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Beehive Bulletin

  • Rumors-gotta love 'em

    Rumors are running rampant on Capitol Hill and depending on who you talk to, there's a different answer. Here is a sampling:

    Increase the motor vehicle registration fee-will they or won't they?

    Abolish private clubs-will they or won't they?

    Reinstate the sales tax on food-will they or' [...]
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    Posted: March 05, 2009, 9:20am EST

  • Berserk Pigs

    Sometimes floor debate in the House is hilarious. The Representatives were debating a bill this morning called SB 173 Emotional Support Animals and Pyschiatric Therapy Animals. I have no problem with people having emotional support animals. These are a necessary part of some people's lives and I don't intend to [...]
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    Posted: March 04, 2009, 11:37am EST

  • Senator Bramble's PTA Revenge Bill

    SB-199, which seeks to provide equal access to school resources for all parent groups and prohibits access to school resources by groups that charge dues (and won't waive upon request), has a number of problems.

    The bill isn't long, so take a minute to read it here.

    [...]
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    Posted: February 21, 2009, 11:05am EST

  • Sen. Bramble and the Utah PTA

    It seems Sen. Bramble is taking on the PTA moms and dads in an effort to...

    Actually, I am lost as to his motive.

    His bill, SB 199, wants to grant equal access to all parent and parent/teacher groups. Evidently this is a problem in Provo, so he [...]
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    Posted: February 18, 2009, 8:04am EST

  • The Budget

    Today is the last round of Appropriations Subcommittee meetings. The committees have to submit their recommendations to Executive Appropriations for the 2010 budget. So after today we'll have a good idea of where the state's programs are going and what will be left. Some things may be restored if revenue [...]
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    Posted: February 12, 2009, 2:01pm EST

  • Ethics and the Senate

    The Deseret News says: "Lawmakers are struggling to settle on ethics reforms this session. Senate Republicans have said there's little hope they'll agree as a caucus on any particular bill."

    There seems to be a feeling among House Representatives that something needs to be done about legislative ethics. [...]
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    Posted: February 10, 2009, 8:40pm EST

  • Seen at the Capitol

















    People will do almost anything to speak with their legislators. [...]
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    Posted: February 05, 2009, 9:04pm EST

  • Mr. Van Tassell goes to committee

    Royce Van Tassell is the vice-president of the Utah Taxpayer's Association and policy voice on Capitol Hill for the UTA. (Not to be confused with the Utah Transit Authority-sometimes acronyms can be confusing.) He has extensive experience as a lobbyist on the Hill, but it's been a rough session for [...]
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    Posted: February 03, 2009, 8:56am EST

  • The Saga of the Cigarette Tax

    SB 114 by Sen. Christensen is the Senate bill that will raise the tax on cigarettes. It was unexpectedly routed to the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, rather than Senate Health and Human Services, and its supporters feared that it would die in committee. But during Friday's committee meeting, the' [...]
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    Posted: January 31, 2009, 10:47am EST

  • The Senator plugged his ears

    Evidently freshman Sen. Dan Liljenquist was not listening to Gov. Huntsman’s State of the State address on Tuesday evening when he said, “Every person in this chamber is motivated by our state’s success. Our discussion should be conducted with civility, respect and a recognition of the challenging circumstances in which [...]
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    Posted: January 29, 2009, 8:41pm EST

  • I Spy: former legislators lobbying

    There is an ethics reform package coming in the Utah Legislature that includes a ban on former lobbyists for one year after they leave office. Fortunately for 2008 alumni, it won't affect them. This is good news for Mark Walker, new lobbyist for IHC, and Greg Curtis, new lobbyist for' [...]
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    Posted: January 27, 2009, 4:38pm EST

  • BYU half-time shows

    We are proud alumni of BYU and fans of BYU sports, drama, and fine arts. We attend many events at BYU and enjoy them immensely. We are proud supporters of BYU sports and are members of the Cougar Club. We also participated in marching band in high school and so [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2008, 8:55pm EST

  • Winds of Change in the Senate

    Elections were held last night in the Senate Majority Caucus and it looks like a whole new day for Senate Republicans. The ousting of President Valentine and Senate Majority Leader Bramble seems a signal from the Senate Republicans that they are looking to change the way of doing business in [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2008, 9:23am EST

  • The Election of 2008

    Democrats throughout Utah thought that Barack Obama's coattails would have swept more of their party into office this election, but that does not seem to have happened. Although the Salt Lake City Council now has a Democratic majority and the Democrats gained two seats in the Utah House, that was' [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2008, 9:57pm EST

  • Bramble Spits on Provo

    You may not know that Curt Bramble, Utah State Senate Majority Leader from Provo, is a licensed hot air balloonist. He's been flying hot air balloons (anyone else get the symbolism here?) for 25 years and has 5000 hours of flying experience.

