Rumors-gotta love 'em

Rumors are running rampant on Capitol Hill and depending on who you talk to, there's a different answer. Here is a sampling:

Increase the motor vehicle registration fee-will they or won't they?

Abolish private clubs-will they or won't they?

Reinstate the sales tax on food-will they or won't they?

Increase the tax on cigarettes-will they or won't they?

Changes to property tax-will they or won't they?

Health system reform-will they or won't they?

Stay tuned.

Berserk Pigs

Sometimes floor debate in the House is hilarious. The Representatives were debating a bill this morning called SB 173 Emotional Support Animals and Pyschiatric Therapy Animals. I have no problem with people having emotional support animals. These are a necessary part of some people's lives and I don't intend to make fun of the animals or the people who need them. The funny part was the stories told on the floor about animals gone wild.

Rep. Sandstrom told about the havoc wreaked on a plane he was piloting when a large pig went berserk at 35,000 feet. It defecated, did damage, upset passengers, and generally caused a heck of a lot of problems. The gallery was totally out of control and practically rolling in the aisles. I was surprised that Speaker Clark didn't ask for order. Perhaps the fact that he was smiling pretty big at the time constrained him. Then Rep. Seegmiller listed the animals allowed on Amtrak trains. These included pigs, dogs, and even miniature horses.

What the? Miniature horses? Just imagine a cross-country trip with one of those as your seatmate!

Senator Bramble's PTA Revenge Bill

SB-199, which seeks to provide equal access to school resources for all parent groups and prohibits access to school resources by groups that charge dues (and won't waive upon request), has a number of problems.

The bill isn't long, so take a minute to read it here.

1. The definition of "parent group" is recursive. In other words, it says that a "Parent group" is a legally organized parent or parent/teacher group, association, or organization. You can't define something in terms of itself. What constitutes a parent group?
   
2. So what is a parent group? Is a group that has parents in it a parent group? Does it have to have "parent" in the name of the group? Would booster clubs be parent groups? Can anyone create a "parent group" and demand equal access? What about "Utah County Republican Women"? Is that a parent group? It's composed of parents? What about "Parents for Legalization of Marijuana"? Is that a parent group because it has "Parents" in the name?
   
3. This bill likely has unintended consequences. It seeks to provide equal access for all parent groups to the following: general meetings, school facilities, resources, and staff members, opportunities and invitations to serve on school committees, school goods and services, volunteer opportunities, leadership opportunities, voting privileges. What this means is that any parent group (whatever that is) can demand the same access to any of the resources as any other group. So if one organization has the principal on their board, then he would have to serve on the board for all parent committees. If one group has a fund-raising table, all parent groups get one. If one group gets to address parents of incoming students, all groups would get that opportunity.
   
4. So what would happen if a bunch of different parent groups get organized? They all get equal access, no matter what they may or may not bring to the school. An group that has 2 members and brings little of value to the school would get the same access as a group that has 500 members and brings great value. What would happen if there were 5 parent groups, or 10, or 20?
5. Among the equal access provisions is that if a school accepts invitations to participate in one parent group, it HAS to accept invitations to all parent groups. If a large number of parent groups decide to descend on the school, this could be extremely burdensome to the school, having to participate in all parent groups if it participates in one.
6. This bill prohibits schools from working with any group that requires dues as a condition for participation in the group (including access to leadership positions and ability to vote in the group). He added an amendment that said groups that asked for dues would be permitted if they would waive the dues upon request of a person. Senator Bramble, during his introduction of this bill at the Senate Education Committee, equated this to the waiving of school fees. What??? Those fees are only waived upon meeting strict financial guidelines as set by the legislature. You can't just ask for them to be waived. Yet he seems to think that a private organization should be required to waive dues for any person that requests it.

The PTA's funding mechanism is primarily through member dues. That is not just at the local level, but is the funding mechanism at the state and national level. Even if Utah PTA decided to change their funding mechanism (which is not as simple as it sounds), they still have to pay dues to National PTA for each member. Utah PTA would have rely on donations to fund the dues required for people who request their dues be waived. I call upon Senator Bramble to make the first donation to PTA if his bill passes.

Senator Bramble, you and your colleagues often complain about Washington not giving local control on a variety of issues. You don't seem to extend the same courtesy to local school boards. Why not let them decide what groups serve the needs of their schools best? Or let a school decide? Schools are not required to have a PTA. If they decide another organization is best for them, fine. But let them decide. If the PTA isn't meeting a school's needs, the school won't have a PTA.

Despite what you say it seems obvious that this is an attempt to get rid of PTA. Talk about unintended consequences.

Sen. Bramble and the Utah PTA

It seems Sen. Bramble is taking on the PTA moms and dads in an effort to...

Actually, I am lost as to his motive.

