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Friday, July 25, 2008

Take my veep. . .please.

John McCain proved this week he would be a laff-a-minute president by perpetrating a curious hoax to steal media attention from globe-trotting Barack Obama.

McCain's staff lied (fibbed, if you prefer) to news media, including influential columnist Robert Novak, that the GOP candidate would choose his running mate by the end of the week.

Novak, the chump, finally realized it was "a dodge":

I got a suggestion from a very senior McCain aide . . . that he was going to announce it this week [and] suggested I put it out.They were trying to get a little publicity to rain on Obama's campaign. That's pretty reprehensible if it's true.

Some guys just don't like getting pranked.

Later on the Straight Talk Express campaign plane, McCain responded to questions about the bogus story with a twinkle in his rheumy eye. He blew off reporters, quipping:

What do you want, you little jerks?

I wonder if Mitt Romney was in on the joke?

Could pay our own way?

The Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation, which annually spends millions to improve U.S. education, is holding a retreat in Park City as part of a two-year program to train school board members to make better policy decisions.

The program, called Reform Governance in Action:

. . . trains he nation’s most promising reform-minded school boards and superintendents to become effective, high-performing teams . . . to establish a wide range of efficient and effective policies and processes that will improve board operations, strengthen management oversight and directly improve learning opportunities for students.

The foundation paid the way to Park City for attendees from Antioch Unified School District, Calif.; Elizabeth Public Schools, N.J.; Houston Independent School District; Memphis City Schools and School District of Philadelphia.

Unfortuantely, no districts from Utah, which ranks last on a few educational scales and is wrestling with ideas like school vouchers and merit pay, was not invited to attend the innovative Park City gathering.

G-men fight polyg Mob

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says polygamous groups are a "sophisticated, wealthy and vast criminal organization." Reid, a Mormon, called a hearing on polygamy before the Judiciary Committee on Pioneer Day. Reid took the opportunity to call on the federal government to investigate, pursue and prosecute polygamists.

The lawless conduct of polygamous communities in the United States deserves national attention and federal action.

Reid, who is pushing for a federal anti-polygamy task force, did not give any polygamists, who argue they are practicing their religion under the protection of the First Amendment, an opportunity to defend themselves at the hearing.

Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the FLDS church, pointed out Reid's fair-play omission:

You don't take an entire group of people and go after them, target them, profile them, without any evidence and that's exactly what you heard here today.

The meeting was an effort by Mormon U.S. senators Reid and Orrin Hatch, Bradshaw said, to carry out the LDS church's recent image campaign to separate itself from the polygamous splinter groups.

You couldn't listen to that hearing and come away with any conclusion other than these senators who are LDS are very concerned about being tied to the FLDS and this hearing in large respect is about trying to distinguish or run away from the issues.

In an amazing display of oral dexterity, Hatch managed to make a statement to the committee without once uttering the word "polygamy."

Bob vs. God

A federal investigation into the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster is surprising only in how blatant the company was in putting coal production over miner safety.

A year ago next month, six miners and three would-be rescuers were killed in a series of catastrophic collapses in the coal mine in Huntington Canyon. The mine's co-owner Bob Murray quickly became infamous for claiming the disaster was caused by an earthquake—blaming it on God, who, the last I heard, can't be sued.

When some safety experts, geologists, journalists and even families of the victims had the temerity to question if the mine had been safe, Murray lashed out in press conferences and threatened lawsuits.

Now, we have two reports:

• The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration found that the mine was poorly designed. Even then, the operator violated the approved mine plan and withheld from inspectors crucial information that showed how dangerous conditions were.

• A U.S. Labor Department review supported MSHA's findings, but went further —blasting MSHA itself for dereliction of duty in inspecting the mine.

No one who attended the endless impromtu press conference that Murry held around the clock outside the mine last August (I attended several) should be surprised by the findings. Bob was obviously a man with a guilt conscience. Going without sleep and donning miner's overalls to personally go into the death-trap with rescuers, it often seemed he were trying to do public penance for the sins of greed and pride.