    Unfortunately for those below, this is how' [...]
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    Posted: September 05, 2008, 9:55am EDT

  • Hogle Zoo

    I went with my family to the Hogle Zoo on Labor Day (even braved the morning rainstorm and eventually got to enjoy a very nice day). It's been a few years since I've been there and I was very impressed with the changes that have been made.

    The [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2008, 8:26pm EDT

  • More Bramblisms

    Here is another interesting story about one man's experience with Bramble and again supports the characterization that Senator Bramble thinks he is better than the rest of us and doesn't need to follow the rules:

    Then things got interesting. His son was helping take down the balloon and Senator [...]

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    Posted: August 23, 2008, 3:55pm EDT

  • Bramble, Pizza, and Google

    Ok.....it's been long enough (April, I think) since I wrote about anything. And there has been so much. Just didn't feel like writing.

    But this was too good to pass up. In a manner that seems absolutely in character, Utah Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble tried to throw his [...]
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    Posted: August 23, 2008, 2:55pm EDT

  • Utah County Republican Party

    After all the flap about e-mail lists and candidates, County Party Chair Marian Monnahan has agreed to give the e-mail list to ALL the candidates. That is very broad-minded of the party, or shall I say fair? At my precinct caucus, I never once heard the precinct chair say that [...]
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    Posted: April 05, 2008, 9:34am EDT

  • Hser Nay Moo

    With the abduction and murder of 7-year-old Hser Nay Moo in Salt Lake City, it is a good reminder that April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Prevent Child Abuse Utah has several great resources to help all of us protect children. Check there for tips on how [...]
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    Posted: April 03, 2008, 5:30pm EDT

  • Beehive Bulletin listed as one of Utah's Most Influential Political Blogs

    The Beehive Bulletin was recently listed on Blognetnews.com as one of Utah's most influential political blogs. Thanks to all who read and give us feedback. If you have a website, adding our link to your site will help us become more visible and will be greatly appreciated![...]
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    Posted: April 03, 2008, 11:07pm EDT

  • State Treasurer candidate

    Rep. Mark Walker from Sandy is running for State Treasurer. There are serious questions about his qualifications for this very important state-wide office. In fact, what are his qualifications? We'd like to know. Having observed his performance at the Legislature during his time in office, it seems that he was' [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2008, 9:03am EDT

  • Phrases You are Searching For

    I happened to looking at some of the statistics for this blog and saw some interesting things in the phrases that people were searching for when they found this blog.

    Here are some of the interesting phrases:
    utah private school waiting listmath investigationsmath investigations badmath investigations utahmath investigations 2007math [...]
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    Posted: February 23, 2008, 3:26pm EST

  • Technology not the best idea for preschoolers

    HB 200 Early Childhood Learning and Evaluation is a well-meaning idea from a great lawmaker, Rep. Brad Last. But it's not as good as it looks and is being opposed by many in the early childhood community because computer-based learning is not a replacement for developmentally appropriate learning environments that' [...]
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    Posted: February 23, 2008, 3:23pm EST

  • It Must be a Cold Day in You-Know-Where

    I'm running some errands last Saturday, listening to KSL, which happened to have Enid Green's talk show on. Enid, who is a former congresswoman from Utah, a former chairperson of the Utah Republican Party, and a current member of the central committee for the Utah Republican Party, was discussing the [...]
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    Posted: February 11, 2008, 8:00pm EST

  • District 45-an old face returns?

    Mark Walker is the current legislator serving in District 45 is Salt Lake County. He was appointed in 2004 to finish the term of Morgan Philpot, who left Utah to attend law school in another state. Recently he has been seen haunting the halls of the Capitol and in deep [...]

