Brian’s Utah Weblog

My baby cousin died today.

He was nineteen years old.

I last saw him at Thanksgiving dinner.  He seemed robust but a bit teenagerish. I knew he got in trouble sometimes but I thought he would find something good to do, something he cared about, eventually.  Being a teenager is hard.  Sometimes the consequences are just too awful.

When I was in junior high I would visit my aunt and uncle and my infant cousin in their ground floor apartment a few blocks from us.  He would giggle and cry and demand to be fed.

“I don’t think Senator Stevenson is going to cry, but if somebody can make him cry here today, more power to him.”

-Rep. Brad Last (R-Dixie)

There was a discussion of the value of class size reduction versus its cost in the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Several representatives from the Republican side suggested that class size reduction doesn’t lead to much improvement in education for typical students. Of course improvement in their rubric can be measured only by standardized test scores. I’m not surprised that the opponents of education funding managed to manufacture a study that reached that result but it doesn’t reflect the reality in classrooms.

It’s always good to be up here for committee meetings. The House and Senate floors are usually much less important, less interactive, and less interesting than committee meetings but they are open for business, too. Committee Schedules are online, as are agendas. Pick one you like and show up.

I went to my Community Council meeting tonight.  If you’re in Salt Lake City or the unincorporated county, you should really attend your local meeting (times and places under “Chairs and Boundaries”).   I heard about new parks, emergency preparedness, what the city council is doing, neighborhood celebrations, and volunteer opportunities.  There was direct access to elected officials and city employees.  It was a good time with nice people and fun topics.

I did hear a disturbing story from the police department.  This morning there were several calls about a carjacking downtown in broad daylight.  Our local community representative cop was in the area and observant enough to catch sight of the car and follow it.  She called for backup and chased the car across the city.  Meanwhile reports were saying the perp had used an AK-47 rifle in the carjacking which he still had.  Six cops made a guns-drawn arrest and no one was hurt.  The carjackers had drugs with them but the guns turned out to be realistic looking BB guns.

The car was registered to a nonexistent person and the owner never called in.  What had happened is that a drug dealer had carjacked another drug dealer with a “throw away” car that couldn’t be traced.  The drugs had belonged to the original dealer and the carjacker wanted them.

But with no owner to press charges and the drugs impossible to link to the carjacker, the only charges that are likely to stand up in court are red light running during the chase.  At least twenty hours of police work and a downtown chase and these drug dealers are going to get a slap on the wrist.

Reports indicate that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has offered recently reelected corrupt Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-LA) old seat on the Ways And Means committee to Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL).  Thanks to Pelosi and Davis for helping to establish that there is one party in this nation where bribery is unacceptable.  Maybe New Orleans will follow the same policy someday.

I’m here at the joint Executive Appropriations Committee meeting of the Utah Legislature and the room is packed. I had to help move spare chairs into the room in order to get a seat.

The official guest roll indicates there are quite a lot of Wasatch Front Regional Council members and representatives and city officials as well as UDOT leaders looking for news and influence over the transit bond diversion process.

First order of business is approving revenue estimates from fiscal years 2007 and 2008.

Representatives of the Wasatch Front Regional Council are testifying to the committee on proposed weighted criteria for transportation processes. WFRC Executive Director Chuck Chapel is testifying while West Valley City Mayor Dennis Nordfelt and Draper Mayor Darrell Smith sit with him.

Chapel is discussing UDOT’s TIP process for ranking projects and USDOT’s ideas about similar processes. He claims the technical requirements of the law have been met by the process he is proposing.

There is a question before the committee on having the legislature update weightings of the criteria or amend the criteria themselves. Speaker Curtis sounds like he wants to change the standards. Chapel stands up for Salt Lake County and notes that the law specifies only WFRC can create a weighting and the legislature can approve or disapprove but not amend. Curtis is pressing him pretty hard and asks him why he hasn’t noted where other committee members’ suggestions might be illegal, but of course other committee members haven’t proposed illegal changes.

Curtis is still trying to get Chapel to agree that the committee can demand amendments to the criteria.

There is some discussion over differences between House and Senate procedure in the committee. “It’s going to be a long 45 days,” says one legislator.