The Crandall operators have been slapped with the biggest fine in MSHA history: $1.6 million. And the U.S. Attorney for Utah will look into criminal charges.

And Murray apparently has succumbed to the cardinal sins again. His company blew off the MSHA findings:

This report . . . appears to have been tainted in part by 10 months of relentless political clamoring to lay blame for these tragic events.

It's time for Bob to have his people talk to God's people.

Out, out, blue stain

Congressman Jim Matheson continues one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated on Utah voters.

The immensely popular Second District representative has managed to convince unsuspecting conservative marks that he belongs to the Not-a-Democrat political party.

Investigative reporters have discovered that Matheson is not only a Democrat, but son of storied Democratic governor Scott M. Matheson!

Matheson pulls off his Not-a Democrat dodge by avoiding all association with Dems and their liberal ways. He never puts a tell-tale donkey on his campaign literature, votes with President George Bush every chance he gets and above all, he stays far, far away from Democratic national conventions. Jim missed the last two because he was so darn busy campaigning to stomp his Republican opponents.

In a weak moment, however, Matheson admitted his true party affiliation to the Tribune:

It is what it is. I'm a Democrat.

The upcoming Demcratic convention way out in Denver will be historic. The first black candidate ever will be nominated for president. Unfortunately, Jim again can't make. His son is going to begin fourth grade. Says the Not-a-Democrat:

It is kind of an important week to be around.

Photo above: A good con is in the details — Matheson's subtle, yet ever present, red tie.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

More change at KCPW

Lara Jones, KCPW's news director and host mid-morning "Public Square," community affairs show, is leaving.

Jones, who was deeply involved in the successful effort to keep the station a National Public Radio affiliate, next month will begin a public information job with Salt Lake Police.

Chief Chris Burbank "asked me to help out in communication," she says, but no specific job title has been created.

Jones says she is "whistful," about the timing of the job offer that will mean leaving the station before it gets full FCC approval, expected this fall.

"There's nothing to read into it whatsoever. The offer came when it came, there was nothing to do about that," she says of her departure from the station, which along with its sibling KPCW in Park City has weathered its share of controversy. Listeners rallied to buy the station from Park City Wireless rather than see it sold to a Christian broadcasting network.

Now, KCPW needs a replacement host on "Public Square." Fortunately, Blair Feulner, formerly the mid-morning host at KPCW, is available!

Jumping the gun

Last we heard John McCain hasn't picked Mitt Romney as his running mate. But Michigan Dems already are gunning for the former Michigan governor's son.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer tells the Chicago Tribune, why wait? He scores Mitt an F on economic savvy.

We've noticed 'Mitt' and 'Michigan' showing up in the same sentence a lot lately, so we thought it was time to take a hard look at Romney's record on the issue that matters most to Michigan voters--jobs.
Conventional wisdom in Washington might be that Romney's business experience means he's good on the economy, but even the slightest glance at his record indicates otherwise.

You would think Mitt would catch a break because he was born in Michigan. But the Dems there point out that as a venture capitalist his financial machinations sometimes resulted in factories being shut down and workers losing jobs.

Rocky, the sequel

And you thought after Ralph Becker was elected, the news would be Rocky-free.

Ha.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has long had a bone to pick with the Bush administration's near-dictatorial power grabbing, wiretapping and torture. Finally, he's going to get to spout off to some folks who can actually, maybe, do something about it.

Anderson will testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on presidential abuse of power. In his usual silver-tongued way, he explains:

I'll be addressing some of the more egregious abuses such as the complete disregard of Congress' statutory laws, the Constitution and treaty obligations by engaging in such outrageous and in many instances unprecedented practices. I'll also be addressing the president's assertion of completely unrestrained power and his theory that during the so-called War on Terror neither Congress nor the courts can restrict what the president does.

Got that?

It says something about both Rocky and Utah that probably half the thoughtful people in the state, including the far right — would agree with him. But Rocky insists on delivering his message in away that terminally annoys just about everyone.

Was it worth it?