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    Posted: February 11, 2008, 7:47pm EST

  • Salt Lake City put on Terror List

    Salt Lake City was put on a list of cities that are considered to be at a high risk for a terrorist attack according to a list released the Department of Homeland Security. This makes grant money for counterterrorism available to Salt Lake City, along with the other 60 [...]
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    Posted: February 02, 2008, 4:47pm EST

  • Me Thinks They Doth Protest Too Much

    HB 264 is seeking to ban traffic ticket quotas by local and state law enforcement agencies. The Utah Chiefs of Police Association and many of the agencies are adamantly against this bill. They all claim that no such quota system exists, so there isn't a need for this bill. [...]
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    Posted: January 24, 2008, 9:29pm EST

  • Representative Steve Sandstrom is Surprised

    After blogging about Representative Steve Sandstrom's role in the voucher vote (see here, and here), he is naively surprised that someone is going to run against him in the next election.
    Steve Baugh has announced that he will run against Sandstrom in the fall election.

    Sandstrom [...]
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    Posted: January 10, 2008, 5:31pm EST

  • Did Vouchers Fail Because of Lack of Funding?

    The Utah Amicus reports an interesting note from the recent voucher war. You may remember during the recent voucher war Greg Hughes (and others) complaining about how they couldn't compete against all the money being poured in to the battle by the NEA and others.

    Turns out [...]
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    Posted: January 10, 2008, 5:29pm EST

  • The Good Guys!

    During the 2007 legislative session, I blogged about Representative Steve Sandstrom's role in the 38-37 vote for vouchers. He had told a constituent that he was voting against vouchers and then suddenly switched on the day of the vote, telling this same constituent that he had no choice but to [...]
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    Posted: January 08, 2008, 8:13pm EST

  • Senator Stephenson and the Wizard of Oz

    This is almost too funny. In defending a proposal to make the state school board elections partisan, Senator Howard Stephenson believes that by increasing the number of board members to 29 and aligning them with the district boundaries for the Utah Senate, constituents would actually know the state school board [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2007, 9:16am EST

  • The Real Oreo Cookie Voucher Video

    I wanted to make one of these, but this guy did it much better than I could. It shows exactly what I have been claiming all along, that the funding circumstances depicted by the Richard Eyre commercial is simplistic at best and just plain false at worst.

    Here [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2007, 7:51pm EDT

  • Will Parents Really Make the Right Choice?

    I want to believe that most parents will make the right choice for their children when making decisions about their education. In general I think they will. However, the Milwaukee voucher program raises troubling issues in this area:

    "...parents selecting choice schools for their children sometimes are not [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2007, 7:26pm EDT

  • Voucher War Causes Memory Loss

    Paul Rolly has some interesting information today in the Salt Lake Tribune:

    "Voucher supporters have touted projections of a 153,000 net increase of students in the public school system in the decade between 2005 and 2015. But they don't mention the projected increase of wage earning parents [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2007, 11:14am EDT

  • Bramble Scrambles Again

    In what seems like a recurring theme, Senator Bramble scrambled again this week in trying to refute some comments that he made in the voucher war. Paul Rolly, Salt Lake Tribune Columnist, wrote a column called Bramble flubs figures on vouchers where he pointed out some math problems with [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2007, 11:02am EDT

  • Vouchers and Choice

    One of the things about vouchers that makes see red is this name that has been attached to it which uses the word "choice". Pro-voucher supporters have used this word to create an implication that without vouchers parents don't have choice. And I think they do it to create an [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2007, 11:00am EDT

  • Vouchers and Accountability

    Those who oppose vouchers complain that there is no accountability in the voucher program, and those that are for vouchers claim that that there is.


    The proposed voucher program defined by HB148 and HB174 has some accountability measures in it. But are they enough?
    1. Schools that accept vouchers [...]
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    Posted: October 30, 2007, 11:00am EDT

  • Voucher Supporter Presents Solutions for Education

    If you ever wanted to know what should be done with kids that underachieve, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne will tell you.

    Make sure you are sitting down.



