February 28, 2005
Reading About It IS NOT the Same As Being There
by Jeff Alexander
They say never pick a fight with someone who owns ink by the barrel – well I just can’t help myself. I have a real problem with the way the Salt Lake Tribune covered the celebration of the U of U Football team last week. (Click here to read the resolution we did for the team: http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2005/bills/hbillenr/hcr011.htm). And it may seem trivial to some, but that’s the point – even on a seemingly innocuous subject like honoring an athletic team (albeit an amazing team), the Trib shows it in the most unflattering, slanted light. Click Here: http://sltrib.com/search/ci_2583018. I was glad to see, however, that the University of Utah took the resolution in the spirit it was intended. Below is an email sent to the Tribune public forum page, and copied to me, from the U’s Vice President for University Relations:
>>> "Fred Esplin" 2/25/2005 4:26:26 PM >>>
To the Editor
I was pleased to see that the Tribune made note of the legislative
resolution honoring the University of Utah football team (February 24),
but was sorry to see the spin you put on the celebration in your photo
caption. Far from being delivered "with a backhand," both the House and
Senate gave the team a standing ovation and joined in a rousing chorus
of "Utah Man." Praise for the team came from both sides of the aisle,
led by Representatives Jeff Alexander and Greg Curtis in the House and
Senators John Valentine and Karen Hale in the Senate. There was some
good-humored banter back and forth between Ute and Cougar partisans, but
it was all in good fun and in the larger context of a shared sense of
pride in the accomplishments of this remarkable team.
Fred Esplin
Vice President for University Relations
University of Utah
Posted by majority at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2005
Behind the Headlines: A Healthy Relationship with the Governor
“Huntsman Challenged.” “Huntsman, lawmakers rocking boat.” After reading headlines like that in the newspapers, you might be thinking the Legislature has a dysfunctional relationship with the Governor. And you might even be feeling frustrated with us because of it. Well let me reassure you – this is simply not true. The Legislature and the Governor have a very healthy and very open working relationship.
Since the first week of the session both Senate and House leadership have met with the Governor. The Speaker and the President also frequently meet privately with the Governor. Even though we don’t agree on every issue that doesn’t mean we aren’t working together. Just last week I had the opportunity to meet with Governor Huntsman to discuss some of his priorities and to help him understand issues that are important to me. I feel fortunate to be able to call the Governor and have the type of relationship that will allow us to discuss issues.
Maybe it is because it has been so long since we had a new Governor elected that so many are worried about the way the Governor is being treated. I can think of dozens of times when we didn’t agree with Governor Leavitt but we still worked through the issues and finished with balanced budgets. There is supposed to be some difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. For some reason, this year the perception is that if we don’t agree on one issue, then nobody is getting along on any issues.
I for one am grateful for the openness of Governor Huntsman. He has priorities but he is willing to take suggestions from the legislature in an effort to make his priorities better. We understand that as the legislative branch we can’t be successful without him. At the same time, he can’t be successful without us.
Jeff Alexander
Posted by majority at 04:29 PM | Comments (1)
February 14, 2005
Budgets - There's Got to be a Better Way
In law school, I was taught to find things people could agree on and get them out of the way. That way, you don’t waste time wrangling over things about which you already have consensus and you can focus your time on the points of difference. I’ve found this a valuable philosophy in life and politics.
So on Friday, we put this to practice by passing a base budget bill – HB1. The base budget included funding for things like transportation, the weighted pupil unit (WPU) increase, Medicaid inflation, cost of living increases for state employees and corrections growth – all things we have to fund.
With those items off the table, we now realistically have an idea of how much money we have to work with for other programs and requests. Like with my personal budget, when I take my mortgage, utilities, car payment and food out of the available money column, I see what I can really spend on other things. The same is true for the state budget.
In addition to knowing better how much money we have on the table, we also have more time to deal with the remaining issues. Historically, the Legislature would wait until the last few days of the session to deal with any part of the budget. Sometimes in the rush mistakes would get made or people didn’t have enough time to digest all of the information in front of them. But now, by handling the budget in segments, we have already dealt with a large portion of the budget with weeks to go in the session. Plus, we have eliminated much of the last minute rush and can spend time resolving our differences to achieve the best budget possible.
Greg Curtis
Posted by majority at 11:57 AM | Comments (1)