News Highlights

Sens. John Valentine and Curt Bramble say Gov. Huntsman's new four-day workweek initiative is a bad idea, but Valentine says he'll support the program over the course of its one-year trial (Deseret News).

New poll commissioned by the Salt Lake Tribune shows Gov. Huntsman is well liked and has broad support for re-election, even among Democrats, while Democratic challenger Bob Springmeyer faces tough odds (Tribune).

Quote of the Day

"If you look at those states where referendums and initiatives are very easy to put on a ballot, you simply can't govern effectively by a pure democracy. Every pure democracy in the history of mankind has failed in a very short period of time."

-- Curtis Bramble, Utah Senate majority leader, explaining why GOP legislative leaders may try to make Utah’s referendum law more restrictive (Deseret News).

Utah Bloggers Will Post From Denver
Utah blogger Rob Miller, owner of The Utah Amicus and Vice Chair of the Utah State Democratic Party, is leading a team of Utah bloggers to Denver for the Democratic National Convention next week. Miller, Jeff Bell, Jason Williams, Craig Blanch, Aaron Thompson, Bob Aagard, and Ralph Becker advisor Ben McAdams will participate. Miller says he anticipates that his team "will have unprecedented access to Convention activities." Before they depart, Miller and company will be holding an open house/kick off party on August 20 at 7:00 p.m., at 7119 West 8050 South, West Jordan. Members of the media and community are invited to attend. (See also related KCPW story.)

Washington Watch

Dukakis: Chaffetz 'Worked the Precincts'
The Rocky Mountain News belatedly posts the transcript of a June 28th interview with former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and his wife Kitty, in which Dukakis holds up Jason Chaffetz's 3rd District GOP primary victory as an example of the effectiveness of grass-roots political organizing:
 

DUKAKIS: But listen to this. So young Jason (Chaffetz), 41 years of age, decides to go after (Rep. Chris) Cannon (of Utah). And he has been listening to my precinct jazz since he can remember, right? So he organizes every damn precinct in the congressional district. He spent a total of $168,000 in this campaign, and on Tuesday he defeated Cannon by 20 percentage points. I mean two-zero. Now, doesn't surprise me. That's the way I got elected governor. ... Here's Jason (Chaffetz in Utah), he's going to Congress. It's a hopelessly Republican district, he's going to Congress, with $168,000 ... because he worked the precincts ... spent very little money, got lots of free press, which of course is what you try to do...

Q: So the candidate that won that primary, he was your organizer in ’88 in that state?

DUKAKIS: He was my coordinator in Utah ... He's from a very conservative household.

KITTY DUKAKIS: Tell him about Jason and Alex coming to stay with us. They used to come in their school vacations.

DUKAKIS: Anyway, so, a lot of excitement. He's, he's ... These days, he's to the right of Marie Antoinette ... But an interesting story here is, $168,000 he just beat this incumbent ... It's all about precincts. (Cannon) was endorsed by Bush, (Sen. Orrin) Hatch and (Sen. Bob) Bennett.

New Report on Charitable Giving

The Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) at the University of Utah has released a new report on how gifts to charities are misused, and what states (including Utah) are doing to try to protect donors. Hundreds of billions of dollars in private charitable contributions filter to 501(c)(3) public charities each year. Unfortunately, according to the Federal Trade Commission, 1% of all charitable giving is misused or collected using fraudulent means. That’s nearly $3 billion of total charitable donations. Utah’s Charitable Solicitation Act has been on the books for over 20 years to protect Utahns. However, the burden on the Division of Consumer Protection is too great to thoroughly examine every application or to proactively seek out organizations that are not registered.

Further complicating the problem is giving over the Internet. Nearly half of the nonprofits in the US use on-line fundraising, also known as e-philanthropy. Utahns are encouraged to check the Utah Division of Consumer protection website here for the most recent list of Utah registered public charities before issuing any donation. Utah residents should promptly file a complaint with the Division if they feel that they have been contacted by or been the victim of any fraudulent fundraising. A complaint form is available here. The CPPA full report and an executive summary is available at www.cppa.utah.edu. For more information, contact Jennifer Robinson, Policy Research Coordinator, CPPA, (801) 585-3048, robinson@cppa.utah.edu. 

Watershed Symposium

Friends of Alta will hold a Watershed Symposium on Wednesday, 9a.m.-5p.m. at Alf’s in Albion Basin. Gov. Jon Huntsman will participate, in addition to Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon and several academics and state and local leaders. The focus will be on water conservation and watershed management. Click here for more information. To attend, contact Pama Rejali at (801) 305-4180, pama@patrickashea.com or Jen Clancy at (801) 742-9719, jclancy@friendsofalta.org.

