Saintless

The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that Mayor Peter Corroon is prepared to announce his candidacy for Governor of Utah this coming Tuesday. While I have no insider information on that, and until the Mayor comes out and says anything, I won’t be counting on Tuesday, I do have high hopes that he will be announcing soon.

Jeremiah Stettler, who contributed to that article, called me yesterday. Most of our conversation didn’t make it in the article, but he asked me why I think that Peter Corroon would be a good Governor for Utah. What I told him was that I think Corroon is a very reasoned individual. For example, he was pressured to increase taxes last spring, and he said absolutely not. Instead, he went about trying to cut costs and save the County money in every way he could. When that was done, and it was apparent that a tax increase was actually needed, he went ahead with it. Raising taxes will never be popular. But sometimes, it is needed. And I trust Peter Corroon to make the best and most reasoned decisions for what’s best for all Utahns as Governorr.

If you are as excited as I am about this, you can join the “Draft Peter Corroon for Utah Governor” group on Facebook. You can also donate to the “Corroon Leadership PAC” through ActBlue.

Watch for more information coming soon – as soon as I know anything that I can share, I’ll post here! Also, if you have comments about why you think Peter Corroon should run, please post them here – I’d love to hear from you, and I’ll do my best to share those comments with him.

Update: New post: He’s in!

Tags: Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon

You may be familiar with Curtis Haring from his blog, Blue in Red Zion and other activism. Curtis has been a friend of mine for a while now, and I was very excited when he told me he was accepting the position as Executive Director of Fair Boundaries.

I know that part of his duties will include fundraising, and so I will be making my first donation to the Fair Boundaries Initiative today, in order to support the idea of hiring Curtis as the ED. I think this was a great move for the organization, and I think Curtis will be just the person they need in this position.

If you’re not familiar with Fair Boundaries, the general idea is to prevent gerrymandering in Utah. A longer explanation, from their site:

• Establishes an eleven-member independent commission
• Allows no more four members from the same political party, three unaffiliated
• Sets anti-gerrymandering standards
• Keeps more local communities intact
• Defines an honorable, open and transparent process
• Excludes individuals with obvious conflicts of interest from the commission
• Opens the process to citizen applicants

I would suggest that you check out the articles, such as this one from the Deseret News, and read the text of the petition. I think almost everyone (not currently in office who is only there because the boundaries are screwy) would agree that this is something Utah really needs.

If you’re interested, the full text of the press release about hiring Curtis Haring as the new Executive Director for Fair Boundaries is available for download. I’ll leave you with this interesting little tidbit, from the document:

To date, Fair Boundaries has in distribution enough petitions to significantly exceed its goal of 95,000 signatures from across the state. The initiative itself is seeing strong support from all sides of the political spectrum, with nearly 50 percent of signers being independents and 30 percent being Republican, numbers similar to statewide averages.

Tags: Fair Boundaries

Here is the email I got from Rep. Jason Chaffetz:

Dear Misty,

In response to the increased public interest in town hall meetings, I have changed the location of my Salt Lake County and Fillmore meetings to a larger venue. The August 26 meeting in will now be held at Elk Ridge Middle School (3659 W 9800 S) in South Jordan. The September 2 meeting will be held at the Old Territorial Statehouse (50 W. Capitol) in Fillmore. The time for both events will remain the same: 7:00 PM and 5:00 PM respectively.

Also, I have pasted the complete list of town hall meetings below, with the updates highlighted in yellow.

Utah County

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

7:00 PM

51 South University Ave.

Third Floor Ballroom

Provo, UT 84601

Salt Lake County

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

7:00 PM

Elkridge Middle School

3649 W. 9800 S.

South Jordan, UT 84095-3260

Sanpete County

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

1:00 PM

Greenwood Student Center

250 E. College Ave.

Fillmore

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

5:00 PM

Old Territorial Statehouse

50 W. Capitol

Fillmore, UT 84631

Delta

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

7:00 PM

Delta City Office

76 N. 200 W.

Delta, UT 84624

Thanks,

–

Jason Chaffetz

Member of Congress

I’ll be attending the Salt Lake County one.

My company chose Hogle Zoo for our Annual Family Breakfast this year. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the American Express Event Pavillion with coworkers before heading out into the zoo. Our friends met us there, so we had quite the group – 9 of us in all!

