ethically tenuous position: Ellerman was simultaneously leaking information, pretending he was outraged at the leak, and then using his feigned outrage to his legal advantage. The reporters knew it, and used the information anyway.

As Atrios would say, time to convene a blogger ethics panel. So has Williams learned from his unethical and probably criminal behavior? No

Williams argues that it isn't a reporter's job to police a source's motivations, only to confirm whether the information is true and worth sharing. "To me, the question is always, 'Do we have true info?'" he says. "I don't have a problem talking to a person who has true information, granting them anonymity. The issue for the paper, and for the reporter, is: is it interesting enough to use?"

Actually no, the question is "is this source using me for a nefarious purpose?" If your source is leaking to you so that he can cite your article on Meet the Timmeh the next morning for credibility, or leaking to you so he can get his client's case dismissed, or leaking to you so you can flush the evidence down the proverbial toilet, or leaking to you to start a war on false pretenses...you shouldn't grant them anonymity.

Because the First Amendment requires media self-policing, reporters must only grant anonymity to true whistle blowers, like Risen's source on NSA wiretapping, not Miller's 'Curveball' for her Iraq stories. When the media is too afraid to do anything but cheer lead us into a disastrous war, we have crisis in the media.

When they refuse to admit their mistake and continue to coddle the same sources and people that play them like a drum, the error is compounded. No original critics of the war can get on the TV, but those who lead the charge and want to start another war still get prime time. Or anonymity.

Just remember in a few weeks when "General Petraeus'" report comes out saying what an unmitigated success this escalation of this war has been. And the media sit back and repeat the Administration's talking points for them. Thanks Liberal Media Elites.

the truth about the tribune's op-ed

Tom Spencer , vice chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association, got prime Op-Ed real estate on the Salt Lake Tribune even though he hails from Coral Gables, Florida (where the Enron execs built massive homes to shelter their assets from angry employees, shareholders, and prosecutors).

Not surprisingly, his Op-Ed is filled with lies.

Recent investigations should silence critics who say that election fraud is non-existent or a bogeyman for those intent on vote suppression.

Really? You mean the sham show-trials that Karl Rove demanded as part of the purging of US Attorneys? Ones that were overturned on appeal because they were so spurious, like the one in Wisconsin he alludes to?

What does Election law expert Prof. Richard L. Hasen think about all this?

the idea of massive polling-place fraud (through the use of inflated voter rolls) is inherently incredible. Suppose I want to swing the Missouri election for my preferred presidential candidate. I would have to figure out who the fake, dead, or missing people on the registration rolls are, and then pay a lot of other individuals to go to the polling place and claim to be Mary Poppins or Old Dead Bob, without any return guarantee—thanks to the secret ballot—that any of them will cast a vote for my preferred candidate. Those who do show up at the polls run the risk of being detected ("You're not my neighbor Bob who passed away last year!") and charged with a felony. And for what—$10? As someone who's thought about this a lot, if I really wanted to buy votes in an enforceable and safe way, I'd find eligible voters who would allow me to watch as they cast their absentee ballots for the candidate of my choice. Then, I would pay them. ... Or, I might find an election official to change the votes. Polling-place fraud, in short, makes no sense.

What about "John Fund['s]...carefully researched book "Stealing Elections," [in which he] documented the many methods used by groups to tilt elections unlawfully and rob the voters' franchise"?

Someone (Lorraine Minnite of Barnard College) actually looked into his "careful research" and found them to be anecdotes without any merit whatsoever.

Indeed, despite Rove and Alberto Gonzales' five-year hunt for election fraud, the Bush Administration's Justice Department found "virtually no evidence" of any real fraud taking place. This is why Mr. Spencer continues to trot out the same old discredited "evidence" of voter fraud.

But why do Republican hacks like Spencer, Rove, and Gonzales care about this non-existent problem? Josh Green of the Atlantic Monthly explains:

Voicing concerns about fraud often paves the way for intimidation tactics like poll watching that depress turnout, especially among minorities and less educated voters who tend to vote Democratic.

In other words, it is the same old story since the VRA passed. Scare blacks, the poor, non-Cuban Hispanics, etc. into not voting since they vote Democratic overwhelmingly.

