I hate ethics

You know, I know and anyone else who follows the sausage grinding of laws knows that the details of a bill, the little things, are often where the most important stuff is hidden.

I don't care if it's the so-called ethics laws that passed last year that were full of holes, or the ethics initiative cruising its way to certain passage in 2010. Seriously, the folks over at the Trib of all places should know better than to let this tripe through:

But rather than embrace the clamor for change, some lawmakers are trying to stop the initiative in its tracks. Both major political parties have expressed reservations. Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, claims the initiative is an attempt by organizers to "punish" legislators. Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, says he would resign before potentially exposing his law firm to an ethics commission subpoena. Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, tries to nitpick the proposal to death.

I know the Trib's point is that lawmakers should just pass laws that mimic the initiative. But I'm telling you that embracing "epic ethics reform" in the session isn't going to stop the initiative.

Also, I'm not giving out my opinion of the initiative. I'm saying that any plain reading of the bill raises real questions. You don't have to put wholesale trust in them, but dismissing three lawmakers out of hand, three lawmakers who are well versed in law, is dangerous and ignorant.

Brain says wha?

Looking for something to burn off the last 30 minutes of Monday work? Stare at this for a two and a half minutes then spend 27.5 minutes shaking your head:

Monday Cup o' Joe -- Mid-afternoon edition!

• I think there are a couple of ways to look at BYU's exit poll that shows 55 percent of Provo voters still support Bob Bennett. Negative: 55 percent isn't particularly healthy. Positive: It's among Utah's more conservative voters. Negative: General election voters aren't delegates. Positive: Those who consider themselves strong Republicans favor Bennett by 61 percent. Quin Monson at BYU doesn't know why, and neither do I. Suggestions?

• Matt Canham over at the Trib writes up the push in the Republican Party to oust the so-called RINOs. (Human Events ranks Bennett as the No. 9 RINO in the Senate.)

• Cathy Mckitrick at the Trib chases Bob Bernick's story about Utah GOP leaders backing donation caps. Chalk this one up to the ethics initiative movement and expect to see more during the legislative session as lawmakers try and make the initiative less appealing.

• I get a mention in Paul Rolly's column. Not by name, of course. On election day, I tweeted: "If you haven't studied, don't take the test. Voting in ignorance only drags down the score for the rest of us. Stay home." The Senate Site retweeted and automatically got tagged with "discouraging people from voting." So congratulations, Paul Rolly, on winning this week's Face-Palm Award.

• And if none of that interests you, double check that jailbroken iPhone for worms. It's not pretty.

Bennett (cont.)

I'm bringing up pieces of the the last comment from the Bennett post the other day from "Anonymous" because I think it's interesting discussion. (Seriously, just put your name at the bottom if you don't want to create an account. Even a first name. Feels awkward when we meet at parties.) On to the comment!

Don't get me wrong, Bennett is in a world of trouble with a very angry base. But he's no Chris Cannon.

Fair enough, but Cannon wasn't tagged as the architect of the TARP bailout either.

Secondly I'd point out that the southwest portion of Salt Lake County which made up Cannon's district is much more conservative than the rest of the county. Remember that's the stomping grounds of Chris Buttars and Carl Wimmer.

I'll concede this point.

By the way, am I the only one who finds it incredibly ironic that the Patrick Henry Caucus believes that our country must return to Constitutional principles yet Patrick Henry opposed the Constitution?

You're not the only one. I've brought it up a few times with that group, only to discover that they're suddenly late for their appointment with Dr. Selective History.

Sandy and Holladay is a different ballgame than Herriman and West Jordan. Plus don't get me started on rural Utah. Good luck stealing that baby from Bennett. Portions of Davis County could easily be taken from Bennett but he remains strong in Cache and Weber. I don't have many friends in St. George so I can't speak to that. My point is this. Chaffetz worked his guts out for two years and barely pulled out a miracle in a district three times smaller than Bennett's against a weaker opponent.

Chaffetz didn't "barely pull out a miracle." He kicked David Leavitt's arse right out of politics and nearly unseated Cannon at convention. Then he used the primary like a sock full of nickles in a back alley to destroy a six-term incumbent considered one of the most conservative members of Congress.

My argument is that Chaffetz is not an anomaly for the party, he was a portent. The NY-23 race, among others, shows that any Republican considered moderate will not be tolerated.