I’d like to shout out to @Hogle_Zoo for some tips on things to do at the zoo, including the Meet The Keepers events.

The one thing I really, really hoped for at the zoo was to pet a snake. I didn’t think that was going to happen, but we got lucky! After we left the Madagascar exhibit, there were two guys with a boa constrictor talking about it, and they let us touch it’s back. I adore snakes, and will probably add one to my own zoo eventually.

The other thrill for me was the Elephant Encounter. I knew that Christie was pregnant, and due soon, so when they brought her out I was pretty happy. I get my love of elephants from my grandmother, who also loves them. And I have fond memories of being scared to death as I rode the elephant at Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri as a child.

Speaking of elephants, a while back I discovered a site selling paintings by elephants. You read that right – paintings by elephants (not just of them)! There is even video explaining how they do it, and why. The whole thing was very fascinating!

So, while we were at the Elephant Encounter, I discovered that Christie the elephant also paints, and they had pieces of her paintings for sale in the gift shop. Preston, my 9 year old son, really wanted one. We didn’t get one while we were there this time, but I’m hoping to go back soon and purchase one. I wish that Hogle Zoo would put out a video of the elephants painting! I bet that would greatly increase the demand for a “Christie Original” painting!

I asked my sons to write about the visit to the zoo, so I could post it here. First up is Preston’s:

What I like about the zoo are the two babies, the Madagascar exhibit, the conservation carousel, the train ride, the beastro, wild zootique, the big marble, flavor burst cone, Christie, the animals, and the elephant’s paintings. Because of the two babies were so cute. The big marble wouldn’t stop. The flavor burst cone has lots of flavor in it and tastes good. And the elephant’s paintings are cool.

For the uninitiated, the big marble is a giant round marble floating on water, and the kids get to go spin it and get very wet!

And here’s what Drake, my 11 year old, had to say:

When we went to the zoo we got some T-shirts from my mom’s work and tickets for the zoo. We ate breakfast at the zoo because my mom’s work gave breakfast too. After we ate breakfast we waited for my mom’s friends. We went to the new Madagascar and saw cool turtles and when we went out to go to the primate forest we saw two people holding a snake not venomous thank the lord we got to touch it and it was slimy and scaly. We went to the primate forest and got to see the same species as Dexter from the Night at the Museum and we saw a new born monkey that was born May 1st 2009. then we saw kangaroos jumping on each other it was funny. Then we went to the small animal room and it had reptiles in there to. Then we went to the primate building and then we ate lunch at the Bear Grotto. The great apes building then we went to the conservation carousel. Then we saw Giraffes. Then the last thing the zoofari express. It was fun till we had to leave.

I should also mention that right next to the kangaroos jumping on each other were two turtles, mating rather loudly:

Here’s Preston petting the snake:

Oh, and this little guy, which I think was the Brown Tufted Capuchin Monkey, was pretty fun! He crawled down and made some pretty creepy faces at us!

Tags: Hogle Zoo

A few days ago, Clarity Sanderson and I started the “Draft Peter Corroon for Governor in 2010” group on Facebook. The group has already grown to over 300 people!

We are asking supporters to invite 4 more friends to the group, and to write an endorsement of Mayor Corroon. When we have 1,000 members, we will present these endorsements to Mayor Corroon, and ask how he feels about running.

We have a hint already, though. Clarity posted this button to the group:

Mayor Corroon made a comment on the image, saying it was very patriotic looking. So, hopefully, we can take that as a sign that he’s at least open to the idea!

Here is the endorsement that I posted to the group:

I feel that Mayor Peter Corroon should run for Utah Governor in 2010 because he’s made intelligent decisions for the county as Mayor, and that his dependable and trustworthy temperament would make him a very popular Governor across the entire state of Utah.

Tags: Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon

Before I get into this endorsement, I would like to say that I have the utmost respect for current Utah State Democratic Party Chair Wayne Holland. I loved working with him over the past couple of years, and I believe he is a great person, and has done some good things for the Utah State Democratic Party.

However, I feel compelled to endorse JM (Jeff) Bell for Utah State Democratic Party Chair. One of the biggest reasons is that I believe Bell has a fundamental understanding of technology and how to harness it. The current party leadership has missed the mark on this issue, and we absolutely cannot let that continue.