The larger the percentage of whites that vote in elections, Rove Republicans figure, the greater the likelihood that their people will win. This is why the US Attorney purge is a big deal: the intent was to use the Justice Department to ensure Rove's permanent Republican majority. Not only does that speak very poorly in your ability to win fairly, it also speaks poorly on your ethics and legality.

poll smoker

Dave Buhler will be sure to dance on this poll:

But there is also good news here for Becker as well as bad for Christensen. Becker's numbers have increased and the large movement towards Buhler seems to have come at the expense of Christensen. Maybe Republican voters have solidified behind Buhler, who seems to have more of a fighting chance.

"It's very encouraging," he said. "Our campaign is starting to catch fire."
He captured the largest chunk of Republican voters (49 percent) and LDS voters (40 percent).

Still 24% are undecided which means that either these folks won't vote, or that things could change dramatically in the next few weeks. But the worst news of all is for Rocky Anderson

When asked if they would vote for the mayor - if he had sought a third term - or one of the other candidates, 61 percent of respondents said they would opt for a challenger.

According to the "experts," Becker has to get at least half of those undecideds to get the second spot. But the same problem remains "Becker, a Democratic leader in the Legislature, was the least known of the major candidates in the survey."

My advice to Christensen and Becker? Attack Buhler HARD (with his record). You both are more progressive than him, and Becker the most progressive. No more kumbaya sessions at the "forums" or "debates," point out his REPUBLICAN and CONSERVATIVE record. Every chance you get, hit Buhler with his voting record and point out the hollowness of his rhetoric. People who support Buhler because of his sham moderate messaging will soon peal off to undecided or your camp. Even if they go to Jenny, that's one less vote you need to get to get to second place.

Romney, the great unknown

This is a response to the conversation I am having with a friend and conservative Romney supporter, Alienated Wannabe. He makes some good points and as always, I like to engage with people I disagree with not shout them down/out.

"Like it or not, the reality is that all electable politicians somehow find a way to tell to enough people 'what they want to hear.' " This is true, every candidate panders to their base to some extent in the primaries. The ones that anti-pander (Joe Lieberman) don't do well. However, the extent and extremes to which Romney has changed his beliefs on core issues for Republican faithful leaves many suspecting him, not just liberal Democrats.

Gov. Mike Huckabee, his rival in the primaries points out that even though, (like you AW) he believes that Romney's changes in position on things like Abortion are genuine, he will be vulnerable to attacks from Democrats saying he is a liberal (so vote Huckabee).

An issue like Abortion and its related fields (stem cells) are one of the few issues that is truly black and white. Either you think it is murder, or you don't. We can all agree there should be less abortions over all, and less destruction of blastocysts for research but we may have different means to those goals. I say teach age appropriate sex education starting early (like telling 6 year olds it is not OK for people to touch you "there" and whom to tell if someone is) and giving people access to contraceptives. AW, you may prefer abstinence-only education, even though empirical evidence shows it doesn't work and is such a waste of money that states are declining federal funding for it. As for stem cells, I say start with all those frozen blastocycsts that are sitting in lockers since the couple has either given up on IVF or succeeded. Also develop IVF so less blastocycsts are wasted...

Anyway, my point is John Kerry pretended to be both pro- and anti-war in 2004 but never said his vote for the war was a mistake. While Romney has explained why he has changed his mind on abortion and stem cell research there are important issues where he has flip flopped and pretended nothing has happened. Like immigration or gun control. Folks like Kerry and Romney (what is it with Massachusetts?) would have a lot more power over their positions if they said here's why my position changed and I was wrong before.

Please go to Romney's issues sections of his website and then compare that to the many YouTube videos from 1994, 2002-2004 and 2006-07. He is all over the place more than any candidate I have ever seen (except maybe Bill Richardson's "I'm a Red Sox AND Yankees fan" routine). And frankly, I just don't think he is trustworthy to hold the highest office in the land.

Romney is not a moderate or a centrist, he was a Conservative in sheep's clothing at least on some issues in Massachusetts. So we know where he stands on the poor (cut their programs), gays (don't let them marry), unions (blame them for everything), taxes (hide them as "fees" so that poor people pay, not my rich friends). I worked in the Massachusetts State House 2003-04, so I know what he is really like as a governor.

We don't know what he will do on foreign policy or immigration or gun control in DC (there is a big supreme court case on this in the fall). We know he says he will "double Guantanamo" and really crack down on immigration, but reality may be very different. If we take him at his word, I think both are horrible ideas.