The test of whether the raid on the FLDS polygamous ranch in Eldorado, Tex., was a flat-out fiasco or actually might accomplish something has begun.

A Texas grand jury handed down indictments, including a sexual assault of a child charge for FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who also is awaiting trial in Arizona. A handful of his followers were indicted for charges that include sexually assaulting girls under the age of 17. Authorites aren't naming them until they are rounded up.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who personally participated in the grand jury hearing, says it is not over yet:

The indictments issued today are part of an ongoing and continuing criminal investigation.

He better hope it isn't, considering the mess Texas created in placing more than 400 FLDS kids in foster care before the Texas Supreme Court ruled child welfare authorities over-reacted.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Open season on kids

You've got to wonder if some primeval population-control instinct is kicking in as Utahns get crowded tighter and tighter between the Wasatch mountains and the Great Lake. Like lemmings swarming off cliffs or eskimos putting their elderly on ice floes to float on into oblivion.

Seems like children, who apparently are in surplus around here, are being left in cars to die on a weekly basis.

• Certifiable knucklehead David Farnham leaves his son in a parked car while he attends a midnight showing of Dark Knight. Farnham tells officers he left the child in the car with the windows rolled up "so the child could not be taken out." (It sounds like one of the Joker's psychotic gags). Two-year-old Justin survives.

• A week ago, a couple leaves their child asleep in a car parked outside the Sears in Salt Lake. The kid is treated at a hospital for dehydration. Police report that neither parent ''seemed upset at the circumstances."

• In May, multi-level marketer Kamilyn Kartchner Hadley kills her infant son by leaving him outside in an ovenlike car while she makes a business call. She gets probation.

• In April, 18-month-old Myles Gailey's mom left him in the back of her car after a shopping trip. Three hours later, she remembers him. He is dead. No charges are filed against mom, Jana Gailey.

Thank our Heavenly Father that society has grown beyond the eye-for-eye concept of justice. Otherwise, somebody would suggest the parents in these cases be sentenced to being locked in a car in sun-blasted Sears parking lot, with the windows rolled up so they couldn't "be taken out."

Mitt's bucketful

Utah adoptee Mitt Romney's opportunity to be a bucket of warm piss* may be fast approaching.

The Evans-Novak Report says "sources close to John McCain's presidential campaign" are hinting he will reveal the name of his running mate this week. It reportedly would be a way to steal headlines from Barack Obama who is getting saturation coverage during his Middle Eastern trip.

ENR says the name of McCain's running mate has not been mentioned:

But Mitt Romney has led the speculation recently.

McCain told CBS News:

It’s pretty easy to heal the wounds, if there are any — and they were minor — when you have someone who’s very generous and wants to work with you for the good of the country.

*John Nance Garner, F.D.R.’s first vice presidents, supposedly compared the job to, “a bucket of warm spit.” He actually said "warm piss," but newspapers back then cleaned up his quote.

Wonderful day in the 'Gayborhood'

Although redevelopment projects in Salt Lake City's Marmalade/West Capitol Hill neighborhood appear stalled, a new gay nightclub on far north 300 West is rolling toward its opening.

The new smoke-free club, the only gay bar in the area, finally gives some credence to a QSaltLake story last winter that annointed the Marmalade: "Salt Lake's gayborhood." Some developers and real estate agents were annoyed when Channel 2's Rod Decker spread word of the appellation in a mayoral debate, asking candidates if they would support a Marmalade gayborhood.

The club, called Jam in the Marmalade, a play on the historic district's street names that include quince, apricot and almond, is expected to open mid- to late-August on the former site of the Cedar Lounge, a watering hole for truckers and railroad employees.

Part owner Robert McCarthy says the club is a milestone in the rejuvenation of Warm Springs Park area (which some residents insist on calling the "historic Refinery District"):

This is how small businesses get started, getting into this area and doing something beautiful that will also attract people to buy in the neighborhood.

Civics lesson for the kids

The Deseret News, citing unnamed sources, is reporting that any probe by the Legislature into ethical lapses, including allegations of bribery and sexual harassment, won't happen.