Now it sounds like the WFRC is giving in to Speaker Greg Curtis on the process and influence of the committee under law. “I thought I knew how to read a statute but I didn’t.” The committee suggests that they will demand changes in the criteria now that they have browbeaten the WFRC representatives into accepting the possibility of changing them.

Curtis is trying to establish that WFRC will follow his demands and accept the committee’s reordering. He asks if the WFRC agrees with his new understanding of the process. “Is that your understanding?” “It is now,” answers the WFRC representative.

The changes proposed by the committee that approval will depend on are,

• rankings for each criteria be scaled
• rankings be relative to cost
• cost effectiveness be ranked matched to congestion relief

I’ll write about the practical effects of that after I understand them.

Looks like only Rep. McGee, Sen. Mayne, Sen. Hale, and Sen. Dmitrich opposed the attempt of the committee to manipulate the criteria. All but Dmitrich are from Salt Lake. It doesn’t look promising

Before the November election the Utah Legislature met in special session to authorize Salt Lake and Utah counties to issue transit bonds to build four new TRAX lines in Salt Lake and commuter rail in Utah County.

The bonds were a success; the people approved them overwhelmingly.

But the legislative leadership decided to put a dangerous time bomb into the new law. They required counties to divert 25% of the new revenue to corridor preservation and to establish a new process for deciding which projects would receive the funding. The new process is to establish a set of weighted criteria for projects based on common goals for transportation projects. So far no problem.

But the legislature’s Executive Appropriations committee has veto power over the set of criteria. Leaders are expected to try to shift Salt Lake County transit money to their favorite road projects around the state. By shifting the criteria they want to move our transit projects off the top of the list.

A little story from Texas today. We added one more congressman yesterday who has supported Utah’s interests on issues like nuclear testing and public lands conservation. But the way it happened has some partisan redistricting twists.

In 2002 Democrats hoped to replace San Antonio Congressman Henry Bonilla (R-TX) with candidate Henry Cuellar. We lost by a hair, 51%-47%.

In 2003 Tom DeLay used strong arm tactics (for which he has since been indicted) to persuade the Texas legislature to redraw congressional districts. One goal was to move Henry Cuellar and his hometown of Laredo into another San Antonio based district then represented by progressive Democratic Congressman Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX).

In 2004 Henry Cuellar challenged Representative Rodriguez in a primary and lost an even closer race. But then new boxes of previously unknown votes were ‘discovered’ in Laredo that pushed Cuellar into the lead by 203 votes. Rodriguez’s campaign lawyers missed the deadlines or misfiled the paperwork to challenge the suspicious votes.

Congressman Cuellar joined Congress in 2005, but Rodriguez filed to run again in the primary in 2006. With no Republican filing in the race, it was effectively the first general election of 2006. Cuellar won the primary by 13%, winning a strong victory in Laredo while Rodriguez won in San Antonio.

But in Summer of 2006 federal courts rules that the 2003 redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act by dividing Latino voters in an effort to deprive them of their voice in Henry Bonilla’s district. Now Henry Cuellar is in his own Laredo district and Rodriguez and Bonilla are together in a San Antonio based district. After the court decision there wasn’t time for a regular primary so the primary was held on November 7th and the general election was December 12th.

That meant Rodriguez was in both the first and last general election for Congress in 2006 and while he lost the first he won the second.

With the Rodriguez victory 55%-45% over Bonilla we have both Democrats Cuellar and Rodriguez in Congress, so the story has a happy ending.

-H. L. Mencken

It’s not just Utah and corrupt Speaker Greg Curtis (R-Sandy). New Orleans reelected corrupt Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA2) yesterday. Jefferson was caught with $90,000 in cash bribe money hidden in his freezer and allegations are that he has taken much, much more over the years.

Republicans’ choice to neglect the city of New Orleans after the flood was made easier by the city’s lack of a credible congressman. Democrats’ plan to help rebuild the city will be harder to activate for the same reason.

But we are the party that will not tolerate corruption. Now is the time to write or call Rep. Jim Matheson’s (D-UT) office and ask him to send a letter to Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) asking her not to restore Jefferson’s committee assignments or seniority.

Rep. Charlie Melançon (D-LA) and Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) will have to take on the job of helping rebuild the Gulf coast on their own.

It’s too bad; New Orleans could really use a congressman, especially now. But America needs one party that stands for honest government and that can’t include William Jefferson.

Another Thanksgiving photo, this time from last year.