Amnesty alone, I agree with you, won't work. Reagan tought us that. However, cracking down alone won't solve the problem either. The Senate bill had major flaws but the basic premise of tougher enforcement plus a earned path to citizenship was good. More importantly, we need to help Mexico and other Meso- and South American countries build up their economies such that people won't come need to across our boarder.

Today the Mittster bought a hallow victory at the Ames straw poll. He got 31%, but spent maybe millions to do it (and his poor sons risked their lives driving an RV across Iowa) and two Christian conservatives running against him as a flip flopper and as a Mormon (Huckabee and Brownback) with no money got more than him combined. Rudy and Fred and John McCain didn't even try (McCain got 2nd to last place against a pretend candidate). Most importantly, turnout was extremely low compared to 1999.

"I support Mitt Romney because I sincerely believe that he is the best candidate in the race, not just because his family has history with my Church. I know this is true, because there have been other well-connected Mormons whom I have not supported in their run for office. Please give me the benefit of the doubt"

I am sorry if you thought that I was insinuating that your support for him was solely religiously based. That was not my intent. What I meant to convey is that many in Utah and LDS folks elsewhere feel compelled to support Romney because of not only his religion but also how powerful his family was/is within the Church heirarchy. My message was to those faithful Mormons who felt they should support him, it was that they don't have to, because he poorly represents your faith due to his flop floppery.

I know liberal and conservative Mormons, each of whom are steadfaith in their belief in the Book of Mormon etc. I don't think, that President Faust or Wayne Owens were any less of a Mormon than say your Bishop is.

All I am saying is the first Mormon president should not be person whose only conviction is to get elected.

Getting spun

A short while ago, I pointed out that school voucher supporters were going to the LDS well to hint that Joseph Smith would have supported vouchers, or something. I was assuming they would stop short of that, and would just allude to "values" but alas, my worst fears have come true.

The Angel Moroni might want you to support vouchers, but he needs to brush up on Utah election laws.
I mentioned in Monday's column a series of ads that have been running on Utah radio stations extolling the virtues of tax credits through vouchers for parents who put their children in private schools.
One of the 30-second spots quoted the Book of Mormon: "And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning, yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches."
But the people behind the ads might have run afoul of the law. Anyone who collects and spends money to promote an issue for the purpose of influencing an election must register with the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office as a Political Issues Committee. The people who paid for these political ads have not registered.
The day my column item ran, officials at the Lieutenant Governor's Office talked to agents at Crowell Advertising, which placed the ads for a client who remains anonymous.
Elections official Joe Demma said Crowell agents promised to register by Wednesday. But by Thursday they still hadn't.
Demma says the office will send a letter to Crowell giving them 14 days to comply with the law, then it will be turned over to the Attorney General's Office for possible prosecution.

I love Paul Rolly's columns by the way. Not only does this violate state election law but also it doesn't set out to prove what it hopes to prove. The issue is whether vouchers will make our children better off, not whether or not it is a good thing that some children have a better education that others. I mean who thinks it is a good thing that not every child can go to great schools, except the Malfoys?

If we are going to have an honest debate about the merits of vouchers, which I think State Rep. Steve Urquhart sincerely desires, then we can't resort to claiming the dominant religion of the state supports vouchers when it most certainly does not. However, I am not going to hold my breath waiting for Steve, PCE, or the Church to denounce the ad or the tactics in general.

a Fair Deal

Americans have been been betrayed by its so-called leaders in the past decade. Whether it be Barry Bonds' sham HR record, corporate officers using their companies as personal piggy banks, an NBA ref betting on his own games, the President lying his way into an unnecessary and disastrous war, cowardly Democrats and Republicans in Congress voting against oversight and the Fourth Amendment so they can go on vacation and raise money, a Congressman taking $45,000 in contributions one night and the next day sneaking in a $10M earmark after the bill had passed both chambers for that contributor, another caught with $90,000 worth of bribes in his freezer, it seems people in power have decided they can use the system to their advantage and not worry about the little people they illegally harm along the way.

It is time Americans stand up and say "NO" to such behavior from our athletes, politicians, and businessmen. It is time we take back the idea of America from those who seek to corrupt it.