Appropriately, the negotiations between conservative and moderate Republicans and their Dem allies to kill an investigation — like the issues it sought to uncover — happened behind closed doors, out of sight and hearing of the public.

Two alleged bombshells the lawmakers avoided:

Former Rep. Mark Walker offered a job to his opponent Richard Ellis if Ellis dropped out of the state Treasurer race.
Rep. Steve Mascaro sexually harassed an intern during the last session.

An unnamed conservative Republican lawmaker told the DNews' Bob Bernick:

I don't see anything happening with Mascaro, unless something more from either side (in his case) comes up. And I don't think we'll see any (complaints against GOP leaders) from the other side, either.

What is obvious from the agreement is that both sides had enough dynamite—particularly in the realm of sexual impropriety — to blow each other sky high.

Still Walker, House Speaker Greg Curtis, the happy guy above, and the rest of the GOP cabal (not even Mascaro) are not out of the woods yet. Two county prosecutors looking into criminal charges related to the bribery charges have subpoenaed local television stations for tapes of interviews with the Treasurer candidates and Curtis.

Looks like it's time for Curtis to call an intergovernmental meeting... behind closed doors, of course.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Will KPCW flinch?

Blair Feulner has challenged the board of Park City public radio KPCW to a game of chicken.

Feulner, "voice" of KPCW who has been in salary negotiations, startled the board last week by giving himself a "sabbatical" leave. The Park City Record quotes Feulner from an email:

I am hopeful that an agreement will be reached that will mean I'll be behind the microphone and back on the air doing news six months from now.

The board reportedly had cut Feulner's unusually high general manager's salary and was unreceptive to his requests that regular sabbatical leaves be part of his contract.

Feulner, founded the station, but his decisions in the last couple years have brought financial reversals to its Salt Lake City sibling KCPW, which the board was forced to put on the block.

Joe Wrona, a Community Wireless executive committee member, told the Record that as "an employee of Community Wireless, [Feulner] does not have the authority to write his own ticket."

In a comment that should trouble KPCW supporters, Wrona added that the board "consists of people who were handpicked by Blair Feulner because of their friendship and loyalty to Mr. Feulner." Normally, non-profit boards recruit and select their own members, keeping the station manager's involvement to a minimum for obvious reasons.

We have obviously been placed in a very difficult dilemma by Mr. Feulner's statements and actions, and we are struggling to try to make decisions that are in the best interest of Community Wireless, and that do not constitute a betrayal of the trust that Community Wireless listeners, donors and employees have placed in the board of trustees."

In 2004, the handpicked board gave Feulner and his wife Susan an additional $895,000 one-time payment for handling the buying and selling of a Coalville radio license.

Photo above: Listeners rallied in the spring to separate Feulner from troubled SLC public station KCPW.

Bogeygirl

In Orrin's increasingly desperate attempts to scare up GOP cash, Hatch is proposing the ultimate nightmare scenario: Hillary Clinton in a long black robe.

Yes, Utah Sen. Hatch, as co-chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, actually sent out a call for cash saying an Obama presidency would mean Supreme Court Justice Hillary Rodham — presumably taking the seat that Orrin always coveted.

Already, whispers have started about who Barack Obama will appoint to the Supreme Court.
(Cue eerie organ music.)
His alleged first choice is Sen. Hillary Clinton.Who better to remake the courts into a political arm of the Democratic Party?

Because, as president, Barack Obama could appoint just about anybody to the the Supremes, it also is plausible that he would put Orrin's best buddy and early Obama supporter Sen. Ted Kennedy on the court.

I can hear songsmith Orrin's lyrics now:

Teddy, True of Heart, rode in on a white thoroughbred...

to save our God-kissed Constitution when it hung by a thread."*

I'm sure Rush Limbaugh and company would far prefer a Justice Chucky.

*To the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Reflecting on ethics

Rep. Dave Litvack, a member of the House Ethics Committee, writes a column in the Tribune, calling for continuing the attention on the ethics controversy at the Lege.

