State Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George, didn't appreciate it when the House Rules Committee voted to place the bill that would ban smoking in bars and private clubs in the Government Operations Committee instead of the Health and Human Services Committee, which he had requested.

Last is the House sponsor of the bill, which already has passed the Senate under the sponsorship of Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsvile. Last also is chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, which he assumed would get the bill.

But the majority of the members of the Rules Committee are said to be opposed to the bill, whose defeat is being strongly urged by the well-funded tobacco lobby. And the Government Operations Committee is rumored to have a number of opponents, as well, which possibly could mean the demise of the bill before it ever reaches a vote on the House floor.

Last stood on the House floor and requested the bill be moved to Health and Human Services, which it was.

That prompted Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, to stand on the House floor and complain that his bill to provide more money for Medicaid Services also was sent to Government Operations when it was supposed to go to the friendlier Health and Human Services Committee. He was accommodated as well, and the assignment for his bill was changed to Health and Human Services.

That means that if the Rules Committee purposely tried to funnel both bills to a committee that would defeat them, the members are encouraging more smoking in bars and less money to treat the illnesses second-hand smoke might cause.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

It has been reported that the Salt Lake County Council wants to hire retired Deputy District Attorney Karl Hendrickson to be the counsel's attorney and D.A. David Yocom has threatened to sue, claiming only the D.A.'s office can represent the council.

Here is the rest of the story:

When Republicans on the County Council got fed up with Yocom and claimed he was covering up a sexual harassment situation in the County Clerk's Office because it involved a fellow Democrat, they worked with legislators to run a bill that would give the council clear statutory authority to hire its own attorney.

The proposed legislation, which was to be sponsored by Republican Sen. Carlene Walker, caused apoplexy among Yocom and the Democrats on the council.

So who did Yocom dispatch to work with the council to fend off the bill? Karl Hendrickson, his then chief deputy.

Ultimately, the council Republicans backed off when a ''compromise'' was proposed, which basically put in place a system where the council and mayor could circumvent Yocom and get ''independent'' advice from an ''ombudsman'' type attorney in the DA's office.

Now, some of the Democrats who originally opposed the idea agree the council should have its own attorney, and it should be Hendrickson, one of the most respected local government attorneys in the state.

The council is pushing another bill on Capitol Hill to give it express statutory authority to hire an attorney.

The bill, which has not yet been introduced, is being referred to in the Republican-dominated Legislature as the ''poke'em Yocom'' bill and will be sponsored by Sen. Darin Peterson, R-Nephi.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Former Salt Lake County Council member Steve Harmsen is playing host to a Lincoln Club meeting Friday at 7 p.m. in which most Republican congressional candidates and several Salt Lake County hopefuls will strut their stuff.

The meet-the-candidate affair will be at the home of Harmsen, who was defeated in his re-election bid last year by Democrat Jenny Wilson but plans to run against Democratic Council member Jim Bradley this year.

Planners expect incumbent Congressmen Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon, from Utah's 1st and 3rd congressional districts, respectively, as well as 2nd District GOP candidates LaVar Christensen and Joe Tucker, and John D. Jacob, who is challenging Cannon for the Republican nomination in the 3rd District.

KSL radio host Doug Wright will also be at the meeting. Wright has been walking a fine line between his admitted interest in running against Democrat Jim Matheson in the 2nd District and his attempts at neutrality while doing his radio show on KSL.

The Matheson camp has already raised questions about the equity of Wright getting all that free air time on KSL every day while at the same time building coalitions for his candidacy.

KSL has said if and when Wright becomes an official candidate, he will be off the air. Wright reportedly will be at Harmsen's meeting, not as an official candidate, but to talk about issues important to him.

Republican Salt Lake County District Attorney candidate Kent Morgan also will be at the meeting, and Lohra Miller, who will challenge Morgan for the GOP nomination, may drop by.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Watch for Bob Roberts, a former all-American football player for Brigham Young University who served as mayor of West Jordan in the 1990s, to announce soon that he will be a Democratic candidate for Utah's 3rd Congressional District against Republican incumbent Chris Cannon.