This is the most important issue of the coming year in Utah. Thanks to the Tribune for publishing my letter today.

Our state legislature will be trying to force us to use Salt Lake transit tax money to find new highways inside and outside Salt Lake County. The people and the County Council will be working to fund at least three new TRAX lines.

With Greg Curtis back in the Speaker’s chair, prospects are dicey.

Here’s another Rosalie photo from Thanksgiving.

Don’t be fooled by news from Majority Leader Boehner’s (R-OH) office that Rep. Tom Davis’s (R-VA) bill won’t get to the floor. Incoming Democrats may be even more eager than the Republicans to give Utah a fourth seat in the House.

Fair minded people around the nation want the citizens of the District Of Columbia to have a voice in their own government. There are advocates for statehood and retrocession to Maryland and for the Davis plan of seating a real congressman from D.C. There are even a few radical libertarians who want the federal government shrunk so much that the D.C. economy withers and D.C. citizens move into the several states where they can then vote. But that isn’t what has kept D.C. representation in limbo all these many years.

It comes down to racial politics. The District Of Columbia is 60% African-American. No other state or potential state has a majority of any particular non-white race (Hawai’i and Texas have no racial majority). Historically the idea of a majority African-American state has bothered many congressmen, especially southerners. The residents of D.C. responded with distrust toward outside majority white institutions that questioned their leaders. D.C. residents even backed up and reelected openly criminal leaders like former mayor and current councilman Marion Barry.

Call it thinly veiled racism or rational caution but the United States Senate isn’t going to support D.C. statehood as long as they think it means working with Senator Marion Barry.

The Congressional Black Caucus is acutely aware of the racism remaining in American society and threats to its members’ prerogatives. Fighting racism in our nation is an important job but like all organizations of political insiders, the CBC’s mission gets mixed up with the job of expanding the power of political insiders. The CBC is supporting incumbent William Jefferson (D-LA) in the New Orleans runoff this month (against another African-American Democrat) even though he was caught with $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer. Jefferson has insinuated that finding the bribe money was a racist attack by the FBI. But Speaker elect Pelosi worked to strip Jefferson of his committee assignments and obviously prefers his opponent as do most Democrats nationwide.

The CBC also wanted impeached and convicted former federal judge Representative Alcee Hastings (D-FL) to head the Select Committee on Intelligence. Select committees are appointed entirely by party leadership and usually address sensitive issues like espionage. Speaker elect Nancy Pelosi didn’t want to choose war enthusiast Representative Jane Harman (D-CA) and passed over Hastings due to past corruption worries to pick Representative Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) as chairman. There is some dispute over the circumstances of the bribery investigation that ousted Judge Hastings two decades ago and led him to run for Congress. Some of the doubts come from our own Senator Orrin Hatch, who voted not to convict him.

This leaves Speaker Pelosi in a position where she wants to prove to the CBC that she will fight for the interests of African-Americans nationwide and CBC members. D.C. representation under the Davis bill would be a great success for Pelosi and bring her caucus together. Powerful CBC congressmen like incoming Ways And Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Judiciary Chairman Conyers (D-MI) can be counted on to help.

Do you know which body meets most often in the Chamber of the United States House Of Representatives? If you guessed “The United States House Of Representatives,” you’re going to be surprised. In fact, the body that meets most often in the House Chamber is The Committee Of The Whole House On The State Of The Union. (also known as the “Committee Of The Whole”) Every member of the House is also a member of the Committee Of The Whole. The rules for the official House are simple and strict by long tradition so actual debate and amendments of bills occur with a more flexible set of rules and the Committee Of The Whole was created so that the rules of the official House wouldn’t have to be adjusted. Lately Republicans have been using the new rules to stifle debate instead of encourage it, but that should end now that the party of open government is in charge.

In the 103rd Congress (1993-1994) the non-voting Delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, was granted voting privileges in the Committee Of The Whole, just like members of the House. The only votes she couldn’t participate in were votes on final passage of bills which, under the Constitution, require passage in the official House. Republican leadership didn’t want Del. Norton to vote, but she still serves on some House committees and can expect to have her power to vote in the Committee Of The Whole restored in the 110th Congress next year.