Before our leaders stole, cheated, lied, and took bribes, America was a place where anyone with enough guts and good enough ideas could succeed. It wasn't supposed to matter who your parents were, what color your skin was, or how much money you had. America was about progress. Sure, it took us far too long to realize the words of the Declaration of Independence and we still have not achieved full equality for blacks, women, immigrants, and homosexuals to name a few. But we kept moving forward, even if the pace was too slow.

Right now, America has been moving backwards and changing beyond recognition. We must stop these "leaders" before they make it worse. America had become the beacon of international law and human rights. We fought wars to prevent ethnic cleansing, to uphold international law and yet now we flaunt international law openly and torture people because we are afraid.

No enemy is too great for America to beat, we need not be afraid. When we 13 disparate colonies, we beat the largest imperial army on the planet. Then we beat them again a few decades later. We beat Germany twice when they had control of a large part of Europe. We were victorious the Japanese when they had taken over most of the Pacific, although we used nuclear weapons to finish it. We took on the Soviet Union and the thousands of nuclear weapons they pointed at our heads.

And now we are afraid of a rag-tag group of extremists? So scared we have to toss out not only our constitution, but 500 years worth the rule of law?

Are we also so unable to pay attention that our athletes need to inject themselves full of drugs to entertain us? Are we so entranced with the latest car or electronic gadget that we look the other way when others lie and cheat and steal to get them?

This is not the America we all know and love. And we need to get back to that idea of America, and make it real again. During the Great Depression, Americans got a New Deal: the government would become more involved in our lives so that extreme poverty of our seniors would be eliminated.

Today, all Americans want is a Fair Deal, one where the playing field won't be tilted in favor of the elites who have the right family name, or the right bank account, or the right connections.

It is time our government and our society looked out for those who work hard and do everything right. We can't let the Big Insurance companies and Big Pharmaceuticals and the Big Oil companies cheat us out of good health care for everyone, lower carbon emissions and clean air and water. We can't let CEOs cheat their employees and stockholders out of millions, nor can we let jocks juice their way to the podium.

It is time for all of us to look each other in the eye and say "Enough is enough, I want America back!"

Facism and Flip-Flopping Fun

Your modern Republican Party:

"Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."

No, that wasn't from one of those two guys down below, it was from "America's Mayor" Rudy Giulliani today.

This line reminded me of a great song by a woman who got her start playing on the streets of Harvard Square.

Why do the babies starve
There's enough food to feed the world
Why when there're so many of us
Are there people still alone
Why are the missiles called peace keepers
When they're aimed to kill
Why is a woman still not safe
When she's in her home

Love is hate
War is peace
No is yes
And we're all free
--Tracy Chapman, Why

The time, Tracy, is coming soon. Soon will will be rid of these power-hungry maniacs who will stop at nothing to become President.

"He's been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly," Romney adviser Mike Murphy told the National Review in 2006.

(H/T AmericaBlog)

I could go on about Romney's flip-flops on Immigration (the subject of his latest Iowa ad), but I think I will save my "breath."

When your top two leading candidates for President are a quasi-facist and an unprincipled liar, you have got a serious problem.

irony of the day

I use google reader to read all the newspapers and blogs that have RSS feeds nearly everyday. I go through hundreds of posts a day and try to bring you ones that catch my eye. Here's a great example:

Welcome to the new deseretnews.com 8:30 AM (55 minutes ago)
from deseretnews.com - Local News
We have redesigned our Web site, adding more features, such as weather, traffic and reader comments, to better provide you with the news and information you want and need.

That's right, go ahead and click on it to see the amazing new DeseretNews.com ... Yeah, I am waiting too. It seems the link to the story about how wonderful the new Deseret News website is is down, along with the rest of their site.

Maybe next time, don't put out the story until after the site is fully operational. Otherwise, they should go back to this:

final thoughts on the forum

I talked to Becker's campaign manager immediately afterwards and the first thing he said to me before I could even reach him was "Still awake?" He then told me that this was pretty typical for all the "debates" they have been holding thus far, in fact, this one was one of the more lively ones. How glad am I to not have sat through those.

The trouble is, there are too many people on the stage, and too many unimportant people. A guy who thinks $50,000 is a lot of money to have spent on a mayoral race for a city of nearly 200,000 is a joke. Candidates who do little more than pay the filing fee should not get a seat at the table with people who have raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and more importantly have real support (at least 10%).