Cannon, who is seeking his sixth term, already has a Republican opponent in millionaire real estate developer John D. Jacob. State Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, has also said he is considering running for the seat, but has not made a commitment.

Roberts, who recently returned from a mission presidency in South Africa for the LDS Church, has been an educator by profession, teaching at the elementary, junior high and high school level, where he also has been a football and tennis coach.

He played defensive back for BYU in the early 1970s, and was a co-captain for legendary coach Lavell Edwards for two years.

The Utah Democratic Party recruited Roberts on the recommendation of Larry EchoHawk, the former attorney general of Idaho who played football with Roberts at BYU and currently is a law professor at the school.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Milton Witt was elected just last summer to the position of vice chairman of the Salt Lake County Republican Party. At the time, he ran on the platform of helping more Republicans win elections and insuring incumbent Republicans would retain their seats.

Now, just six months later, he has resigned his position so he can run for the Legislature against Republican incumbent Kory Holdaway of Taylorsville.

Since one of the functions of the vice chair is to organize party caucus meetings, where the delegates to the party's convention are chosen, Witt was in a position to select the hosts for the caucuses and line up folks to run for delegates.

Republican insiders say Witt's candidacy against Holdaway is an attempt by the party's right wing to take out a moderate, pro-public education Republican legislator in favor of a candidate more inclined to favor vouchers for private and home schools.

Cheers, Paul Rolly

State Rep. LaVar Christensen has hired nationally known political strategist Eddie Mahe to be a campaign consultant for Christensen's bid to challenge Democratic Consgressman Jim Matheson in the 2nd Congressional District this year.

Christensen, a Republican from Draper, formed an exploratory committee late last year and confirms that when the first required disclosure report is filed with the Federal Elections Commission at the end of this month, it will show that he has retained the Foley Group, which is Mahe's consulting company.

Mahe, a former deputy chairman of the National Republican Committee, has consulted on campaigns dating back to the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidential elections.

He became a familiar face in Utah in the mid-1990s when he was hired to do damage control for then-Congresswoman Enid Greene Waldholtz, embroiled in a campaign finance scandal that eventually landed her ex-husband, Joe Waldholtz, in prison.

Mahe has also been a political consultant for former Gov. Mike Leavitt and a business consultant for Envirocare of Utah.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

If KSL Radio host Doug Wright runs as a Republican for the 2nd Congressional District, as is widely speculated, he won't be the only media guy to exchange a microphone for the stump this year.

Veteran radio and television newsman Phil Riesen confirms that he will run for the Utah State Legislature this year as a Democrat.

Riesen was a long-time radio news reporter before moving over to television, where he anchored the news for KTVX-Ch. 4 for several years. Recently, he has been a pitchman on TV for various products and has been involved in numerous public service projects.

He plans to run for House District 36 against two-term incumbent Republican Susan Lawrence in the Millcreek area on the east side of
Salt Lake County.

Riesen said he feels it's time for him to move into a different realm -- government service. ''I feel the Legislature needs more balance,'' he said, adding he has received a great deal of positive feedback from the Democratic Party and voters in his area.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Fred Lampropoulos, who ran an aggressive campaign for governor in 2004 but lost out in the Republican State Convention, is back in the political game.

And State Sen. Curt Bramble, who has considered challenging incumbent Congressman Chris Cannon for the Republican nomination this year, may want to reassess his popularity within the Republican ranks.

Lampropoulos defeated Bramble 90 to 42 in a vote of the Republican State Central Committee Saturday to become the new GOP national committeeman from Utah.

The vote was held to find a replacement for Winston Wilkinson, who resigned his political post to take a position as head of the Civil Rights Office at former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's Health and Human Services Department.

The GOP Central Committee, a pretty conservative bunch, held their meeting at the State Capitol Complex Saturday, just down the hall from a meeting of the Human Rights Coalition, a gay and lesbian advocacy group, at the same time.

The Human Rights Coalition was having a workshop on how to lobby the Legislature and one woman got a little lost, ending up in the room with the Republican Central Committee folks.

