Old Alliances Fracturing?
Remember the old Cowboy Caucus that became a force in the Utah Legislature during the 1980s and '90s. It combined a fierce independent spirit with conservative politics that legislative members felt served their rural constituency quite well.
That morphed a few years ago into the Conservative Caucus that took on more modern political issues than the old water, road and land-use issues dear to the Cowboys. The most notable issue, that has garnered the most passion among Conservative Caucus members, is private school vouchers.
But another remnant of the old Cowboy Caucus is the Rural Caucus, also made up of Republican conservatives, like the Conservative Caucus, but with some differences, most notably private school vouchers.
It has caused a split among the conservative faction of the Republican Caucus in the House, because most rural House members, who represent some of the most Republican areas in the state, are not for vouchers.
As one Rural Caucus member told me, vouchers would hurt rural schools. And in rural Utah, the town revolves around the high school.
Rural schools would lose money, he said, and there are next to no private schools in rural Utah, so there is no advantage.
There are about a dozen members of the Rural Caucus, compared to a couple dozen in the Conservative Caucus, and the two conservative groups are growing further apart.
Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, is an officer in the Rural Caucus and an outspoken pro-voucher advocate in the Conservative Caucus. There was some talk about dumping him as an officer among the Rural Caucus members, although at their last meeting that didn't happen.
Still tensions are high within the party that Ronald Reagan built.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
That morphed a few years ago into the Conservative Caucus that took on more modern political issues than the old water, road and land-use issues dear to the Cowboys. The most notable issue, that has garnered the most passion among Conservative Caucus members, is private school vouchers.
But another remnant of the old Cowboy Caucus is the Rural Caucus, also made up of Republican conservatives, like the Conservative Caucus, but with some differences, most notably private school vouchers.
It has caused a split among the conservative faction of the Republican Caucus in the House, because most rural House members, who represent some of the most Republican areas in the state, are not for vouchers.
As one Rural Caucus member told me, vouchers would hurt rural schools. And in rural Utah, the town revolves around the high school.
Rural schools would lose money, he said, and there are next to no private schools in rural Utah, so there is no advantage.
There are about a dozen members of the Rural Caucus, compared to a couple dozen in the Conservative Caucus, and the two conservative groups are growing further apart.
Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, is an officer in the Rural Caucus and an outspoken pro-voucher advocate in the Conservative Caucus. There was some talk about dumping him as an officer among the Rural Caucus members, although at their last meeting that didn't happen.
Still tensions are high within the party that Ronald Reagan built.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
2:24 PM
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1 Comments:
Can't have it both ways...either rural areas don't have any private schools (making vouchers irrelevant)...or the few rural public schools will be hurt by voucher-driven student-flight.
PTM
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