Today in Political History

Aug. 19, 1974:  U.S. Ambassador Rodger P. Davies is fatally wounded by a bullet that penetrated the American embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, during a protest by Greek Cypriots.

Aug. 19, 1994:  President Bill Clinton halts the nation's three-decade open-door policy for Cuban refugees.

Aug. 19, 1996:  A judge sentences former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to four years' probation for his Whitewater crimes.  (Source:  NY Times) 

Wise Words

“We cannot reform the world.... Uncle Sugar is as dangerous a role for us to play as Uncle Shylock.”

-- John F. Kennedy  (Source:  Quote Garden) 

Communications Tip

Make Memorable Presentations

Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too many presentations are easy to forget. And that's a big problem because the only reason the presenter gave the talk was to communicate something to you!

However, there are four basic things that you can do to ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and remembered – time and time again. Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these are: 1. Understand the purpose of the presentation; 2. Keep the message clear and concise; 3. Prepare well; 4. Be vivid when delivering the message  (Source:  Mind Tools) 

National Politics

Best Stories From . . .

-- The Hill: "A new poll shows Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama tied in the key battleground state of Ohio. The survey by Public Policy Polling (PPP), which includes several Democrats as clients, shows both presidential candidates with 45 percent. Ten percent remain undecided, according to the poll."
 
-- Washington Post: Columnist Michael Gerson says Saturday night's Saddleback Civil Forum "previewed the stylistic battle lines of the contest ahead, and it should give Democrats pause. Obama was fluent, cool and cerebral -- the qualities that made Adlai Stevenson interesting but did not make him president. Obama took care to point out that he had once been a professor at the University of Chicago, but that bit of biography was unnecessary. His whole manner smacks of chalkboards and campus ivy. Issues from stem cell research to the nature of evil are weighed, analyzed and explained instead of confronted."

-- New Republic: Columnist Michelle Cottle: "While the cool, composed, no-drama demeanor helps Obama appear presidential -- and no doubt allays some subliminal white racial anxieties -- it also threatens to make him look a bit detached from the many and multiplying crises around him."

-- Politico: Obama is likely to announce his VP choice this week.

Blog Watch

-- At Salt Blog, Holly Mullen says: "Finally. It appears that a growing number of Salt Lake City policy makers are beginning to call out the emperor has no clothes! on the multi-million dollar mess that has become The Leonardo. … From the start, The Leonardo has been built on oversize dreams and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. ... City Weekly's Stephen Dark ... was the first local reporter to nail all of the problems with getting the heavily taxpayer-subsidized museum off the ground. Last weekend, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker finally jumped into the controversy. This is no small feat, and marks the most significant test yet of Becker's ability to stand up against the base that elected him last fall. Why? As Dark pointed out in his story, former Leonardo executive director Mary Tull (she recently left the post in the wake of growing controversy) is married to the Rev. Tom Goldsmith of Salt Lake's First Unitarian Church. Several of The Leonardo's financial backers -- including liberal philanthropists Norman and Barbara Tanner (who coughed up $1 million) -- are Unitarians or regular visitors to the church. Robert Newman, Dean of the University of Utah College of Humanities, has been a longtime supporter of the project. Leonardo supporters make for a cozy group of Salt Lake City liberals and intellectuals -- which also happened to make up the solid base behind Becker's election last fall. ... Now -- and wisely -- Becker is acting like a mayor, questioning the strange expenditures of The Leonardo and projecting that even its board's latest plan to severely downscale the museum will not be enough to save the thing."

Lighter Side

Favorite Headlines

(From James Taranto’s Best of the Web at OpinionJournal.com)

-- There's No Reason for Name Calling: "Iran Says It Has Put Its First Dummy Satellite in Orbit"--headline, Reuters, Aug. 17

-- Should've Used Shorter Blades: "Windmills Split Towns and Families"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 16

-- What Did the Dumb Students Drink?: "Gifted Student Hospitalized After Drinking Liquid Nitrogen"--headline, FoxNews.com, Aug. 15

-- Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: "Pigeon Found at NYC Playground Was Painted Purple"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 16; "Confused Sea Turtles March Into Restaurant"--headline, Reuters, Aug. 18;  "Baby Whale Seems to Think Yacht Is Its Mother"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 18
-- Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate: "An article on the Square Feet pages on Wednesday about the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in financing multifamily housing projects misstated the average price that buyers are paying for apartment buildings that are being sold by Archstone, a national apartment company. It is $200,000 per unit, not per square foot. Similarly, Tishman Speyer and Lehman Brothers paid $240,000 per unit, not per square foot, when they bought the company last October."--correction, New York Times, Aug. 15

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