LobbyMe

• The Harder They Fall

  
  Okay so I'm a day or two late getting to this one...
  
  On 09 November 1989, travel restrictions for East German citizens were unexpectedly lifted, prompting a rush of thousands of Berliners to the barrier, where they were allowed to cross.
  
  World' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 12:55pm EST
  

• AG Mark Shurtleff ...

  
  AG Mark Shurtleff names former Legislator John Swallow as his new Chief Deputy over civil litigation. You can read the article here.
  
  I was John's intern back in 1998. I interned for three legislators that year. My dad - Lloyd Frandsen, Representative Wayne Harper,' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:57pm EDT
  

• Provo Mayor's Race Get's a Whole Lot More Interesting

  
  The Daily Herald reported today that the County Attorney's office is investigating Steve Clark's campaign for Provo Mayor over alleged bribery by offering one of his opponents and a sitting Councilman a job in his administration if they supported his campaign.
  
  You can read the [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 10:50am EDT
  

• The Never Ending Revolving Door

  
  Around and around we go...
  
  Matheson's Chief of Staff quits to become a lobbyist. I have mixed feelings. Its hard to prevent people with significant experience from moving to the private sector. But it raises a whole bunch of issues when those folks turn' [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 4:02pm EDT
  

• Be my Valentine

  
  Governor Valentine? He wants it. He's in.
  
  
  
  Update
  
  Be my Urquhart
  
  Urquhart Positioning Himself for 2010? Steve was pondering a run at Hatch a few years back. Is he interested in Governor? He has the ambition but does he' [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 9:58pm EDT
  

• Politifact.com

  
  Maybe I'm a johnny come lately to this new site, but I just came across Politifact.com. Its a sort of public-official-statement-fact-checker thingy. Really kind of interesting. It's a project founded and sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times. I'm still scanning through it to see if' [...]
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  Posted: August 20, 2009, 1:48pm EDT
  

• Is the Tent Big Enough?

  
  Check out this interesting article on UtahPolicy.com "Are Political Moderates Welcome in the Utah Republican Party?" It features insightful commentary from four GOP perspectives. I thought the most thoughtful was from Thomas Wright, Chairman of the SLCO GOP.
  
  Thomas notes Ronald Reagan's 11th' [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2009, 11:25am EDT
  

• Where's Ryan?

  I have to apologize for not posting for a while. As a certified political junkie I've been working on a couple of Provo city campaigns. Two candidates I'm really excited about are John Curtis for Provo Mayor, and Laura Cabanilla (rhymes with 'vanilla') for the Provo City-Wide Council seat. You [...]
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  Posted: August 06, 2009, 9:15pm EDT
  

• Iowa Get's Saturday Caucus-Fever

  
  Since 1972 Iowa has been the first state in the country to hold it's political party caucuses. The caucuses are seen as the first major event in the electoral process for the US Presidency. Iowa Republicans and Democrats have just agreed to hold the' [...]
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  Posted: July 28, 2009, 8:25pm EDT
  

• Hill Air Force Base Classifieds: F-22 For Sale/Hire

  
  Earlier this week the Senate stripped out the funding for the F-22 fighter plane. A savings of nearly two billion dollars. It's a plane that has amazing capabilities: it's designed for air to air combat, can fly at supersonic speeds and avoid radar detection (just like [...]
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  Posted: July 22, 2009, 11:06am EDT
  

• He's baaAAAaaack!

  
  Superdell Schanze is running for mayor of Saratoga Springs.
  
  This guy needs a platform like Imelda Marcos needs another pair of shoes. But still, this is why America is so great. A guy who some see as a certifiable nut can file and [...]
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  Posted: July 15, 2009, 1:38pm EDT
  

• Sotomyor Hearings - its not what you think

  
  The Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor begin today. Some people would have you think these hearings are about Judge Sotomyor herself, the Supreme Court, the future of the Supreme Court, or the current state of our justice system...
  
  But they're not.
  
  The' [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2009, 10:13am EDT
  

• Calling BS on the BCS Hearings

  
  Note to Senator Hatch and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: Quit Grandstanding! You have better things to do!
  
  In my humble opinion. [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  

• How Bizarre

  
  
  So Sarah Palin is resigning as Governor of Alaska. Huh. If you are a real Gov. Palin fan you may want to click to the next blog now.
  
  Not quite sure what to make of it. Truth be told I was never a big [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2009, 3:52pm EDT
  

• Oh Canada...

  
  Happy Birthday to our neighbor to the north...And in case you were wondering; No, I'm neither Canadian nor socialist. I just like those ketchup chips and wunderbars!
  
  Frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday", particularly in the popular press,[1][2][3] the occasion marks the joining of [...]
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  Posted: July 01, 2009, 10:14am EDT
  

• Rock Stars: Nick and Jason Jonas(?)

  
  
  
  Maybe Jason is the long lost 4th Jonas brother?? ;) I'm just saying...they're both rock stars. [...]
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  Posted: June 25, 2009, 3:06pm EDT
  

• A Brand in Trouble

  
  With yesterday's bizarre news about Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admitting to an affair with a woman from Argentina, coupled with the previous week's admission from Senator Ensign (R-NV) of infidelity, I have to wonder where does that leave the national Republican Party?
  
  I [...]
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  Posted: June 25, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
  

• Cedar Hills Mayor & City Council Get Lit Up

  
  I had to shake my head and laugh a bit when I read this article in the Daily Herald.
  
  It's a piece from Caleb Warnock recounting his experience at a recent city council meeting regarding the city's public golf course. I really don't' [...]
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  Posted: June 18, 2009, 1:51pm EDT
  

• Revolutionary Technology

  
  
  I hope many of you are keeping tabs on what's happening in Iran. The protests there over the elections really are quite remarkable. Very reminiscent of Tiananmen Square 20 years ago with huge numbers of protesters marching in the streets.
  