There could be no more harmful end to the issue of legislative ethics than to let it quietly go away.

Here it comes, you say, another House Dem taking a swing at the GOP.

Oh no, Litvack is quick to say:

Let me be very clear: I am not advocating for a criminal investigation of former Rep. Mark Walker; I am not asking for an ethics investigation into an "unnamed legislator"; nor, for that matter, am I speaking of any particular legislator or incident. (Like allegations of sexual harassment against a certain Dem?)

Litvack, House Democratic Whip, is so pious in rising above partisan politics that it he's good for a chuckle:

There are those who might be asking, "Why are you complaining? Since you are a Democrat, the Republican infighting and divisiveness are giving you the perfect campaign issue." People have actually said this to me.

Then, what are we supposed to do, Dave?

Why follow the advice of Republican Dave Clark, of course, and demand

". . . elected officials at all levels [reflect] on the important role we play and the way in which we conduct ourselves in that role."

But I ask that we take it a step further and call upon all Utah legislators to lead by action and make restoring the public's trust and confidence a top priority.

Sounds good. Everyone together now:

Hey you legislators, start reflecting and make ethics a top priority!

Let us know when things change up the Hill, Dave.

Meanwhile, in the Deseret News, John Florez also calls for ethics reform, noting:

Most disturbing is that some in the minority party, once known as the "friendly opposition," have now become the "silent minority" and just get along so they can keep their seats.

Rethinking roads

Will the fuel crunch finally bring about a dramatic change in the way Utahns and their lawmakers view transportation? It better have, says a new study, or economic development on the Wasatch Front will be hamstringed.

The Brookings Institute Mountain Megas study, which calls for a shift of thinking from simply building highways to more innovative transportation solutions, is mainly aimed at federal policy, but it could just as well be applied to state and local decisions. The Tribune's Brandon Loomis reports:

If Congress continues to shrink from infrastructure spending and to insist its money go mostly to roads, Brookings scholars predict Utah could sprawl in ways that choke productivity. The Salt Lake region must keep up with 1.5 million newcomers over 30 years.

Study author Mark Muro is impressed with how Wasatch Front cities have cooperated on transportation, but says the stakes remain high:

The region has more to lose or gain than any other.

Flippin' Mitt

Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review Online mounts a persuasive defense of Mitt Romney against a political accusation that has dogged him during his presidential run: flip-flopping.

Some have applied the old weather joke to Romney: Don't like his position on something? Wait five minutes, it'll change.

Yes, Lopez argues, Romney changed his positions on abortion and gay marriage, but it was a result of discussion with experts and deep thought, not political expediency.

... and, as a result, he changed his mind about abortion, cloning, and other destruction of innocent human life. Ditto on gay marriage: Once he was forced to confront the issue, once he realized the lengths to which activists will go to make it law, once the supreme court of Massachusetts instituted same-sex marriage there, he changed his mind.

Good for him. They say it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Well, it’s even harder for a grown man in public life to say, “I was wrong.” Romney has. Good for him.

Of course, a cynic might argue that this is case of a conservative pundit flip-flopping on Mitt's flip-flopping. The column comes amid growing evidence that John McCain, who once said Mitt made his "skin crawl," may flip-flop on Mitt as a running mate.

Friday, July 18, 2008

A Mitt resource

Dickapedia, "a wiki of dicks," has added an entry for Utah's native-like son Mitt Romney.

Highlights of the entry include:

Romney’s great-grandparents fled to Mexico so they could practice [polygamy]. The family returned to the United States after Mitt’s father was born. In summation: Mitt Romney’s ancestors were sex addicts, and his father was a Mexican immigrant.
Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games . . . . Romney’s Games made $100 million in profit, which is really what the Greeks had in mind all along.
He began his term [as Massachusetts' governor] as a proponent of domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, and ended it urging the U.S. Senate to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
Romney is currently against the conservative trifecta of abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, despite the fact that the latter may hold a cure for his wife Ann’s multiple sclerosis. He supports the Iraq war, the death penalty and withholding constitutional rights from suspected terrorists. All positions, of course, are subject to change.

