Wednesday, March 04, 2009

This week (OK, last week), Sen. Howard Stephenson and Rep. Greg Hughes chat up the enemy, a couple guys who want to be U.S. senator, and conservative wunderkind Jason Chaffetz about gays, unions and other bogeymen. (Greg Curtis, where are you?)

-- Stephenson opens the show bragging how he made news last week by discussing how Sen. Chris Buttars was booted out of two committee assignments because he broke a vow of silence, not for his anti-gay interview. (Stephenson took a fair amount of heat for his revelation). He magnanimously takes credit for trying to keep newspapers afloat. Hughes says papers are dying and points to the closure of The Rocky Mountain News, which he says is a parent organization of The Salt Lake Tribune. (Not exactly. The Rocky was in a joint operating agreement with The Denver Post, which is owned by MediaNews, which owns The Trib).

-- Democratic Sen. Scott McCoy is on to discuss gay issues. Hughes points out that, in his previous life, McCoy was a "soldier in the Gingrich Revolution." "It kind of makes me like Anakin Skywalker," says McCoy. Hughes suggests that "maybe you can switch teams on us here." "Maybe in one respect," says McCoy (who is gay). The Red Meat All-Stars bring back classic material from several months ago, where I explain (on tape) that Democrats get less attention from the press because what they do is of less consequence. "You know, they're a dying breed, right?" says McCoy (et tu, senator? No more nice-guy liberal media treatment for you). Stephenson says the liberal media sensationalizes stories about gay protestors descending on General Conference. McCoy reassures them "as King of the Gays" that "Death Star is deployed far away from here." (It's in Massachusetts).

-- Rep. Steve Mascaro is on to represent the "revenue enhancement caucus." (There's an idea that can't fail). He says that rather than take highway patrol troopers off the road, close courthouses and release prison inmates, there are 20 or so lawmakers who think the food tax should be discussed. (After discussing it this week, the House Republicans said, "No, thanks.")

-- Sen. Bob Bennett offers up a riveting fact-filled lesson on the history of the District of Columbia and the prospect for a fourth congressional seat for Utah. Bennett opposed the Utah fourth seat. "I said there's no way this thing can be fixed to make it Constitutional." The whole goal, he says, is to get two senators for the District. In the mix, Bennett recites the entire history of the District, most of which he has observed first-hand. (Gripping).

-- Red Meat darling Jason Chaffetz makes his opposition simpler: D.C. is not a state. He calls the fourth seat plan part of a "massive political and stunning political land grab" (kind of like redistricting). He says that, if the bill passes, D.C. will not only get a House member, but will keep its (non-voting) delegate. "They will have more representation than any other state." (Except for Wyoming, and all those states that have two senators, meaning, well, all of them). Plus, Chaffetz says, the fourth seat will be challenged in court, and that will take years to decide (an excellent point, except any challenges are fast-tracked to go straight to the Supreme Court).

-- Stephenson talks about how pleased he is with the Supreme Court ruling on Utah's (and Idaho's) Paycheck Protection law that says the state can't deduct political contributions to a union political action committee. He says he's worked on the issue for 15 years. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff drove down from Cache County to be in the studio (hey, good time to shore up the credentials with the conservative crowd if you were, say, running for some office and had supported stuff like hate crimes legislation in the past) and discuss Paycheck Protection. Stephenson suggests that, had the paycheck protection law been in place across the state before, liberal teachers unions might not have been able to kill Utah's voucher law. Shurtleff says that he is also on the board of "Save Our Secret Ballot," aimed at (depending on who you talk to) preserving secret union elections or helping stop unions from forming. (In sum: Unions are bad).

-- Caller "Mike" asks the big question: Will Shurtleff run against Senator Bennett. Shurtleff dodges, says he's not ready to decide yet. The AG has been doing lots of polling. "People are concerned and upset. They're worried about the economy and how we get out of it," he says. "It looks good." (This would be, the best political fight in Utah in at least 14 years. I'm giddy about it). Shurtleff says he's talked to Bennett about it. "I keep saying, 'I'm not running,' and he keeps saying, 'Yes, you are.'" (Yes, you are).

-- Rep. Becky Lockhart is on to discuss Jonah Goldberg's book on "liberal fascism." Mercifully, they run out of time, but not before Stephenson says of JFK's famous quote "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," that "There is no more fascist statement than that." (Someone isn't looking hard enough.) Goldberg was on The Daily Show a while back to discuss his book. It was entertaining: see it here.

-- Robert Gehrke