Sorry, for the adware pop-up that has overtaken the banner of my blog.  I don’t know how this happened.  My web service provider has been contacted.

Clairvoyant?  Or, just exercising a little rational free-market thinking, the Salt Lake Tribune’s Editorial Board has seen its predictive powers expose the final steps of the tragic demise of the UTOPIA project.

“We argued against Utopia almost from its founding because we thought it was a bad idea for municipal governments to get into the risky telecommunications business. Not when the likes of Qwest and Comcast were already duking it out with private capital. We also thought it unfair for Utopia to be tax-exempt when its competitors weren’t.

Unfortunately, our misgivings came true. Utopia turned out to be a financial quagmire rather than a technological paradise. And the swamp keeps getting deeper.”

When will government learn that delivering private sector services should be left up to…well…the private sector?!

According to UtahPolicy.com, Mike Lee announced he would be running in the 2010 Utah Senate race.   The announcement was made during a  political training conference in Sandy last Saturday, sponsored by the Independence Caucus, where Lee spoke on Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.

The House Conservative Caucus and the Patrick Henry Caucus, in a joint meeting last month, voted to support the position during the 2010 General Session of “no net tax increase.”  In these difficult financial times, while the state’s rate of unemployment has been slowly but steadily raising, it would be difficult to ask the taxpayers of the State of Utah to increase their household tax burden.  As many find themselves living paycheck to paycheck during the current economic recession, the legislature can’t possibly expect its citizens to dig deeper into their pockets for “spare change” earmarked for the basic necessities of life.

Senator Steve Urquhart has committed 13 others (plus himself) in the “Upper Chamber” to hold a similar position.  With 14 senators willing to consider other methods of addressing the projected $850 million revenue shortfall, the senate is just one vote shy of holding the line…steady as she goes.

These positions by the Urquhart group and the HCC/PHC give some latitude for “tax shifts,”  however.  A proposal by Senator Howard Stephenson to reinstate the state sales tax component on non-prepared foods is revenue neutral, requiring an adjustment to the tax base somewhere else.  And, according to Representative Craig Frank, his proposal to remove the 1% Restaurant Tax and allow Counties to re-impose a .1% tax on general sales, is also revenue neutral.

Read about this issue in Robert Gehrke’s Salt Lake Tribune article HERE.

Just one week after announcing he would run for the US Senate seat held by Bob Bennett, Fred Lampropoulos is stepping aside.
Read THIS Salt Lake Tribune article by Robert Gehrke.