Wringing oil out of Utah

A major political, economic and environmental decision ahead for Utahns is whether to exploit the state's oil shale.

On one side of the debate are conservatives, including Third Congressional District candidate Jason Chaffetz, who say squeezing the pre-oil goop out of western shale is the answer to America's energy problems.

On the other side, environmentalists argue oil shale development would be environmentally catastrophic, even if it were possible—which, they quickly add, it is not.

For those of us who have no idea what they are talking about, the Wall Street Journal offers a quick, painless primer on the realities of oil shale extraction. (Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to read it online.)

The article includes a section on technology that Schlumberger Ltd. hopes will allow them to microwave the oil out of Utah shale while it's still in the ground.

But any production is at least a decade off and many investors, not just environmentalists, predict it will never be financially worth the effort. Investment banker Matthew Simmons:

We can technically put a human on Jupiter. Being technically practical and technically possible are two very different things.

Radio Hubris

After a fit of wheeling and dealing that put Salt Lake public radio station KCPW into a tailspin, it looks as if would-be public radio tycoon Blair Fuelner is trying to do the same for its sibling in Park City.

After nearly three decades as the leadership and voice of Park City NPR affiliate KPCW, Feulner walked off his morning news show earlier this week, reportedly in a snit because the non-profit station's board refused to cave to his contract demands. Feulner told listeners he was taking a sabbatical and might not be back.

Joe Wrona, a trustee of Community Wireless of Park City, was as surprised as the listeners:

The board of trustees will have to meet to determine whether we want to revisit Blair Feulner's employment status. We have to deal with an employee who up and walked off the job.

Salt Lake's KCPW is out of the line of fire, at least. A community group, Wasatch Media, is wrapping up its purchase of the station from Community Wireless. Feulner put together a $2.5 million AM license deal that had sent the station skidding in red ink. Even though the Salt Lake community had supported the station financially and through volunteers, it was forced to bid against a Christian radio network to retake control of KCPW.

But it was reports on Feulner's extravagant pay package that angered many contributors. Blair's 2004 compensation included an $895,000 payment for negotiating the sale of a Coalville radio license and six-figure salaries for Blair and his wife—then an executive at the station. The non-profit reported a $675,000 operating deficit for the year.

Blair reportedly has been pressuring the Community Wireless board for a "golden parachute" retirement package.

The new Mormon exodus

Tribune religion writer Peggy Stack reports that Mormon families are fleeing Salt Lake City, the historic heart of the LDS culture, for the suburbs.

As Mormons move to the suburbs, downtown Salt Lake City has grown more religiously diverse - and often more attractive to outsiders.

In the past few years, Mormons near the city center have prayed for more of their own to move in, while real-estate agents alert potential homebuyers that these areas have the smallest LDS concentration.

The exodus includes many of the church's highest officials. The Daybreak community in the southwest Salt Lake Valley, in particular, is becoming a haven for young LDS families.

Bizarro Utah

Anderson Cooper 360 features an iReport on Democrats in Utah.

Associate producer Jack Gray says he wanted to spend time with Democrats in a heavily Republican state. And in Utah, boy howdy, he got what he was looking for:

Democrats in Utah inhabit a veritable political “bizarro world.” The state is indeed rural, heavily Mormon, and conservative. But there is also a strong, albeit small, group of Democratic activists (including Mormons) working to advance the Democratic Party platform within Utah.

His interviews with out-of-the-closet Democrats at Brigham Young University are especially striking. One Cougar Dem says:

I definitely feel on edge. You are allways readly for a fight. I know that sounds bad. . .I don't like to argue, but as soon as people find out I'm a Democrat, that's what they like to do and I'm not going to back down. Why should I have to back down like I'm doing something wrong?

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Inside the sausage factory

The Deseret News offers a stomach-churning glimpse into the inner workings of an influential contract lobbyist at the Legislature. These hired guns for special interests probably have more say over your taxes and quality of life than your district's senator and house member.

