While Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Sen. Orrin Hatch have publicly aired their differences on the best strategy to keep nuclear waste out of western Utah's Skull Valley, those differences have not damaged their political relationship.

Huntsman, who recently called Hatch's continued support of the Bush administration's plan to put a permanent waste dump in Yucca Mountain, Nev., "ill advised," will announce today his public support for Hatch's re-election bid and he will co-chair the Hatch campaign, along with Sen. Bob Bennett, who also disagrees with Hatch on the nuclear waste dump issue.

Hatch has an announced Republican opponent to his bid for a sixth term next year in State Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, so there was some speculation about Huntsman's commitment to Hatch's campaign after his recent criticism of Hatch.

Republican office-holders criticizing other Republican officeholders is a rarity.

But Huntsman will put those doubts to rest today with his announcement backing the Hatch bandwagon.

Over the past few days, Republican state delegates have received survey questions from Dan Jones and Associates to determine what federal issues are important to them and their opinion of Sen. Orrin Hatch.

The survey, which obviously is being done on behalf of Hatch to determine his support among current state delegates, also asks whether delegates have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of President George W. Bush, Greater Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Director Lane Beattie, Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Sen. Bob Bennett.

That question is intriguing given the events of the past week in which Hatch is steadfastly sticking to the Bush Administration's plan to place a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., while his fellow Republicans are jumping off that horse and moving toward Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's attempt to keep the repository out of Nevada.

Bennett recently changed his position on Yucca Mountain and is now opposed to putting the repository there. Huntsman, in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune last week, was critical of Hatch, calling his support of Yucca Mountain ill advised.

So Hatch, apparently, wants to assess where the delegates are on that issue and whether they appreciate his support of the Republican president who was overwhelmingly supported by Utah voters in his re-election bid last year. Or, are they warming to the Republican leaders who oppose Yucca Mountain and are becoming increasingly critical of Hatch?

The survey also shows that Hatch is having a little anxiety over the challenge State Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, has launched against him for the Republican nomination next year.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

As you may know, Rep. Dave Clark, the sponsor of that hated piece of legislation last year that strips state workers of post-retirement health insurance they earned by banking their sick leave, has said he wants to do the same thing for legislators.

After being accused of hypocrisy because state lawmakers who serve at least four years in office get either discounted or free health insurance for themselves and their spouses after they hit age 62, Clark has introduced a bill for the 2006 session that would end that perk.

But not so fast.

Talk floating around legislative circles recently indicates some lawmakers are considering voting for the bill to show how magnanimous they are, but only after it is amended to grandfather into the existing system those legislators - themselves - who have already been in office long enough to qualify for the benefit. In other words, the sacrifice will be made by legislators elected in the future, not the ones who will be voting on the bill this winter.

At this point, the proposed amendment to exempt current lawmakers from making the sacrifice is in the rumor stage, so it still might not happen.

But it wouldn't be the first time legislators pulled a fast one on the public.

Remember in the early 1990s when serial candidate Merrill Cook began circulating a referendum petition that would put term limits on elected office holders, including legislators? Remember how the Legislature passed term limit legislation to squelch the petition drive? And remember how, when those term limits were about to end some legislative careers, they repealed the law?

If body language and rhetorical exchanges at recent sessions of the Legislature's Privately Owned Health Care Organization Task Force are any indication, watch for less than cordial relations between the House and the Senate when the 2006 legislative session convenes in January.

The task force is working on recommendations for future state policies regarding health care providers and insurance coverage, specifically whether Intermountain Health Care should be taxed and whether the state should force more competition by weakening IHC's hold on its insurance and provider relationships.

The House members on the committee, led by Speaker Greg Curtis, seem friendly to IHC's point of view on the issues. The Senate members are friendlier to IHC's competitors.

On Thursday, tension between those two sides oozed out a bit when Curtis, R-Sandy, mentioned that he couldn't meet on a certain day because he had a conflict.

"What's so special about your conflict?" sneered Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George.

Curtis gave Hickman a cool look, then smiled and said he was going to meetings at Yucca Mountain. Later, when members were discussing other dates, Hickman said he couldn't be there on severaldays.

"What's so special about your conflict?" chided the speaker, which seemed to rattle the southern Utah senator just a bit before he was able to smile and talk about his business commitments.