I’ve seen recent improvements in the area of technology with the UT Democrats, however, I think it’s too little, too late.

Vote for Jeff Bell for Utah State Democratic Party Chair

I also believe the the current party leadership has a fundamental belief that most races in this state can only be won by either a conservative, or someone who compromises on basic Democratic Party ideals to become more like a conservative. I understand that there’s no “perfect Democrat”, nor should anyone running under the Democratic banner be forced, or even try, to be a complete liberal on every issue. However, we need better candidates who don’t compromise with the conservatives to try to win against them. It’s just silly to think that people in this state will vote for that type of candidate.

We need energized Democratic candidates who stick to their own values, and who have support from the State Democratic Party.

During the last election, I also felt that the State Party was more interested in supporting a “higher visibility” candidate for Governor, who was obviously going to lose, than they were in supporting other candidates who had a true shot at winning, but for a lower office. Or maybe it was because they weren’t able to harness the huge amounts of grassroots volunteer energy, because they hadn’t seen such a thing in recent history.

I think I could even sum it up this way: Buttars won the last election. I don’t think that would have happened if Jeff was Chair. Not that I blame the current Chair for this in any sort of direct way. However, I think Jeff Bell will take the Utah State Democratic Party in the direction we need, not just to elect more Democrats, but to elect the right Democrats, and send the right message about our party to the people of Utah. I also believe that Bell will be far more in touch with the average Utahn, and get them involved.

As Bell himself says:

It is time for the Party to educate Utah voters about who we are, what we stand for, and deliver the message that Democrats are more than a watered down alternative to the empty, harmful policies of the Utah GOP – We are the best choice for Utah voters.

As your Party Chair I will work to bring that message to the people of Utah, and in doing so will help us return to a position of strength where, defining ourselves once more as Democrats, we can bring real, progressive leadership to the great state of Utah

Read the rest of his Letter to Utah Democrats, and see if you don’t agree with me.

And on a personal note, Jeff Bell was already a well known Utah blogger and all around political guru when I came on the scene a few years ago. I think we’ve probably disagreed on a few things, but overall, Jeff and his blog have been a huge inspiration for my own blog. In addition, while I was Chair of the Utah for Obama group, Jeff was an amazing mentor, even though I was a political nobody. I had jumped into the middle of this political arena that I knew little about, but felt determined to get Utah to vote for Obama, and become aware of him. I didn’t know any of the elected officials, party officials, or really anyone else when I started. Jeff has always answered my silly questions without making (too much) fun of me for them. He’s good natured, well informed, and believes that we all need to be involved. The Utah State Democratic Party isn’t about one or two people making decisions for the rest of us. Jeff understands that, and I think with him as Chair of the Party that the entire process will be far more open, far more effective, and far more Democratic.

So, please vote for Jeff Bell this June 20 at the Utah State Democratic Convention. Stop by and talk with him at his booth if you’re attending the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention this Saturday, April 18.

Tags: JM Bell, Utah State Democratic Party

I’ve known Curtis Haring for a couple of years, now. Not only is a really good guy, he’s really impressed me with his dedication to the Democratic Party, and making it better. He’s been knowledgeable on every subject I’ve discussed with him, and he’s put a lot of effort into understanding the how’s and why’s of Utah politics. During the recent Legislative Session, anytime a bill came up that I needed to know more about, I almost always found a wonderful overview of it on his blog. He covered hundreds of bills, with very details analysis. I can’t begin tell you how impressed I was with that, because I know how much effort had to have gone into it. He’s also been on the Board of the Young Democrats of Utah for 5 years. This position of responsibility isn’t new to him, and he’s going to rock once he’s elected!

That being said, Curtis is running for the 2nd Vice Chair of the Salt Lake County Democrats. I will be voting for him this Saturday at the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention, and I hope you will, as well. Take a look around his blog, Blue in Red Zion, and I know you’ll be impressed. I believe his past experience is perfect, and that he has the perfect organizational skills that the SL County Democratic Party needs!

If you need a little more reason to vote for Curtis Haring, check out Bob Aagard’s endorsement, or JM Bell’s.