Using the most recent lobbyist filings, the DNews finds that independent lobbyist (and former lawmaker) Paul Rogers dined with a legislator two out of every three days on behalf of one or more of his 33 clients.

Unfortunately, the article leaves the most important questions unanswered. Such as, exactly who is getting most of Rogers' attention? It says something about the sliminess of relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers that most gifts and lunch come in just under the state's $50 cut off for reporting a lawmaker by name. On a related subject, Rogers says:

There are some (legislators) who will go Dutch — pay their half of the lunch. They don't want me to expense anything to them."

I don't know about you, but I'd love to know the names of the lawmakers who pay their own tab, if only to submit the information to the Guinness World Record judges.

And I wonder how many of Utah's part-time lawmakers, many of whom are lawyers and accountants, have business relationships with the corporations the lobbyists represent.

Finally, in the grand journalistic tradition of Follow the Money, I'd like to know how much Rogers rakes in for ingratiating himself, lunch after lunch, golf game after golf game, with some of the most pompous, self-righteous knuckleheads on God's green earth? Whatever it is, he earns it.

What wine goes with $45 million?

Mitt Romney is going to tuck in his napkin and eat the record-setting $45 million in personal loans he made to his own primary campaign.

The Boston Globe speculates the move could improve his chances to become John McCain's running mate because it would "clear away the last remnants of a divisive primary race."

But Mitt's largess to himself, proving that rich guys can bankroll campaigns, could run afoul of McCain's reform message. Says political analyst Stuart Rothenberg:

Democrats would use it as an issue. They would they try to undermine [McCain's] reputation as ‘Mr. Reformer.’

Meanwhile, soon to be retired Third District Congressman Chris Cannon also may have a bitter meal ahead. Cannon has to pay back $328,000 of debt from his failed re-election campaign — including $138,000 of he lent himself.

Bad times are good for gay marriage

Columnist Gail Collins of The New York Times recalls the good old days when then-Gov. Mitt Romney revived a forgotten law to keep Massachusetts from becoming “the Las Vegas of same-sex marriages.”

By next week, the Massachusetts Legislature is expected to overturn that law and open the state to thousands East Coast same-sex couples who can't marry in their own states. What a difference an economy in the toilet makes. Says Collins:

With the economy the way it is, becoming the Las Vegas of anything whatsoever began to sound like a good deal. California has been raking in money from weddings of out-of-state gay couples since a court made same-sex marriage legal there.

The Massachusetts change opens a second front for the LDS Church, which has called on its members to fight for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in California.

But with a long recession settling in, is California willing to abandon the economic boost gay marriage has brought?

Build-a-Congressman

Chubby Rob Bishop, Utah's First District congressman/sweater model, is so cute and amiable who wouldn't want to own him?

But you'd better hurry because shares in Rep. Rob are going fast. EnergySolutions already owns a full third of the congressman.

The Tribune's Matt Canham reports the Utah-based hazardous waste company has given Bishop nearly $25,000 since April. Bishop's opponent, Democrat Morgan Bowen, points out the obvious:

He's not the people of the First District's congressman. He's EnergySolutions'.

And Rep. Rob is a handy appliance, indeed, for for a corporation that is fighting a bill in Congress that would block its attempt to import foreign radioactive waste to its dump in Tooele County.

Not that incumbent Bishop needs the money. The DNews reports that he used $30,000 in taxpayers cash to send out information mailers that amount to campaign brochures.

Damage control

Republicans in the Legislature are working to douse an ethics wildfire that threatened to get out of control. The spreading allegations could have besmirched leaders at the highest levels.

House Speaker Greg Curtis met with renegade Republican, Rep. Cheryl Allen yesterday. Moderate Republicans led by Allen and Rep. Steve Mascaro have publicly clashed with conservatives. The division between the two groups turned ugly when the moderates joined some Democrats to file an ethics complaint against former Rep. Mark Walker, alleging he had attempted to bribe an election opponent.

Rep. Steve Urquhart called the dissidents a "cancer." Soon after, a sexual harassment complaint against Mascaro was conveniently unearthed.