Just a petty little exchange perhaps, but watch for deeper fissures to form as the legislative session nears.

The sudden announcement from the Salt Lake City Mayor's office that spokesman Cliff Lyon was only a temporary volunteer sit-in until the mayor can find a permanent replacement may have a rest-of-the-story tint that needs some explanation.

When Lyon first took over for Deeda Seed, fired for alleged incompetence, there was no mention that he was volunteer or temporary. He says now that he didn't reveal that because it might make him less effective.

It seems he has done enough on his own to make himself less effective without the burden of a "temporary" label.

During the first days that Lyon was on the job, he told a Salt Lake Tribune reporter that Anderson was going to make a public apology about his perceived treatment of certain employees.

When the reporter put that information on The Tribune's Web site, Anderson apparently didn't like the word "apology." So Lyon told the reporter that she, not he, got it wrong.

That was the first glitch in his credibility with the press.

The second was when he did a similar dance with KCPW, telling one reporter with the radio station that Anderson was making a "mea culpa" and later denying that he had said that to another reporter with the same station.

When I wrote about the fact that the City-County Building was not flying its flag at half-staff like other government buildings to honor Katrina victims and the recently deceased Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, I had called Lyon to find out why.

He said he would get back to me with the answer, then never did, although the flag was flown at half-staff the next day.

After I wrote that Lyon never got back to me with the answers to my questions, he told Anderson that he left a message on my answering machine that evening, apparently gambling that I don't check my messages at night. Unfortunately for him, I do. He did not leave a message on my answering machine.

Lyon says he won't apply for the permanent job because he is overqualified. If that's true, I'd hate see the person who is underqualified.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

During the radio program on KCPW Monday that commemorated the 40th anniversary of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, former Hinckley director J.D. Williams was asked by a caller about Karl Rove, one of Williams' interns in the late 1960s.

Rove, as many people know, used the Hinckley internship as a stepping stone to Washington, D.C., where he became enmeshed in national Republican Party politics and has been credited with helping George W. Bush win two presidential races as well as his gubernatorial campaigns in Texas.

Rove' also has been embroiled in dirty politics controversies both in Texas and nationally and he has been targeted as a culprit in revealing a CIA operative's identity to discredit her husband - a Bush critic.

Williams, a devout and unapologetic Democrat, said Rove was a talented intern who did good work, but then Williams made an apology. He said the institute was in its early years and he was so busy getting it established, he failed to develop one program that probably would have benefitted Rove: Ethics in Politics.

When KCPW host Bryan Schott asked current Hinckley director Kirk Jowers, a Republican, if he would like to counter Williams' comments, Jowers responded: "You must remember I was involved in John McCain's presidential campaign in 2000."

McCain was vilified during the Republican primary in South Carolina. The former POW even had his war record questioned.

So when Jowers had the opportunity to defend his fellow Republican, he just said that Williams' comments were "interesting."

Congressman Jim Matheson had some harsh words for President Bush and the Republican congressional leadership Monday during a radio program on KCPW program commemorating the 40th anniversary of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.

Matheson, Utah's only elected Democrat in Washington D.C., participated as a caller to the program that featured former Hinckley directors J.D. Williams, R.J. Snow, Ted Wilson and current director Kirk Jowers.

Matheson said he strongly disagrees with Bush's decision to suspend the Davis Bacon Act during the rebuilding of New Orleans and other areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. That act requires that workers on federally funded projects be paid the equivalent of the average or prevailing wage in the area.

The issue is a big one, naturally, for organized labor which was such an integral ingredient to the success of the Democratic Party until its influence has seemed to wane in recent years. But Matheson's comments may be a signal to Democrats that labor issues once again should be emphasized, particularly in an era when retirement and health benefits are being scaled back and worker incomes have stagnated.

The new chairman of Utah's Democratic Party, Wayne Holland, comes from organized labor.

Matheson also criticized the growing deficit under the Bush Administration and said funds for the renovation will come from more debt spending. He said neither Bush nor the Republican leadership in Congress has shown any inclination of paring the deficit and the nation's debt is being purchased by foreign investors.

