We’ll miss you Ed!

Click HERE for personal Senate page. 

Click HERE for SLTrib article.

Click HERE for Senate Democrats Blog picture (second from right, in true “under the dome” style).

Click HERE for previous underthedome post.

Normally I wouldn’t spend much time trying to “justify” comments taken out of context OR misquoted in the local newspaper.  I guess I expected more out of Caleb Warnock of the Daily Herald…he’s usually quite good.  Link HERE.

Unfortunately, print media doesn’t come with a laugh track or the previous three sentences before the quote taken out of context.

Caleb mentions I made a statement about focusing on SR-92 as a transportation priority…the implication was that because I had recently purchased a lot and plan to start building a home there early next year in The Cedars development at the mouth of American Fork Canyon, that I have a personal interest in making sure I had a clear path to I-15 from my new home.

What was missed in Caleb’s newspaper account was my facial expression and tone of my voice directed at the city council members as I made that statement and the accompanying chuckles coming from the council bench.  It was tongue-in-cheek…  I’ll give Caleb the benefit of the doubt…afterall…as I was standing at the podium addressing the council, Caleb was facing my backside.

First, no single Legislator has the POWER to unilaterally appropriate the money to “fix” a State Road (remember 38-15-1 ?!)…and certainly not me (still down the food chain a bit).  SR-92 has long been on the radar of MAG (Mountainland Association of Governments), the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) governing and making recommendations to the Legislature by prioritizing critical transportation projects in a certain geographic area.  SR-92 is a choke point for thousands of commuters in northeast Utah County every day.  Transportation projects in our state are prioritized.  Which brings me to the next point.

Representative John Dougall (R-Highland), President John Valentine (R-Orem), Senator Howard Stephenson (R-Draper), and I, represent all those good people who daily experience the constant congestion occurring on that highway.  We are all concerned about the way our constituents are able to safely move about on one of our more dangerous (higher speed, narrower) roads.  This highway is NOT a NEW problem and certainly NOT a NEW priority.  Caleb’s a pretty smart guy…I think he already knows this.  (Link HERE for March 2005 Daily Herald article addressing this issue.)  These are our neighbors and we have a responsibllity to keep them safe and moving.  One of the fastest population growth rates has occurred in one of the fastest growing cities in Utah–Cedar Hills.  Add Highland, Alpine, and the north end of American Fork and Pleasant Grove, and what do you get?…a transportation problem.

So, as an elected representative and commuter in northeast Utah County do I have a conflict of interest…you’re damn right!

Here are some interesting thoughts in the aftermath of Utah’s voucher battle…all the way from Providence, Rhode Island.  Julia Steiny from The Providence Journal has reduced educational choice to a skirmish between Unions and Parents.

Hmmmm….very interesting, indeed.  Click HERE for Providence.

Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it!  Click HERE and HERE.

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Kentucky’s primary mode of capital punishment–Lethal Injection.  Click HERE for Slate article.

What happens to Utah’s capital punishment law when or if the Supremes dub “the cocktail” (three-drug termination system)…cruel and unusual punishment?

With almost prophetic wisdom…I said almost…Rep. Mike Morley (R-Spanish Fork), amended the bill altering Utah’s Capital Punishment Provisions (HB180, 2004 General Session) to include a “fall back” position…the Firing Squad.  Injecting Morley’s language into Utah Statute means we will be able to provide a more “humane” method of Capital Punishment if required.

Click HERE for US Capital Punishment and Death Penalty Statistics.

Hindsight is 20/20.  And it is.  At least…As I See It.

Tuesday something remarkable happened.  And, whether or not you believe what I’m about to tell you…well…that’s entirely up to you.

As Election Night drew to a close the “fall” of a great Empire was immenent.  The state’s largest school district (about 80,000 students) would be literally torn in two…well, nearly…in half, I mean (41.8% disaffection rate).  Still “big” but only “half” as “big.”  Cottonwood Heights, Midvale, Sandy, Alta, and Draper would democratically determine to sever themselves from the body…perhaps an inherent survival mechanism…DNA, ya know?!…strong stuff.  Fifty-three percent of the voters would cause the masses to seek another path.  An article in the D-News mentions the Jordan Board of Education was “opposed (to) the split efforts.”  That’s funny, since it appears the Board may have been primarily responsible for providing the necessary internal tension to proverbially break the camel’s back.

What do you mean, Craig? 

Rewind.

Jordan School District Board votes to give themselves a bump in pay.  Very, shortly following their statutory ability to adjust their compensation schedule (July 1, 2007), Jordan District School Board members voted to bump themselves up a few bucks.  Up from $3,000 a year to $12,000 a year PLUS $17,000 in insurance benefits (thanks, but my spouse has insurance covering the family…I’ll take the cash, thanks).  $3,000 to $29,000 a year.  Big jump.  Regrets.  Reconsideration.  But, maybe, too little, too late.  Afterall, they’re a volunteer board.  Right?!

Rewind.

2007 General Session of the Utah State Legislature.  A simple, relatively benign little bill called HB234.  A relatively short bill (three pages…and the last page isn’t very full) sponsored by Rep. John Dougall (R-Highland) and signed (lapsed) into law by Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.  (3/20/2007) provided the framework…and the noose (n. a running loop with a slip knot which binds closer the more it is drawn) for greedy, volunteer school district boards to proverbially hang themselves.

Heck, who needs a proverb?!  And, Craig, what the heck are you implying???

Oh, nothing really…As I See It!

(Repeated attempts to contact Rep. Dougall for comment…failed)