Good news, Dave tells me, is that from hear on out the "big four" will only be invited to the next debates. Finally, we can get into some meat and distinguish candidates and not just let people hide behind platitudes.

Speaking of which, after I left the auditorium, a Christensen supporter tried to give me literature. Then he realized that only this morning I was insulting his campaigns mailings so he said something like "Don't you want to have to this for analysis, 3rd Ave?" Thanks but no thanks. Don't waste any more of your paper on me Keith. Remember you are claiming to be an environmentalist.

live blogging from the forum

[UPDATE 10] JP Hughes just is reading statements. If you are an ultra marginal candidate, don't read, speak from your heart and say something shocking.

Man alive I need something to wake me up. It seems the candidates kind of phoned it in by not making it lively. I guess this was a wonk fest, but still.

[UPDATE 9] The end is near, I might as well stay. Ringing endorsement I know... I am having a tough time finding a "winner" Jenny started out akward, but has come on strong as time has gone by. Keith was pretty good in talking about buses in a common sense fashion. But when a question became vaguely ideological, he got pretty defensive. The other two guys, who cares.

[UPDATE 8] Wow I am starting to fade fast in this "debate" it is really getting bored. Fun fact, I am sitting near US Senate candidate Pete Ashdown, who uses Yahoo! and is subitting fun questions as well as others.

Oh and Jenny drops in again that she was Rep. Bill Orton's chief of staff...impressive.

[UPDATE 7] Jenny reveals that she went to DC to get money and get labor and EMILY's list endorsement. In fact, EMILY's list now has a staffer planted in her office. Keith is defensive about his warchest and went to NYC to get the developer side of the issue and sided with the skybridge. Sounds like money talks for Keith.

Next beef for Politic 2.0, don't have people respond to candidate specific questions unless it really calls for it.

[UPDATE 6] Keith wants to manage the city like it is his own enterprise...you mean your own feifdom? I guess he is trying to be the Michael Bloomberg of SLC. You know a rich guy who used to be of one party and switched for political convinence. By the way he is really not being bold AT ALL.

Renteria is getting mad about how screwed over the west side is. JP Hughes wants to end homelessness. An actual answer to our question, amazing.

[UPDATE 5] Jenny seems to be answering the question on both sides by saying what a possible counter argument is and then attacking it. I don't know why she needs to be debate herself when this is not really a debate.

Keith says the constitution does not grant consealed weapon. But he is not especially gun control friendly.

[UPDATE 4] Ralph gets a jab into Keith by saying it is so terrible how expensive it is to run for mayor while staring at him. Jenny gets a jab in at Ralph because she said "I actually passed a gift ban" since Ralph could not as the Minority Leader in the state House. Then she talks about the bill. Since she wrote it, you go girl.

Keith gives a long boring answer to the money in politics...and references his role as Gov. Leavitt's Olympic trustee. Yet didn't Bush and Rumsfeld etc. get cushy seats?

[UPDATE 3] Vouchers Jenny is clear and talks about how the school district split is a "distraction" she wants the focus to be smaller class sizes etc. Ralph echos her comments and talked about what he did in the legislature and his efforts to get it on the ballot.

JP Hughes calls it a "wedge issue" and talks about the book Freakonomics and about special education...which has nothing really to do with vouchers. So even if he weren't a throw away vote, now I am really won't support him.

Keith "I wish we weren't dealing with this issue" I am sure you do because you hate reminding people that you are a Republican.

[UPDATE 2] Keith C. goes left for gay rights, comparing them to Rosa Parks. Maybe it because gay men vote at about 95% and lesbians in the high 80%s

Jenny W. tells stories, talks about legislation she has offered/passed.

Ralph praises Rocky and points to his plans on his website: civil partnership, hate crimes, etc.


[UPDATE] Keith C. seems to be answering the "Mo" question very defensively...but he is articulate.

Jenny is giving a great answer, and we learn she was raised LDS but has let go of the rod so to speak. She said she would challenge the Church when necessary.

Ralph says he separation of church and state. Him and Jenny are trying to create space between Keith and themselves.

JP Hughes proudly touts his Mo-cred and all his love for it and knowledge blah blah blah. You ain't gonna win.


my question was asked first... and despite my wishes, they asked the question to all of the candidates, including the also rans.