Matheson's words may be a welcome relief to Utah Democrats who have criticized him in the past for being too conciliatory to the Republican president. Matheson has survived three elections in a predominantly Republican district.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Watch for Lohra Miller, who was the Republican candidate for Salt Lake County district attorney, to announce soon that she once again will seek the D.A.'s job.

Earlier, Miller indicated she would not run for the job next year while fellow Republican Kent Morgan, a deputy D.A. in Democrat Dave Yocom's office, was making preparations to run.

But Miller, a contract prosecutor for some cities in Salt Lake County, has been making phone calls soliciting support and has indicated she is in the race. That will pit a stern critic of Yocom's office against one of Yocom's trusted deputies in the Republican county convention.

Miller lost a close race to Yocom in 2002 after criticizing the D.A. for being soft on certain types of crime. Since that race, Yocom has become a lightning rod for Republicans because of what they consider a political prosecution last year of former Republican County Mayor Nancy Workman.

On the Democratic side, Yocom, who has indicated he will retire at the end of his current term, has said he supports Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill, although Gill has not declared yet whether he will run.

Several Republicans tried to recruit long-time Democrat and former Yocom ally Greg Skordas to run for D.A. as a Republican, but sources say they have given up on the 2004 Democratic Utah Attorney General candidate because of his reluctance to switch parties. Skordas, who alienated Yocom and his Democratic supporters when he became Workman's defense attorney, still might run for D.A. as a Democrat, so both parties would have anti-Yocom and pro-Yocom candidates pitted against each other in their respective conventions.

The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts signaling the continuation of the trend toward a more conservative court brings to mind some remarks made by Utah Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham several years ago.

Durham was one of the speakers at a forum on the Bill of Rights at the State Office Building and noted attorneys filing civil rights suits probably would get a more sympathetic hearing if they filed in state court, claiming protections under the Utah Constitution, rather than in federal court where the justices might be less inclined to rule in favor of the plaintiff on privacy and other civil rights issues.

At the time, the five-member Utah Supreme Court consisted of justices appointed by Democratic Gov. Scott Matheson, while the U.S. Supreme Court was dominated by Ronald Reagan and George Bush appointees.

The supposition was that justices appointed by a Democrat might lean more toward privacy rights than those appointed by conservative presidents looking for "strict constructionists" for the federal court.

Since then, however, four of the five state justices have been appointed by former Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt. Durham is the only holdover from the old Matheson Court. So perhaps the implication of a "more liberal court" on the state side no longer holds. In fact, since Durham made those remarks, several states have switched from Democratic to Republican governors, so its logical to surmise state courts around the country will become more conservative in nature. If Roe vs. Wade is ever overturned and abortion becomes once again state regulated rather than federally protected, the trend toward more conservative elected officials at the state level could be significant.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

I wrote in Monday's blog about the curious tactics of the National Republican Congressional Committee - continually blaming Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson for allegedly voting just the opposite of how he really voted or chastising him for supporting initiatives put forth by Republicans.

The company doing most of the direct mail pieces for the NRCC - which caused a divide between the national committee and the Utah Republican Party last year - is Arena Communications, led by Utahn Peter Valcarce, a former campaign consultant for Congressman Chris Cannon, former Congresswoman Enid Greene and other Utah Republicans.

Valcarce was an early consultant to Gov. Jon Huntsman's campaign last year but was let go after Huntsman's campaign became concerned with the type of tactics he wanted to use. Huntsman wanted to keep the campaign on a higher level, without the personal attacks against the Democrat the NRCC mailings have become so famous for.

After parting ways with the Huntsman campaign, Valcarce wrote a memo to Huntsman that was highly critical of the campaign's direction. Whether Valcarce had a point or not, Huntsman won.

With Matheson up for re-election again next year and the Democrat still very much in the sights of the NRCC, it will be interesting to see what kind of literature Valcarce produces against Matheson, and how that will sit with state party officials.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which once again proved itself an ass by releasing a press release blasting Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson for voting against federal aid for Katrina victims when Matheson actually voted for the aid, has one little secret it's not telling Utah voters.

The Utah Republican Party, which has the same goal as the NRCC of electing Republicans, is as antagonistic toward the NRCC as the Democrats.

In fact, last year, Republican State Chairman Joe Cannon cut off the NRCC's use of the state party's non-profit postal privileges after the NRCC embarrassed Republicans with its ridiculous claims about Matheson.