His bill, SB 199, wants to grant equal access to all parent and parent/teacher groups. Evidently this is a problem in Provo, so he is using his legislative prerogative to mandate a change for the entire state. Equal access doesn't seem like a bad thing, but he wants to prohibit schools from working with a parent group that requires dues for its members to vote and elect their leaders. He added an amendment in committee yesterday that would allow a school to work with a dues-paying organization that waives the dues requirement upon request. So you could belong to the organization, use its name, benefit from its resources, elect its leaders and not pay to belong.

Huh? He wants to legislate how a private organization conducts its own affairs? Is this good public policy? Because I can think of many professional organizations that collect dues and elect their leaders, and I'm pretty sure they don't want the Legislature telling them whether or not they can continue.

The Budget

Today is the last round of Appropriations Subcommittee meetings. The committees have to submit their recommendations to Executive Appropriations for the 2010 budget. So after today we'll have a good idea of where the state's programs are going and what will be left. Some things may be restored if revenue projections are higher on Tuesday. Keep watching.

Ethics and the Senate

The Deseret News says: "Lawmakers are struggling to settle on ethics reforms this session. Senate Republicans have said there's little hope they'll agree as a caucus on any particular bill."

There seems to be a feeling among House Representatives that something needs to be done about legislative ethics. But just as in other years, the Senate Republicans are dragging their feet. Why is this so hard? Why can't the Senate Republicans see that their constituents want this? Are they that out of touch with the citizens of Utah?

Seen at the Capitol

People will do almost anything to speak with their legislators.

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.

Bramble Spits on Provo

You may not know that Curt Bramble, Utah State Senate Majority Leader from Provo, is a licensed hot air balloonist. He's been flying hot air balloons (anyone else get the symbolism here?) for 25 years and has 5000 hours of flying experience.

Unfortunately for those below, this is how Bramble steers his balloon:

While there isn’t a traditional steering mechanism on a hot air balloon, Bramble said he maneuvers by dropping the balloon into various layers of wind. We were inching toward the field, as Bramble put it, but he was indeed steering the balloon.

How does he find those layers of wind? The “Spit-ometer” test. It may say no spitting over the side of the Empire State Building, but spit flies freely over the side of the wicker basket, and if you keep your eyes on that wad, it will show you which way the wind is blowing. We watched Bramble’s fall, and then suddenly go to the left, or east. Bramble eased off the heat, and dropped into that layer of wind to pull us closer to the target.

Now I don't know about you, but the thought of Bramble's spit landing on me while he is up there trying to steer his balloon isn't very comforting.

A little research on the Internet led to Wikipedia which had this:

For example, to determine wind directions beneath the balloon a pilot might simply spit or release a squirt of shaving cream and watch this indicator as it falls to determine where possible turns are (and their speed).

The shaving cream idea certainly seems a lot better to me...

Hogle Zoo

I went with my family to the Hogle Zoo on Labor Day (even braved the morning rainstorm and eventually got to enjoy a very nice day). It's been a few years since I've been there and I was very impressed with the changes that have been made.

The Elephant exhibit was much nicer than last time, and the Asian Cat exhibit was excellent. It' nice to see the animals in habitats that look more natural.

The bear exhibit still looked awful. Hopefully they'll get that one updated.

The bird show was great and you are missing a real treat if you don't see it next time you visit the Hogle Zoo.

More Bramblisms

Here is another interesting story about one man's experience with Bramble and again supports the characterization that Senator Bramble thinks he is better than the rest of us and doesn't need to follow the rules:

Then things got interesting. His son was helping take down the balloon and Senator Bramble starts screaming at him in a way that I thought was very inappropriate given the facts that he’s surrounded by people and he’s just told us how great of a leader he is. And what was it that his son needed to do so urgently? He needed to be chased by the dog. Now Senator Bramble has someone produce his dog for him. It is a pretty large dog, very muscular, perhaps a boxer. At this point I’m a bit nervous about him egging the dog on so I pick up my son and put him on my shoulders. He then commands the dog to “get ‘em” and takes the leash off. The dog races
across the park and begins chasing his dutiful son.

What’s wrong with this, aside from the screaming? Well, I’m sure that the dog is a gentle giant, but the park is clearly labeled as only allowing dogs on leash. Here’s the
highest ranking lawmaker in the state blatantly ignoring the law because it suits him in front of the mayor and several police officers. He’s just finished a discourse on what a great leader he is.

See Mormon Mentality for the full story.

Bramble, Pizza, and Google

Ok.....it's been long enough (April, I think) since I wrote about anything. And there has been so much. Just didn't feel like writing.

But this was too good to pass up. In a manner that seems absolutely in character, Utah Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble tried to throw his weight around with a pizza delivery girl and her boss. The blog post that Anna wrote regarding her encounter with Senator Bramble was just too good. And the subsequent posts are worth reading as well. I can't do it justice, although here is a teaser:

"Look, I'm the majority leader of the state senate, I've lived in this house for 30 years, and I've never bounced a check." He's gruff. I am uncomfortable, my eyes pleading, but I say nothing. "Do you know what that means? I'm a public figure. If I bounced a check, it would be all over the papers. I'd lose my reputation!"