    This is what one of the biggest financial supporters of vouchers in Utah believes. His comments are so appalling [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2007, 8:45pm EDT

  • Voucher Advocates Get Desperate

    I suspected it was going to happen. Our sign, asking people to vote against Referendum 1, was stolen from our front lawn. Not only ours, but a total of three in our neighborhood were taken. I'm sure there were a number of others.

    I guess that some of the [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2007, 5:55pm EDT

  • Did I Miss Something?

    During the first hour of the The Nightside Project on KSL on August 30, Senator Curt Bramble was a guest for a discussion on the voucher issue. At one point (24:30 into the show) a caller asked the Senator if the voucher laws required the private school teachers [...]
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    Posted: September 08, 2007, 3:44pm EDT

  • Rabbits?

    There have been some pretty incredible photos and stories of the Milford Flats fire but the story in the Deseret News about rabbits was one of the most bizarre.

    State Forester Dick Buehler said, "We actually had rabbits that were catching fire and running across the [...]
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    Posted: July 12, 2007, 1:32pm EDT

  • You Close The Window First

    You are working at your desk on a very important project with the window open on a nice sunny day, when suddenly a burst of wind starts blowing all the papers you have been using around the room. What do you do first? Frantically try and get the papers before [...]
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    Posted: June 28, 2007, 11:24am EDT

  • What is going on with the Attorney General?

    One has to wonder about the intentions of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff who recently terminated the status of Special Assistant Attorney General to Carol Lear and Jean Hill. His claim is that they were working at cross purposes to his office by offering conflicting advice to [...]

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    Posted: June 12, 2007, 12:21pm EDT

  • Whine, Whine, Whine

    Representative Frank, obviously unhappy with the Utah Supreme Court's decision regarding the HB148/HB174 mess, feels that the Utah Supreme Court enjoys legislating from the bench. One has to wonder if he even read the opinion. It seemed to me to be well thought out and brought clarity to [...]

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    Posted: June 12, 2007, 12:12pm EDT

  • It's a Mess

    As suspected, the voucher issue continues to get more interesting. After the Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, ordered the State School Board to implement HB174, the school board dug their heels in and refused to take orders from the Attorney General, and in the process raised questions about whether he [...]
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    Posted: May 19, 2007, 5:04pm EDT

  • What is going on in the state GOP?

    A couple of thoughts about the recent Utah GOP problems regarding the firing of Jeff Hartley by Enid Greene:

    • Why was the billing of $50,000 in commissions by Jeff Hartley a surprise to Enid Greene? According to Mr. Hartley, this was the result of an agreement he had [...]
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    Posted: May 05, 2007, 11:17pm EDT

  • To the Parents of Math Investigations Students-- Wait until High School

    I have news for all you parents with kids in elementary and middle school--just wait until your kids get to high school. Virtually unmentioned in all the uproar about Investigations is the use of "Connected Math" in the high schools. I don't know how many use it, but Lone [...]

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    Posted: April 27, 2007, 12:07pm EDT

  • Representative Dougall Sounds Mad!

    Alpine School District Superintendent Vern Henshaw recently referred to Investigations opponents as extremists, setting off a firestorm of calls for his resignation.

    He apparently also incited Representative John Dougall to vent his frustrations on his blog about the situation. Rep. Dougall lives in the Alpine School District [...]
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    Posted: April 27, 2007, 11:38am EDT

  • Service the Right Way

    A few years ago my wife and I went to eat at the Huckleberry Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point (I believe it is called Harvest now). We were told it would be a 1/2 hour wait. We waited and waited and waited. They kept promising that they would get us in.
    [...]
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    Posted: April 25, 2007, 11:32pm EDT

  • Utah Hero of the Week - Amber Martin

    Amber plays catcher for the Springville Red Devils girls softball team. She loves playing and hopes to be able to play for a local college after she graduates. She has the Red Devil's highest batting average at .450 and is second on the time in RBIs (runs batted in). Amber [...]
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    Posted: April 19, 2007, 11:55am EDT

  • It's the Service

    One of my pet peeves is poor service. This has not been a good week for me. It started with my wife and I trying to buy a car (need I say more?) and ended with us actually buying one.

    It amazes me how many dealers have incredibly poor [...]
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    Posted: April 19, 2007, 11:40am EDT
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