The national mood certainly doesn't favor incumbents, but I'm not about to bet against Bennett unless Chaffetz enters the fray. Even then it's not a done deal.

While I agree on this point, I'm going to defer to Mr. Henry, who said "I know of no way of judging the future but by the past."

The recent past.

Decompression

Elections and Senate races be gone! Also, trying to ignore Fort Hood for a while because it's not healthy to be glued to that all day.

A few Web pages I can't do without:
• Google Reader — Yes, I see the self destructive behavior in promoting an RSS reader that grabs content from sites and puts it in one nifty little place. But RSS is still the fastest, cleanest, easiest way to browse mass links in one place. Among my many feeds include locals HollyontheHill, Out of Context, the Senate Site and several of the City Weekly folks. More broadly, I read Slashdot, Reddit, Boing Boing and Andrew Sullivan.

• Grooveshark — This is a little gift. A little extra something, just for you. It's music streaming where you pick all the music. Full albums, singles, any artist. Create your own playlists. And it's free. If you want recommendations and Pandora-like radio, it's got that, too. If they'll release an iPhone app, I'm done buying music forever.

• ZabaSearch — Forget the White Pages and the rest. You need to find someone, this is the place to start.

Senate update

Here's Cherilyn Eagar's response from the comments on the previous post. And get over to the Nightside Project to hear their take on it.:

My friends,

I wish to clarify what has been said about my comments to Mr. Shurtleff.

As soon as I was able, I picked up the phone and immediately called Mark and left a voice mail expressing my sincere thoughts and concern about his family situation.

I also told him that I respect his decision and his attention to his family first. I wished him well and told him that I certainly understand how difficult that must be.

We've all had crises and challenges in our families. Mine was yesterday evening and this morning, as a matter of fact. I put my missionary son on a plane to go back to his mission this morning after ACL surgery. The last three months have been a very tough time for him and our family. I'm grateful he made it!

I'm a mom, too. I do know what Mark is going through. I've raised five children. I've been a single mom. I know that struggle.

I'm sorry that the statement didn't read as we intended.

The latter comment had nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Shurtleff. I was praising him for getting in early. That was all. It's troubling to me that my words are being misinterpreted.

Thank you for your understanding.

We're working hard to bring Joe Wurzelbacher here to Utah. We want him to have a friendly reception from Utahns. He had a great impact on the campaign discussion last year and his story is worthy of our attention. We owe a lot to him for being in the right place at the right time and for bringing the "sharing the wealth" idea to every household. He is somewhat responsible for the discussion we are able to have now.

If there are any questions about who I am and what I believe, please come to one of the events where I'll be presenting - or call me 801-592-4245 if you have any questions.
Thanks, Cherilyn Eagar

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

Reporter hat off. Analyzer hat on. Senate race 2010.

First, this is a purely political breakdown, so any accusations that I'm being insensitive — aside from that being completely true — will be ignored. Second, when I'm talking about the Senate race, I'm mostly talking about the GOP nominating convention next year, NOT the primary or general elections. At the convention, if you get 60 percent of 2,000 delegates, you move to the general against whatever punching bag the Dems trot out.

Bob Bennett
This looks like a very good thing for Bennett at first glance.

Shurtleff had to be considered his top challenger based on fundraising, name recognition and campaign savvy. But let's take a closer look: Shurtleff wasn't Jason Chaffetz no matter how much he wanted to be. He wasn't getting traction he needed with party delegates and his baggage was starting to pile up in the press. To make up for a lack of base support, he needed to raise money, lots of it. Unfortunately, it wasn't anywhere near where it needed to be to take on an incumbent senator.

So instead of Bennett facing a fatally flawed front-running challenger next year, he now faces The Unknown. He will have a problem if he faces any one of these three potentials:

Jason Chaffetz
The Man, himself. "He's been in office less than a year," is your first counter, but you know in your heart it doesn't matter. The representative from the 3rd District will never be more popular than he is right now. Delegates adore him, his voting record is unimpeachable among the base because there are no consequences to voting from a purely ideological position when in the minority and from a district that is 70 percent Republican. Oh, and his fundraising machine is primed just in case he needs the cash.

He's in the press all the time. He's been the go-to guy in the GOP on social media matters. "But he's so young, doesn't have the gravitas needed in the Senate," you whisper. No, seriously, you're hilarious.