Jenny Wilson had a bit of tongue troubles, but all candidates kind of used my question to be their proxy opening statement. Then again, that was sort of the point.

One major beef with this forum format is that they have no time limits which makes the also rans tempted to blab. I am glad to learn that Renteria is not crazy nor is JP Hughes.

Ms. Wilson seems a bit nervous which is odd since this crowd is super small and she already ran a really tough race in 2004.

see you at the forum?

Last night, I watched Harry Potter rather than the AFL-CIO forum, but tonight I am going back into political form.

The mayoral forum will be at the Salt Lake City Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, but can be watched live at politic20.com.
Before and during the forum, residents can register at the Web site, submit questions for one or all the candidates and vote on which questions should be asked.
During and after the event, viewers in the auditorium and online will be able to comment on the event and evaluate the candidates' responses, and the candidates can review the responses and comments of the public.
Candidates Ralph Becker, Keith Christensen, J.P. Hughes and Jenny Wilson all plan to attend the forum. Candidate Dave Buhler had a scheduling conflict with another campaign event.

I hear that last night MSNBC uninvited ex-Senator Mike Gravel and good for them. It seems Politic 2.0 refuses to invite any of the joke candidates except J.P. Hughes. I guess he is like Dennis Kucinich.

See you online or at 7:45 at the library.

In other mayoral news, I got a mailer from Keith Christensen, who appearantly is spending money on bicycle jerseys with his logo on it now. The new slogan is "He wins. We all win." The entire mailer is devoid of information other than the fact that Rocky and Spence Eccles like him. and that he was a city councilman chair twice. It just has a list of buzz words like leadership, know-how, experience, business owner, etc. And then it "addresses" the issues Through this paragraph (I kid you not)

Crime. Education. Jobs. Keith will make Salt Lake City more livable by being tough on crime, supporting the education of our children and promoting economic development along with the Wasatch Front.

And who wouldn't do any of those things? How does he plan to "get tough on crime" or support education or promote economic development?

Politicians need to learn that they have to at least allude to what they want to do, rather than just blabbing feel-good, meaningless rhetoric. The man is pretending to be "progressive" when he voted pretty conservatively in the City Council and offers nothing in the way of policy. What a sham(e).

Where the ideological rubber meets the road

(Photo Credit: The Oregonian)

I didn't want to comment on the bridge collapse for a while so that it didn't seem like I was playing off emotions (ditto for those 6 minors in central Utah) and because I wanted to make sure my family out there was alright. I have grandparents and an uncle who live in Minneapolis and my uncle Rob regularly commuted across it (my grandparents can see the bridge outside their dinning room window).

But it occurred to me that how one viewed the bridge collapse depended to some extend on one's political belief system. Liberals saw it as the symptom of the folly of tax cuts. Conservatives saw it as a symptom of the folly of government spending and programs.

[Republican] Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota twice vetoed legislation to raise the state’s gas tax to pay for transportation needs.
[...]
Despite historic highs in transportation spending, the political muscle of lawmakers, rather than dire need, has typically driven where much of the money goes. That has often meant construction of new, politically popular roads and transit projects rather than the mundane work of maintaining the worn-out ones.

That is why the federal government spent half a billion dollars on a bridge in Alaska to an island with less than 100 people on it yet declines to spend money on actual maintenance and repair of existing infrastructure.

During the 1930s, FDR put millions of people to work through public works projects which including the building of bridges. This is the liberal approach to economic stimulus, as even today, folks like John Edwards propose similar efforts to rebuild places like New Orleans. The conservative approach can be seen through the pandering GOP presidential wannabes. Giulliani suggested that cutting taxes would pay for bridge repair via the economic stimulus that it "inevitably brings."

True, the WPA program was ruled unconstitutional and didn't get the US out of the Great Depression (massive government spending for WWII did and Eisenhower did build all those freeways) but the Laffer curve that conservatives since Reagan have fallen in love with hasn't worked out that well either.

So what to do? Well obviously, the immediate solution is to find out how and why the 35W bridge collapsed and build a better one near there. The longer term solution however, is a lot less politically sexy. Renovating our nation's infrastructure is hard to show off if you are a Congressman but is deadly necessary. And I believe it is a good form of economic stimulus.