Suffice it to say that Curt Bramble tries to bully everyone. It didn't matter that a private business can do what they want. They don't have to accept checks, credit cards, or even cash, for that matter. If they want to be paid in chickens they can require their customers to pay in chickens (probably won't have many customers, but they could do it if they want). There are many businesses that won't take checks. Look for them. They are all around, including many of the fast food restaurants. None of that seemed to matter to Senator Bramble.

Now how does Google play into this? It seems obvious that Anna had no idea that her blog would generate much notice (it hadn't much to this point) and was surprised that it attracted so much attention. She (and others) don't realize that Google indexes blogs with regularity.

There is a mechanism built in to most blog software that notifies Google when a new blog post is made. When Google is notified, it sends its spiders rushing over to check out the new post and index it, making the results available fairly quickly in Google's vast index of the web.

For example, this link has the latest blog posts in Google's index for the phrase "Bramble pizza". You can see all the results, results from the last month, week, day, 12 hours or even last hour.

What is even more interesting is that you can sign up for a Google Alert to have that information delivered to you once a day, if you want. You can also put the RSS feed for that alert into your RSS reader of choice and be notified anytime something new about Bramble and pizza is posted to the blogosphere.

That's how many people keep up on news and information to blog about. Set up a number of alerts and RSS feeds and you will get an endless stream of posts and news items to blog about and comment on. I guarantee that there are people out there that have a Google Alert set up for any news or blog posts regarding Curt Bramble.

By the way, politicians could also use that to find out what people are saying about them. That frightens some people (you shall remain nameless). But I know that at least one senator (that of pizza fame) happened to comment on a posting that I did about him last November. It literally took only four hours and 56 mintues after I posted about Curt Bramble giving incorrect information about the voucher bill for him to comment on this blog. How did he find that post so quickly? Could it be that he (or his 'staff') spends hours scouring the Internet to find what people are saying about him? I think it more likely that he is using technology, such as Google Alerts, to find that information.

If you are a blogger, try out Google Alerts. You'll get an endless supply of material.

Update: It took Google less than two hours to index this post and have the information available in Google and for it to show up on Utah Bloghive. I wonder if Senator Bramble has seen it yet.

Utah County Republican Party

After all the flap about e-mail lists and candidates, County Party Chair Marian Monnahan has agreed to give the e-mail list to ALL the candidates. That is very broad-minded of the party, or shall I say fair? At my precinct caucus, I never once heard the precinct chair say that the delegate e-mail addresses were to be kept for internal party use only. Marian feels that her honor is being compromised by allowing these lists to be circulated, yet when and how did she promise the lists would be kept private? Since delegates were just elected on 25 March, she would have had to distribute this promise to the delegates via mail, phone, or e-mail after the 25th. Otherwise, she would have been telling the previous delegates. And sources on the Utah County Republican Central Committee say that this issue was never mentioned at Central Committee meetings.

I hate to think that leaders in my Republican party are pre-disposed towards incumbents, but it sure seems that way. Susan Bramble, Utah County Party Secretary, controls the lists which is a conflict of interest that can benefit her candidate husband. The Utah Republican Party sent out a flyer soliciting donations for "The Fabulous Five", a group of freshman legislators, some of which have intra-party challenges, and that is against party rules. Chairman Lockhart says it was mistakenly sent out late, but hopefully the state party workers are not that inept.

The Republican Party has always been my party of choice and I don't want to bash the party. I want to see the party be transparent and fair.

Hser Nay Moo

With the abduction and murder of 7-year-old Hser Nay Moo in Salt Lake City, it is a good reminder that April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Prevent Child Abuse Utah has several great resources to help all of us protect children. Check there for tips on how to prevent child abuse and here is something from their website that we can all do.

What YOU can do: Reach Out
Anything you do to support kids and parents can help reduce the stress that often leads to abuse and neglect.

• Be a friend to a parent you know. Ask how their children are doing. Draw on your own experiences to provide reassurance and support. If a parent seems to be struggling, offer to baby-sit or run errands, or just lend a friendly ear. Show you understand.
• Be a friend to a child you know. Remember their names. Smile when you talk with them. Ask them about their day at school. Send them a card in the mail. Show you care.
• Talk to your neighbors about looking out for one another's children. Encourage a supportive spirit among parents in your apartment building or on your block. Show that you are involved.
• Give your used clothing, furniture and toys for use by another family. This can help relieve the stress of financial burdens that parents sometimes take out on their kids.
• Volunteer your time and money for programs in your community that support children and families, like parent support groups or day care centers.