Mike Lee
Gov. Huntsman's former counsel has been making the rounds with his fireside discussions about the Constitution. He considered a run against Bennett in the early going but eventually decided against it. Despite the fact that the base isn't crazy about Huntsman, Lee has scored huge points on the circuit. Raising money won't be easy, but the well-liked scholar and attorney who clerked for Justice Alito could be a sleeper if he changes his mind and gets back in it.

Fred Lampropoulos
That's right. The CEO of Merit Medical has deep pockets and after a sudden exit from the 2004 governor's race courtesy of Huntsman, may be itching to get back into the ring. Lampropoulos is charismatic, a canny businessman and is well-known to delegates.

But what about...
No, I haven't forgotten the candidates already in the race. The problem is that Cherilyn Eagar is dangerously close to marginalizing herself. Her statement about Shurtleff dropping out is already drawing fire for being less than sensitive:

"I have put a call into Mr. Shurtleff to express my best wishes to him and his family and am awaiting his reply.  I have complete respect for Mr. Shurtleff’s decision and for the fact that he got in early, so that the voters could get to know him.  A U.S. Senate race is a serious commitment, one that is not made at the last minute.  I sincerely hope we do not see in the future a flurry of candidates getting in and getting out.  This is not musical chairs."

She's bringing in Joe the Plumber to stump for her, but it's more a book tour for the guy who became a cause célèbre for 15 minutes last year.

Tim Bridgewater
The Provo resident and longtime political insider was at first viewed by some as someone trying to gently back out of the state GOP chairman race he was never going to win by saying he instead wanted to run for Senate. He could then get his issues out there but never be considered a serious challenger. Bridgewater, a successful businessman by all accounts, is a tough read at this point. He's doing the campaign thing with e-mail blasts and cottage meetings across the state. But I'm going to have to take a pass on this one because I just don't know enough here.

Election Hangover Wednesday!

Not a real hangover, that'd be illegal in Utah County. As I write this, Mark Shurtleff has suspended his campaign for U.S. Senate, opening the way for a March announcement by Jason Chaffetz, who just doesn't know yet that he's going to do it.

We've got a pretty good line-up of follow-up election stories for tomorrow, so keep your eyes open.

My favorite alternative headline — courtesy of reader Provoan — from the comments in Heidi Toth's Provo story:

“Lethargic Provo Electorate Turns over Reigns of Government to Realtors”

Hey, don't judge me, some of my best friends are Realtors!

Monday Cup o' Joe [edit - MLB pulled video]

It's Monday, and you know what that means:

• Utah is supposed to be the best managed state in the country, full of innovation and leadership-y-ness. So why is it that the best that lawmakers can come up with is a few small tax increases, some efficiency gains and cuts to balance the budget? I asked around for some crazy ideas that just might work and came up with NEXT TO NOTHING. Where is the creativity, people?

• Politicians love transparency. Except when it actually comes down to it. Canham at the Trib explores the Bennett-Shurtleff campaign teams in all their secretive glory.

• The governor holds a million-dollar gala and donates $26,000 to the needy. That's 7.5 percent less than tithing.

• Pig and Webb take a shot at media influence in politics and apparently wrote it while under the influence of too much Halloween candy. When asked who the most feared/hated political reporters in the state are, they list every TV political reporter and then two newspaper people — Bob Bernick Jr. and Paul Rolly. First of all, they're right about Chris Vanocur. Good guy, smart reporter. Second of all, they're right about Bernick and Rolly if you're talking about most hated. Feared doesn't come into play for either of those guys anymore, and here's why: Bernick has written the same 10 stories and pissed off the same 10 lawmakers for the past 10 years. Rolly has written the same 10 columns about the same 10 lawmakers for the the past 10 years. Oh sure, once in a while they heave a rock into the pond that creates a few waves.

But feared? Pfff. You want feared? How about Eric Peterson at the City Weekly? Or Robert Gehrke at the Trib? When those guys start asking questions, leadership starts holding strategy meetings.

And if none of that interests you, watch that damn Yankee Johnny Damon pull off a double steal (starting at 1:40):

[EDIT]
So it turns out MLB pulled it from YouTube because they hadn't obtained express written consent. Or something. Instead click on this and try not to get dizzy and fall over.

New career path: trampolinist

So I'm working on a little political analysis to post, but in the meantime, blow your mind with this:

(Also, hit the mute button if you're not a fan of the lewd hip-hop music. Not kidding.)