We don't have to limit ourselves to fixing bridges and worn out roads. We can update our nation's electrical grid, which is dangerously at its limits. We can build a nation-wide wireless internet/telecommunications network to ensure that our country continues to lead the world in innovative technology. We can update our air control towers to use modern radar/GPS/etc, not the green-screen 50's radar of today that is bound to cause an accident eventually.

Tax cuts and credits, when directed at the low and middle class, are extremely effective in stimulating the economy. Sales and payroll tax holidays/relief are good policy. Bush style tax cuts and rebates are not.

If we are wise with our money, not only will deaths like those on 35W be avoided, but our economy can go strong. But if we only look to our immediate self-interest, both suffer.

Becker's guerrilla marketing

First, there was the YouTube campaign commercial (H/T Jen's Green Journal)



Next, there was the Facebook entry. The profile is complete with a photo album, interests, bio, and logo:


Campaign Manager Dave Everitt, who turns another year older in two days, is really launching a viral guerrilla marketing campaign to generate buzz for his boss Ralph Becker. I like the innovation, and Dave, maybe you should work in advertising, not law or politics.

Something's happening here

(Photo Credit: Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News)

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
[...]
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
-Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"

By the time the Democratic presidential hopeful spoke just after noon, more than 500 onlookers had filled the parking lot next to the Utah Olympic Park visitor center. Cars were parked half a mile up the road leading to the 2002 Olympic ski jump.
"This was supposed to be a 15-minute stop with about 20 people," said the Illinois senator, dressed in slacks and shirt sleeves. "Somehow this grew a little bit."

Now I regret not reading all those emails from the Utah for Obama people. They were talking about driving to Elko or standing near the fundraiser and waiving. But 500 people in Utah? If it was Obama vs. Romney, it is possible that Romney would tie Mondale but instead of taking Massachusetts, he would take Utah. And speaking of Mormons

Americans must look out for one another, Obama said, an "idea that has to express itself not just through our religious bodies, not just through our families, it's got to express itself through our government."
[...]
Obama attracted 450 people to his Park City fund-raiser. Some paid as much as $2,300 to have their photograph taken with the candidate. The minimum contribution was $500 except for select volunteers, public officials and a few Olympic athletes. The event was expected to raise around $250,000.
Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland said the donors couldn't get enough of Obama. "It took a good half-hour just getting him 50 yards from the backyard podium to the living room to meet with public officials," he said. "Usually this is a group that's not star-struck."

About 1000 people in Utah went out of their way to see a first term Democratic U.S. Senator who espouses things such as "health care for all Americans, better pay for teachers and, of course, [ending] the war in Iraq."


(Photo Credit: Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune)

One thing we can all agree on that Obama said is this: "The country is ready for change," he said. "People want to turn the page and start a new chapter in history." This is why Republicans are having such trouble in their race for the White House. Folks like Romney, Giulliani, F. Thompson, and the rest all have to defend Bush's horrific policies to some degree to win their nomination.

If Obama can round up 1000 people in Utah on the spur of the moment, something very dramatic will happen next November.

Keith Christensen spends like Howard Dean

Republican city councilman turned ex-Republican city councilman Keith Christensen has been spending his campaign contributions like a drunken sailor Howard Dean.


In January 2004, Howard Dean switched (at least) his New Hampshire signs from blue with yellow writing to yellow with blue writing.


Keith too has changed his white background signs to ones with green and blue backgrounds and white writing. Why?

Because both candidates had too much money too soon and didn't know how to manage it. Howard Dean had something like $50M in 2003. He spent money on those "perfect storm" orange hats and tote bags for supporters to door knock in Iowa (which flopped), late night paid programming in Madison, WI (where he lost), and to change the color scheme of his signs in New Hampshire (where he got second place).

Keith Christensen raised over $500K to date. Yet with half of his money gone, he is right about where he was when the last poll was taken. Why? Well he isn't exactly progressive. And he has spent money on billboards for a mid-sized city race and he has changed color schemas for his lawn signs.

This means that he had to have people go around and replace old lawn signs by asking current supporters to swap signs. This takes time effort and risks people saying why don't you just take the old one and don't give me the new one. It is also a sign of desperation.

In 2004, when I saw this in New Hamsphire, I knew HoHo wasn't going to win. The move is designed to catch your attention and seem like a sudden growth of support, when in reality, it is the same number (or less) of supporters. So when I saw the new signs cropping up on my dog walks, I knew Keith isn't going to be left standing on September 12.