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Morning must reads for Tuesday, May 2, 2017

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Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 122nd day of the year. There are 243 days remaining in 2017. Today is the 103rd day of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Matt Holland and Evan McMullin are the frontrunners to replace Jason Chaffetz. Gov. Gary Herbert and lawmakers are headed toward a showdown over special election rules. Congress is pushing for another Obamacare repeal vote.

The clock:

  • 18 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)

  • 46 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)

  • 189 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)

  • 265 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)

  • 310 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)

  • 553 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)

  • 1,281 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today’s political TL; DR –

  • NEW POLL: 3rd Congressional District voters pick Evan McMullin and UVU President Matt Holland as the frontrunners to replace Rep. Jason Chaffetz if he steps down early. Most of those voters also expect him to run for governor in 2020 after he leaves Washington [Utah Policy].
  • A fight between the Legislature and Gov. Gary Herbert is brewing over what rules they’ll use for a special election to replace Rep. Jason Chaffetz if he steps down. Republican senators are set to meet Tuesday evening to try and find a path forward [Utah Policy].
  • Rep. Ken Ivory has been replaced as the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee [Utah Policy].
  • A ballot snafu during the Utah County GOP Convention has one person threatening a lawsuit and could have big implications for some of the most prominent political offices in Utah [Utah Policy]. 
  • University of Utah President David Pershing announced he would step down from his post. The move comes after a failed attempt to oust the head of the Huntsman Cancer Institute [Deseret News, Tribune]. Here’s a deep dive into the controversy that led to the resignation of Pershing and the head of the University of Utah Health CEO Dr. Vivian Lee [Deseret News].
  • Rep. Jason Chaffetz is returning to Washington following foot surgery so he can be there for a vote on legislation to repeal Obamacare [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Congress is pushing forward on a vote to undo the Affordable Care Act, but it’s unclear whether Republicans have the votes [CNN]. House Republicans may push for a repeal vote and leave the heavy lifting to the U.S. Senate [Washington Post].
  • Congressional budget rules prohibit bigger deficits after 10 years, which is a big hurdle for President Donald Trump‘s proposed tax cuts. Republicans in Congress are considering changing those rules to make it easier to pass Trump’s tax plan [Wall Street Journal].
  • What’s in the spending bill Congress passed to fund the government through September? More money for defense and none for Trump’s border wall among other things [The Hill].
  • Uh oh. Jared Kushner had a real hard time filling out his financial disclosure form. He failed to report he has a stake in a real-estate finance startup as well as several loans from banks [Wall Street Journal].
  • The top ethics officer in Washington is crying foul on the Trump administration giving out secret waivers to former lobbyists so they can take jobs in in the federal government [New York Times].
  • Rep. Mia Love called the police saying people were parking outside her house and taking photos of her children over the weekend [Tribune, Tribune].
  • Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor, who is a trustee for the Utah Transit Authority, is demanding that the chairman of the board of trustees, Robert McKinley, and vice-chairwoman Sherrie Hall Everett resign following a “personal attack” against him on Facebook [Deseret News].
  • Salt Lake City Councilwoman Lisa Adams announces she won’t seek another term this year [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Rep. Lynn Hemingway wants to regulate ticket scalping in Utah and possibly cap the prices people can charge for reselling tickets to events [KSL].

On this day in history:

  • 1890 – The Oklahoma Territory was organized.
  • 1994 – Nelson Mandela claimed victory in South Africa’s first democratic elections.
  • 2011 – al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, then quickly buried at sea.