Now, GOP House leaders are offering the carrots. Urquhart has ceased his jibes and the speaker is offering heart to hearts.

Curtis shared few details from his meeting with Allen:

The consensus was, let's start a healing process.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A Utahn in the White House

Even though our pseudo-native son Mitt Romney got bounced in the primaries, Utah still has a chance to have a direct connection to the White House.

You can join the campaign to convince the Obamas to adopt a family dog from the Best Friends Animal Society near Kanab.

Think of it, one of Michael Vick's rescued fighting pit bulls with its paw on the ICBM launch button and a hotline to Utah! It would be just like having John McCain in the White House.

Recently, the Obama kids, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, told Access Hollywood they had been promised a family dog after the presidential campaign ended.

The American Kennel Club offered the Obamas a list of purebred dogs. But Jon Dunn at Best Friends, has another idea:

While we love animals of all types here at Best Friends, we believe the winning choice for Obama and the dogs, would be for the Obamas to adopt. They can still get any breed they want, we would just like to see the dog come from a breed rescue or shelter.

Sign the petition urging the Obamas to get a rescued mutt — a Utah mutt.

Just like Conference

If you loved International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a local group is going to take it to a lower level next month — the first annual SLC Zombie Walk.

Who doesn't love staggering around downtown with a dazed stare, making guttural sounds — basically my weekend M.O.

Interested? Get the lowdown here. Including vital info about staying in zombie character:

This may include grunting, groaning and slurred, moaning calls for 'brains'. It should be noted that zombie behavior is a hot topic of debate. Purists who draw their definitions from the original Living Dead films will claim that a zombie would never have the ability to call for 'brains' and furthermore that a zombie needs only living (or freshly killed) flesh for its sustenance and not the brain in particular.

A dress rehearsal held recently outside the KUTV Channel 2 studios downtown shows the potential of the Zombie Walk.

A hat tip to X96 Radio from Hell.

Roundball diplomacy

To prepare for the Beijing Olympics, Iran's national basketball team will train in Utah and play this week in the Utah Jazz-sponsored Rocky Mountain Revue against NBA teams. The Iranians will also get to talk with players and coaches.

NBA commissioner David Stern says basketball can promote understanding:

In an increasingly turbulent world, it is rewarding to bring people together to celebrate teamwork, discipline and respectful competition on the court,

Iran will play two games against the NBA D-League Ambassadors. Then will play Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz squads at Salt Lake Community College.

Best buds

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch has finished his musical ode to Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Conservative Republican Hatch says he was encouraged by several Democratic senators to put to music his feelings about liberal Ted Kennedy. They hope to play Hatch's ditty, Headed Home, as a tribute to Teddy at next month's Democratic convention, proof that friendship can rip through party lines.

Hatch and Kennedy have share a bond perplexing to many conservatives back in Utah. Hatch says Kennedy is "a special person to me. I want to honor him this way."

Hatch says his lyrics refer to Kennedy's heroic return to the Senate after being treated for a brain tumor:

Sailing home, sailing home. America, America, we're headed home at last . . .
Just honor him, honor him, and every fear will be a thing of the past. . . .

It's probably too late to bring this up, Orrin, but where I come from, "gone home" is a euphemism equivalent to "bought the farm" or "pushing up daisies." It gives the song a distinctly different twist.

Major irritation

Utah Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor tells reporters he's "irritated" with the incessant speculation that Carlos Boozer is talking to the Heat and will opt out of his final year with the Jazz to sign with Miami.

But O'Connor is not ready to scratch yet — i.e. ask the NBA to look into possible contract tampering with the Jazz's power forward. O'Connor says he has just too much respect for Miami president Pat Riley and GM Randy Pfund to think they'd entice Boozer:

I really have a great deal of confidence that that's not something that they would do. I really do. I really feel that way.

Really? Not to annoy O'Connor, but the Miami Herald is reporting that the Heat will begin contract talks with Shawn Marion who is being courted by several teams. One option for the Heat is to let his contract expire next summer and go for Boozer.

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