The latest misfire, of course, has Republicans shaking their heads as much as Democrats. In Saturday's Salt Lake Tribune, NRCC spokesman Carl Forti justified the organization's lie about Matheson's vote by claiming he had voted against two procedural moves earlier. He then, incredibly, justified actions of the 11 Republicans who voted against the aid. In fact, only Republicans voted against the aid.

Last year, the NRCC was involved in direct mail campaigns on behalf of Matheson's Republican challenger, John Swallow. But Cannon cut off the use of the party's postal stamp after the NRCC sent fliers blasting Matheson for voting for a bill that was sponsored by Republican Congressman Chris Cannon and for supporting President Bush's drug benefit plan.

Somehow, in the NRCC's crazy logic, Matheson was bad for supporting what Republicans were good for sponsoring.

Utah Republicans say that next year, when the congressional campaigns get going, everything the NRCC does will be carefully reviewed before it will be allowed to be sent out under the name of the state Republican Party.

Utah's political types could be part of something rather unique next year as the campaign season gets into full swing for the 2006 elections: a Mississippi governor attending a Lincoln Day dinner. While Lincoln Day dinners are common fundraisers for the Republican Party in Utah and other states, it is not something that southern states normally do.

But when Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was unable to attend the Utah State Republican Convention and a fundraiser at John Price's house on the eve of the convention, he apologized to Sen. Orrin Hatch, who he was hoping to benefit with the visit, and said he would come back to help Hatch some time next year.

That, according to Hatch campaign staffers, could be at a Lincoln Day dinner in Utah.

Barbour, as I mentioned in my last blog, was unable to attend the convention because of a mixup. Because of commitments he had both Friday and Saturday in Mississippi, he couldn't travel commercially and needed a private plane, which the coordinators of the fund-raiser promised to arrange. They didn't notify the party until two days before the event that they had been unable to get a plane, so the fund-raiser and Barbour's appearance at the convention were canceled. Barbour, as the former chairman of the National Republican Committee, surely attended some Lincoln Day dinners. But this could be his first as the governor of Mississippi, where Lincoln is not exactly a household name.

Cheers, Paul Rolly

Mississippi Gov. and former Republican National Committee
Chairman Haley Barbour was to address the Utah State Republican
Party's convention last Saturday and appear for a party fund-raiser
on the eve of the convention, but he had to cancel the trip.
The pending assault on gulf states by Hurricane Katrina, which
hit the coast that following Monday, was the main reason given for
Barbour's absence.
There was another reason that hasn't been mentioned.
State Republican officials in charge of the fund-raiser were
supposed to arrange for the private jet to fly Barbour to Utah for the
fund-raiser and the convention. But they were unable to pull off the
logistics and a plane was never hired. They didn't let the party know
about that problem until Thursday, the day before the money-making
get-together. So that event was cancelled.
Republicans proved to be pretty red-blooded Americans however.
A few years ago, the party began a practice of asking for donations
from state delegates at the convention to help with party
responsibilities. This year, they also had a blood drive.
As one delegate put it: "They want our money and our blood."
The party collected 39 pints.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Some delegates at the Republican State Convention Saturday wondered if Sen. Orrin Hatch was having a senior moment, a brain cramp or just a coughing seizure, but he seemed to forget who represents Utah in the U.S. House of Representatives.

There was some buzz during the week about Hatch including Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson when he ticked off the members of Utah's great congressional team in Washington, making the claim that it was such a great team it shouldn't be broken up.

After Hatch's speech, Congressman Rob Bishop spoke to the convention and disagreed with the senator that there are five great members of the team. Bishop trimmed the "great" list to four, including himself, Congressman Chris Cannon and Sens. Hatch and Bob Bennett — all Republicans, of course.

But as Hatch was beginning his remarks and mentioning the great Utah team, he mentioned himself, Bennett, then, as he said Congressmen, he hesitated, appearing to clear his throat. The delay continued for about 10 seconds when an aide approached Hatch at the podium, gave him a glass of water and appeared to whisper in his ear. Hatch then put down the water without taking a drink and rattled off Bishop, Cannon and Matheson.

Congestion? State fright? Who knows. At least he didn't get booed this time.