Mr. Van Tassell goes to committee

Royce Van Tassell is the vice-president of the Utah Taxpayer's Association and policy voice on Capitol Hill for the UTA. (Not to be confused with the Utah Transit Authority-sometimes acronyms can be confusing.) He has extensive experience as a lobbyist on the Hill, but it's been a rough session for him so far. He tangled with the urbane, and always knowledgeable, Sen. Jon Valentine on Friday in his testimony against the increase in the cigarette tax.

Sen. Valentine won.

Monday morning, he appeared before the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. The committee was discussing 1st Substitute HB 35, Nonrefundable Higher Education Tuition Credit by Rep. Dougall. He testifed that targeting the credit to certain majors, such as engineering and technology, would be a better use of the money and help drive our flagging economy. The example he used was that he had majored in political science and after all, who needs more poli sci majors? He also referenced his sister's degree in recreation management, along with English and other liberal arts degrees. The tone inferred that these were flippant and irrelevant college majors.

Now the fun began.

Rep. Seelig and Sandstrom both informed him that they had been political science majors and then gone on to graduate work. They sounded offended. Um, really offended.

Rep. Spackman-Moss then defended English majors. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that she taught high school English for years.

At this point, he scanned the committee and realized that he had managed to insult most of the members of the committee and attempted to extricate himself, but unfortunately, the damage had been done. His pertinent policy points were repeatedly knocked down by the committee and ignored.

In the end, he bowed out. Rather red in the face.

Some days, it's really tough to be a lobbyist.

The Saga of the Cigarette Tax

SB 114 by Sen. Christensen is the Senate bill that will raise the tax on cigarettes. It was unexpectedly routed to the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, rather than Senate Health and Human Services, and its supporters feared that it would die in committee. But during Friday's committee meeting, the bill was passed out by Sen. John Valentine. He will be amending the bill on the Senate floor to lower the rate from $3 to $1.30/pack. Rep. Ray has a competing bill in the House and now observers will be watching to see if the upcoming Senate version has a better chance of passing the House. With the support of the Governor, it seems likely that some version of the tax increase will get through this session.

The Senator plugged his ears

Evidently freshman Sen. Dan Liljenquist was not listening to Gov. Huntsman’s State of the State address on Tuesday evening when he said, “Every person in this chamber is motivated by our state’s success. Our discussion should be conducted with civility, respect and a recognition of the challenging circumstances in which we find ourselves.”

Today’s scenario:

• 15% reduction for the 2010 Dept. of Human Services budget
• 4 hour meeting
• no dinner
• freezing committee room

Granted, these conditions could make anyone testy and, possibly, downright mean. However, elected officials have a responsibility to conduct themselves with civility and respect.

Especially two days after the Governor from your own party reminds you to play nice.

And especially if you’re a freshman Senator who is traditionally expected to be seen and not heard during the first year of your term.

Sen. Liljenquist repeatedly pounded DHS director, Lisa-Michele Church, today about budget cuts, until finally the gentlemanly Sen. Allen Christensen said he was embarrassed and disgusted at the accusatory tone from the committee and the bashing of "the best department head we have in this state". He moved to adjourn in order to cut short the bloodshed, only to have the motion defeated. He walked out of the committee. Did this pointed behavior from a senior Senator discourage Senator Dan? No way. He continued to hammer Ms. Church until House Minority Leader David Litvack pointedly said after an exchange with the Senator, “The most important lesson my father ever taught me was this: It's not what you say, it's how you say it."

Sen. Liljenquist finally realized that he was out of order and apologized to Ms. Church but she had stepped out of the committee room to compose herself. He promised to apologize to her personally.

Thanks for the apology, Senator, but it was too little, too late.

I Spy: former legislators lobbying

There is an ethics reform package coming in the Utah Legislature that includes a ban on former lobbyists for one year after they leave office. Fortunately for 2008 alumni, it won't affect them. This is good news for Mark Walker, new lobbyist for IHC, and Greg Curtis, new lobbyist for Big Tobacco. They have been seen roaming the halls of the Capitol during the first two days of the session, discussing issues with current legislators.

Ethics reform-it can't come too soon!

BYU half-time shows

We are proud alumni of BYU and fans of BYU sports, drama, and fine arts. We attend many events at BYU and enjoy them immensely. We are proud supporters of BYU sports and are members of the Cougar Club. We also participated in marching band in high school and so we usually sit in the stands during football games to watch the band and cheer, because after all, they are usually unappreciated. However, we have watched the quality of the half-time shows slip in the last few years until they hit an all-time low last Saturday. The BYU-SDSU show celebrated popular video games. The band played music from Tetris, Prisoner of Zenda, and Mortal Combat. What??? Yes, Mortal Combat, and while the band played the music from the game, the drill team engaged in mock martial arts moves. Um, we're pretty sure that Mortal Combat is not a game that would really be approved under the Honor Code. Honestly, it's a good thing Coach Mendenhall is in the locker room during half-time because the Cougar Marching Band has not subscribed to his philosophy of returning to the glory days and honoring tradition and it's a good thing he can't see it. We love the band and know they work really hard, but perhaps they need to watch some film from the 1980's and resurrect some really good half-time shows for next season. Just a suggestion from some fans.

Winds of Change in the Senate

Elections were held last night in the Senate Majority Caucus and it looks like a whole new day for Senate Republicans. The ousting of President Valentine and Senate Majority Leader Bramble seems a signal from the Senate Republicans that they are looking to change the way of doing business in the Senate.

President Waddoups' immediate comments about the need for ethics reform are very encouraging and we're hoping that great strides will be made in this arena during the upcoming session.

Members of the Senate majority leadership now come from geographically diverse areas, thus breaking the previous stranglehold by Utah County senators. This can only be a positive for collegiality among the Majority Caucus members.

The Senate Minority Caucus has elected the tough but charming Senator Jones, a formidable opponent that we hope Senator Waddoups will turn to as an ally in doing the people's business.

Senate watchers will be eagerly noting the signs of change in the upcoming session.

The Election of 2008

Democrats throughout Utah thought that Barack Obama's coattails would have swept more of their party into office this election, but that does not seem to have happened. Although the Salt Lake City Council now has a Democratic majority and the Democrats gained two seats in the Utah House, that was the extent of the wave in Utah.

With one exception. Voters finally said they were fed up with the heavy handed tactics of House Speaker Greg Curtis and voted him out of office--the first Speaker to be so treated in the last 40 years.

With the large numbers of Democrats running this election cycle (and the surprisingly good showing of many of them), perhaps this is a signal to the Utah Republican Party to reevaluate their steady move to the right over the last few years. Although there were only small changes, perhaps it is a precursor to a gradual shift in the political landscape here in Utah.