  One of the' [...]
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  Posted: June 16, 2009, 10:22am EDT
  

• Another Week - Another Candidate - or Two

  
  So it's been what three weeks since AG Mark Shurtleff threw his hat in the ring to challenge Senator Bennett, and four weeks since Tim Bridgewater dropped out of the State GOP race to give our Jr. Senator a run. And now...this week Cherylin Bacon [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2009, 11:19am EDT
  

• Provo Mayor's Race Get's Uncrowded

  
  So a month ago I blogged about how crowded the Provo Mayor's race was getting. Well, on Monday it surprisingly got uncrowded. Mayor Lewis Billing's announced he is not going to be seeking a fourth term.
  
  Just about all of my political connections were [...]
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  Posted: June 10, 2009, 3:34pm EDT
  

• Let Us Never Forget

  
  I've always been interested in WWII history. Especially the events that happened on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th, 1944 - D-Day.
  
  I remember going to see Saving Private Ryan as a college student. It was one of a few films that have' [...]
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  Posted: June 04, 2009, 2:09pm EDT
  

• A Party of Primaries

  
  I think Primaries are a good thing. It keeps things fresh and elected officials honest. As an incumbent you hate them. As a news reporter you LOVE them for the drama and conflict (because really that's what sells news right?). As a Party leader you publically' [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2009, 1:13pm EDT
  

• Oh yeah...me too.

  Me and Josh Romney - we're in the same boat. We're both 33, politically-minded, stunningly handsome, and really smart. Had the Deseret News called me for a quote I would have said the same thing. By the way Gary - I am available, and I don't plan to run for' [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2009, 11:16am EDT
  

• Bennett's Race to Lose

  
  So the race for US Senate is miles away, but with the recent announcement(?) of Cherilyn Bacon, the race on the GOP side is getting crowded.
  
  I am happy to see a woman get into the race. I don't know Cherylin that well, but' [...]
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  Posted: May 29, 2009, 4:32pm EDT
  

• Evil Twin

  Last week, Joe Pyrah from the Provo Daily Herald pointed out that my blog looked very familiar.
  
  A quick click to his blog the Sausage Grinder and you'll see that our two blogs do look eerily similar.
  
  Truth be told, I'm sure Joe's blog was [...]
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  Posted: May 28, 2009, 12:04pm EDT
  

• Voting from Home?

  
  As Jay Leno likes to say "How lazy are we getting in this country!?"
  
  The state of Hawaii just tried a totally paperless election. Voters could cast their ballots either online or over the phone. The results? Voting dropped 83% compared to the [...]
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  Posted: May 28, 2009, 11:42am EDT
  

• This land is your land...this land is my land...

  
  Excellent article from the Desnews on the Rock Canyon situation in Provo. The fellow who owns a large part of the Canyon wants to mine a portion of it. You can read the article here.
  
  The paper offers four or five perspectives from [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 3:01pm EDT
  

• Chrysler (State?) Bailout

  
  I was bit surprised to read this story about the State Legislature considering stepping in to save local Chrysler dealers. Last week Chrysler sent notices to nearly 800 dealers out of a current network of about 3,200 that it was revoking their franchise rights.
  [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2009, 9:43am EDT
  

• Show Me the Money!

  
  The State of Utah has come a long ways...
  I remember as a college student doing an internship that required me to tabulate and record the voting records for a series of Senate Bills. Maybe this dates me (it was just in the late '90s), [...]
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  Posted: May 20, 2009, 9:57am EDT
  

• 再见! (Goodbye) Jon. Hello Gary.

  
  So with Governor Huntsman bolting the state for the lure of the orient we now have a new, yet familiar face in the Guv's office.
  I think its great that Huntsman is opting for the Chinese Ambassadorship. I believe this is what he's wanted [...]
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  Posted: May 17, 2009, 9:04pm EDT
  

• How Should the Supreme Court Interpret the Constitution?

  
  With Justice David Souter recently announcing his plans to retire there has been a lot of talk about who President Obama will nominate to take his place. In this context I found it very interesting to see the results of a new Foxnews poll. [...]
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  Posted: May 14, 2009, 5:22pm EDT
  

• How Tweet is That?

  
  So the media is having a lot of fun at AG Shurtleff's Senate Campaign Twitter gaffe. If you haven't heard by now (which would be impossible because the media is just enjoying this too much), our good AG mistakenly sent out a series of tweets [...]
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  Posted: May 13, 2009, 11:51am EDT
  

• Bridgewater to Challenge Bennett

  
  The sharks are definitely starting to circle.
  
  Just when Bennett appeared to have muscled out a potential challenger in Mike Lee (former legal counsel to Gov. Huntsman) another upstart from the Huntsman clan emerges. In a somewhat surprsing (to me at least) [...]
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  Posted: May 12, 2009, 10:21am EDT
  

• Pot Calling the Kettle Black...

  
  As a former Congressional staffer I used to hear all the time from various State Legislators how horrible unfunded mandates from the Federal Government were and that the Fed's should just butt out of the State's business. That's all fine and well and I personally [...]
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  Posted: May 11, 2009, 11:05am EDT
  

• S(h)ave that Mustache Mayor!

  Update: the mustache loses by a hair (1254 shave to 966 save)
  
  If you ever meet Murray Mayor Dan Snarr you won't won't forget him. Well his face at least - uh to be more specific - his mustache. It's a classic waxed at [...]
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  Posted: May 08, 2009, 9:48am EDT