When a Central Committee member asked who she was, wanting to get to know someone he hadn't met, she said she was there to help the best she could. "My son is gay and my daughter is a lesbian," she said cheerily.

"You want to go to the other meeting down the hall," the friendly greeter advised.

Cheers, Paul Rolly

Republican State Sen. Parley Hellewell of Orem felt his conservative political star was rising so fast that he ran for governor in 2004.

Despite the fact that national conservative icon Alan Keyes gave the most stirring speech, on Hellewell's behalf, at the Republican Convention, Hellewell fared poorly when the delegates voted and was one of the first candidates eliminated.

Now, Hellewell, appears to be out of the political limelight altogether. Hellewell is expected to announce that he will not seek re-election to his state senate seat.

The word is that Republican Rep. Margaret Dayton, who lives in Hellewell's district and has already announced she would challenge him for the Senate, proved to be too strong and too intimidating.

Dayton, apparently, has shown strong support from Republicans in the area and, perhaps, Hellewell saw the proverbial writing on the wall.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

While not yet making a formal announcement, Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill is well on his way to being a Democratic candidate for Salt Lake County District Attorney.

Gill filed the paperwork with the County Clerk's Office to create a campaign finance committee and since has had two fund-raisers. The first was at his parents home a few weeks ago and the second was hosted by a friend on Thursday night.

Gill says several hundred people have shown their support by attending the fundraisers and he is encouraged by the turnout.

Another possible Democratic candidate, Greg Skordas, has not yet committed to the race, although he has said he is exploring a possible candidacy.

Two prospective Republican candidates, Lohra Miller, a contract prosecutor for some municipalities in Salt Lake County, and Deputy D.A. Kent Morgan, are expected to vie for the GOP nomination. Incumbent D.A. David Yocom, a Democrat, has said he will not run for re-election.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

There is a common thread shared by the life of Utah conservative master W. Cleon Skousen, who died Monday, and the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings this week on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

That would be Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Hatch already has placed himself in the seat of championing Alito while some other senators on the committee have expressed concerns the judge might have a preconceived conservative agenda for the court.

While other committee members have tried to get Alito to commit on such divisive issues as abortion rights and affirmative action, Hatch has focused on Alito's philosophy regarding the role of the court.

That puts Alito in the comfort zone of vague, noncommittal discussions about properly interpreting the laws of the lands as they pertain to the Constitution and not making new laws, since that is the role of the legislative branch.

Skousen, who was 92 at his death, was a leading conservative voice in Utah for several decades and founded two conservative think tanks that espoused the "original intent" idea of the U.S. Constitution - that the document should be taken literally and not as an evolving document that changes with the times.

That is where Hatch comes in with the Alito hearings, taking the nominee in a direction of conservative philosophy rather than conservative activism.

Hatch arguably owes his political careers, at least to a degree, to Skousen. Hatch was an unknown politician in 1976 when he ran for the Senate and it was Skousen and his ultra-conservative followers who gave him the backing that led to his defeat of better-known Republican Jack Carlson in the GOP primary, then his upset of three-term incumbent Democrat Ted Moss.

So Skousen, even in death, can take credit for some influence on major events of the day.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly

KSL Radio personality Doug Wright has said he has not decided whether to run as a Republican against Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson this year and KSL officials have said that if he officially announces, he will no longer be on the air, to avoid obvious conflict-of-interest problems at the station.

But he seems to be meeting with Republican support groups in connection with a possible candidacy while still serving as an independent commentator on KSL.

Wright was the featured speaker this morning with a conservative group known as the Leave Us Alone Coalition. The meeting was held at the Utah Republican Party headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City.

The group was founded by Gordon Jones, a staffer in the Salt Lake office of Republican Congressman Chris Cannon. In his e-mail to members, Jones urged them to come on time to the 8 a.m. meeting because Wright had to leave promptly at 9 to go to his day job -- being a radio host on KSL.

Wright was escorted around Washington, D.C., by Republican strategists to meet with GOP funding sources and assess his viability as a candidate.

Cheers,
Paul Rolly