Tags: Curtis Haring, endorsement, Salt Lake County Democrats

This is priceless. You may remember Jack Thompson as the disbarred lawyer and figure behind the recent video game bill that Gov. Huntsman vetoed. Thompson himself showed up here in the comments, apparently hoping to debate me and/or spread some more of his lies.

Anyway, even though Utah Senate President Waddoups supported the video game bill, Thompson is apparently harassing him:

In an e-mail sent out earlier today, Thompson claimed that Utah State Senate President Michael Waddoups (R, at left) has threatened to have him prosecuted if the disbarred attorney doesn’t stop sending him e-mails.

Waddoups, who presided over the Utah Senate as it overwhelmingly passed Thompson’s video game bill earlier this month, apparently became upset by an Easter Sunday e-mail in which Thompson attacked Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

[...]

To back up his point, Thompson included a large screenshot of a pair of strippers giving GTA IV protagonist Nico Bellic a lap dance. Why Waddoups reacted so strongly is not entirely clear, although it is possible that he was offended by the picture. Or perhaps he has grown weary of Thompson’s persistent attacks on Gov. Huntsman and A.G. Shurtleff, both fellow Republicans. GamePolitics contacted Waddoups for comment, but the Senate President did not return our call.

GamePolitics has plenty more, including excerpts from emails flying back and forth between Waddoups and Thompson. I’m looking forward to the article in the Salt Lake Tribune tomorrow morning, as alluded to by Thompson.

My guess is, whatever the outcome, that video game bill won’t see resurrection next session.

Update: The Salt Lake Tribune already has their article out.

Waddoups, on Tuesday, confirmed he would attempt to pursue legal action under the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

While that law carries a punishment of up to $11,000 in fines, it covers “e-mail whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service,” according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Attorney General’s Office has not looked into the validity of using that or any other law to prosecute Thompson because Waddoups has not yet filed a complaint.

Tags: Jack Thompson, President Michael Waddoups, video game bill

I’m all for open debate, and making Representatives answer for their votes. But, this video shows that Rep. Jason Chaffetz is participating in pre-planned attacks, designed only to badger the Democrats, with no clear purpose or ability to make progress. It’s simple kindergarten bullying. From Politico:

Cantor’s floor staff has created a photo album to help identify the 42 most vulnerable Democrats. The aides send daily e-mails to the members of the attack team and alert lawmakers when these targeted members are speaking on the floor. They even draft quick scripts to help focus the questioning.

This is beyond childish. And it’s embarrassing, since apparently, Chaffetz made an idiot out of himself when it was his turn up, and it didn’t quite turn out the way he wanted. Go, Utah!

As Politico says, about this video:

Of course, these attacks don’t always work out. Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, a veteran of party politics, quickly turned a Chaffetz challenge against his attacker. The Utah freshman also appeared flustered when Kilroy left the floor recently as he launched another line of questioning about her AIG vote.

Perhaps this is an alternative explanation for Jason Chaffetz blocking me on Twitter. Hearing from me was sometimes a little taste of his own medicine. Oh, and what was that advice Chaffetz had for the President again?

(h/t Glen Warchol)

Tags: Representative Jason Chaffetz

Newcomer to the United States House of Representatives, Jason Chaffetz, has some balls, all right (emphasis mine):

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, lent tentative support to President Barack Obama’s war policy in Iraq after spending two days in the war-ravaged nation as part of a congressional delegation.

“Thus far he has been pretty good at listening to the generals. I just hope that continues,” Chaffetz said. “My advice to the president is don’t let politics drive the timeline.”

Seriously? Chaffetz (in all of his worldly experience) thinks he’s finally got a chance to advice President Obama about something (yeah, right) and he tells him not to let politics drive him? I mean, because we all know Chaffetz gave a moment’s consideration to anything dealing with the budget that wasn’t politically driven. Uh, huh. Ri-i-i-ight.

Though, maybe this explains why Chaffetz blocked me on Twitter. He was afraid I might be a terr’ist, like all them other lib’rels, and since he was traveling to see the rest of them terr’ists over in Iraq, it was dangerous to keep me on Twitter!

I wonder if Obama laughed him out of the room when he gave that advice, or treated him more like a pesky fly?

Tags: Representative Jason Chaffetz