Some would argue that votes on amending bills are the most numerous and most important floor votes and notice that they are done in the Committee Of The Whole. Those might suggest that Norton and D.C. should be satisfied with her voting rights restored. They have a point but the exclusion from an official voice rankles D.C. citizens and D.C. mayor Anthony Williams.

Williams is likely to run against long time delegate Norton in 2008 on the platform of fighting harder for an official congressional seat. Long time congressmen like to support the reliable reelection of long time congressmen above all else. The threat to Norton will focus their energy on passing the Davis bill or one like it in the 110th Congress.

Of course, Republicans and especially Senate Republicans will block a bill that doesn’t restore the seat stolen away from Utah by census 2000 shenanigans. Since Senate Republicans retain the filibuster — but only through the strength of Democratic backbone — Utah will have to be included.

It’s not a sure thing, but don’t despair over the 2007 fourth seat yet.

I was pleased to see comments on the liveblogging posts yesterday. Every blogger loves comments, so keep them coming.

Yesterday “Legislative Witness” wrote,

It is important and I will be writing about it again.

Rob Latham favors Instant Runoff Voting and writes,

The example of Iowa’s extremely competitive races at every level from local to congressional prove that a bipartisan commission with prioritized, objective critieria for drawing districts can reliably deliver competitive districts that respect communities. Weaker reforms like bipartisan committees without prioritized, objective criteria can draw lines even worse than a partisan process.

The Iowa statute is the gold standard. You can look it up. (Search for “ch 42″ — the Iowa redistricting statute.)

Anyone who is interested in working for Instant Runoff Voting in Democratic Party convention elections, please contact me. Several folks have talked about organizing the change and I have started contacting some members of the Utah Democratic Party Rules Committee. Let’s not let the Republicans get ahead of us on reform. I need volunteers to make it happen, though. Call Brian at (801) 484-3026 or email brian at utahbrian dot com.

Also I’d like to invite Mr. Latham to join the Utah Democratic Party any time he wants to make a real difference. The Democratic Party is the natural home of libertarians and a very welcoming place.

• Utah House Democrats speculated in caucus yesterday that it might benefit us to send two Democratic congressmen to Washington if we do get a fourth seat. With Democrats in the majority in D.C. it makes sense. And it matches the voting preferences of Utahns who cast 43% of congressional votes for Democrats in 2006. One Democrat out of four would be 25% and two Democrats would be 50%; notice that 43% is much closer to 50% than to 25%.
• After the minority leader suggested maybe I could draw that two Democrat map for them, I could hardly suppress it. So here it is, the two Democrat map. Meeting all the criteria of the redistricting committee, the districts are equal size and contiguous. District 2 covers rural counties that already vote for Jim Matheson (yes, Jim is very popular in southeast Utah) along with South Jordan, Sandy, and the entire East Bench of Salt Lake above Highland and 1500 East. Matheson should win easily in 2 as he already wins comfortably in most of it and Jim could be reunited with his most loyal voters in Carbon County. I call District 4 the “Congressman Ed Mayne” district but I would happily take Congressman Patrice Arent if she could be persuaded. Notice that we take a bit of Ogden into district 4 to balance population and add a congressman with Hill AFB in his mandate. (Congressman Lou Shurtliff? I’d campaign for her.)
• It’s an ugly map, isn’t it? But not as ugly as the three district map we’re opertaing under now. That’s what partisan gerrymandering gets you.
• There were two very good comments under the last post from the liveblogging yesterday. Read them.
• Partisan redistricting is an ugly process. The new four district map was drawn under a mandate that it had to satisfy Washington D.C. Democratic leaders who want Jim Matheson safe and Republican leaders who want a fourth district leaning strongly Republican. Otherwise one party or the other will block the new fourth district. That means both parties had bipartisan goals. Therefore this is the kind of map and cooperative process you should expect from a bipartisan commission. Anyone who tells you that we don’t need reform because things went well this time is trying to mislead you; in 2011 there will be no Washington mandate, the gloves will be off, and bipartisanship will be out the window.
• Republicans scrambled against each other yesterday to draw Jim Matheson’s campaign out of their legislative districts. Apparently Mark Walker (R-Murray) and Greg Curtis (R-Sandy) think their opponents came within 20 votes of sending them home only because of the Matheson machine. Rep. Ralph Becker (D-SLC) says “let them continue to think that and we’ll have those districts in two years.”