Jay Evensen - Opinions

Why lawmakers don't care what you think about redistricting

1/20/2022

Why did Utah lawmakers ignore the political maps drawn by an independent commission last year? That’s easy — because they saw no political risk. They likely won’t have to pay at the ballot box, and that’s especially true considering they have drawn districts that favor themselves as incumbents.
Why won’t they pay? Because redistricting isn’t likely to be an issue that gains much traction this fall — at least not in today’s hyper-partisan climate.

Is this how the pandemic ends?

1/14/2022

Is this how it ends?
Does COVID-19 bow out in a spectacular crescendo, like the grand finale of a frightening fireworks display?
Omicron is all around us. If you haven’t gotten it, you probably thought you had, or you certainly know someone who has.

Will this be the year of the tax cut in Utah?

1/12/2022

When Utah lawmakers convene their 2022 regular session on Tuesday, they will be one of only 14 so-called citizen legislatures left in the country.
The National Conference of State Legislatures defines a citizen legislature as one where elected representatives serve part-time and generally, unless they are retired, hold down full-time jobs, as well.
Utahns should appreciate breathing this rarified air while they have it. Of the 14, Utah has the largest population, and it also had the highest growth rate among any state during the last decade. States tend to gravitate toward full-time legislatures as they grow larger and their issues become more complex and expensive.

COVID's 'endgame' nothing like lawmakers expected

1/7/2022

Does anyone still think the Utah Legislature did a good thing last year by passing a COVID-19 “endgame bill” that effectively ended the state’s mask mandate on April 10, 2021?
Back in September, a poll by the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics found that 53% of Utahns felt either a local or state health department should be the one to decide whether to impose such a mandate. Only 8% said they would leave it to the Legislature.
The “endgame bill,” which became law, argues the people are right.

Throw the book at people who speed on freeways

1/5/2022

My, how things change with time.
Four years ago, Utah lawmakers were buzzing about the perceived need to crack down on local police departments who imposed ticket quotas on their officers.
One former officer in South Jordan said he had to write at least 65 tickets a month. What that meant, he said, was that, “Every time I started my car in the morning at least three people … were going to get a ticket, period, the end.”
That bill never passed, but the reactions of people in committee hearings was palpable. Boo to those who lie in wait to nab people going a little too fast.
Today, a lot of Utahns wish police had higher quotas for catching speeders.

Americans don't blame God for the pandemic

12/9/2021

“We live,” an anonymous 50-something evangelical protestant wrote recently, “in an imperfect world where good and bad things happen to everyone no matter who they are.”
Not only that, he said, “we cannot control the decisions others make that may bring trouble to us; for instance, the drunk driver who causes a fatal accident or the employer who makes bad financial decisions and, to make up for his loss, some employees lose their jobs.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German poet, author and statesman, is credited with saying that Christianity, although scattered abroad, “will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.”

What happened to Biden's lower gas prices from releasing all that oil?

12/9/2021

How are you planning to spend your gasoline surplus? You know, the money you saved because President Joe Biden released 50 million gallons of the nation’s strategic oil reserve in order to reduce the price we pay at the pump.
I’m joking, of course. As I predicted, a release of the reserves barely moved the meter. It was a political stunt, nothing more.
The gas station monitoring website gasbuddy.com said the cheapest place in Salt Lake County earlier this week was $3.43 per gallon for regular gas, which is not far from where it was the day before Biden’s announcement.

High gas prices lead politicians to do foolish things

12/1/2021

From time to time, politicians face an age-old conundrum. Should they do a boring thing that makes fiscal sense or an imprudent thing that makes people feel good, garners headlines and improves poll numbers?
Some choice, right?
When it comes to rising gas prices, the urge to resist prudence can be overwhelming. Almost everyone drives, and despite the well-meaning efforts of many policymakers, almost everyone who drives still has a gas-powered car.
Which is why, with gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon in many states, it’s not surprising President Biden has felt the need to do what the Washington Post editorial page calls the “two-step ritual” that seems to be required under such circumstances.

Covid and the holidays - what a difference a year doesn't make

11/24/2021

If German health minister Jens Spahn wanted attention this week, he picked the right words.
Germans, he said, would by the end of winter “probably be either vaccinated, recovered or dead.”
Austria, meanwhile, reverted to a major lockdown this month in the face of a fourth wave of COVID-19, which now has Europe in its grip once again as it seems to ping-pong from continent to continent.
People reacted the way people do — they protested, sometimes violently, in thick crowds almost certain to spread the virus further.
In Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox used language that, while not as stark as Spahn’s, still got to the point. “Ongoing high levels of community transmission continue to jeopardize the health of Utahns statewide,” he said.

Could you afford to buy your house today?

11/17/2021

I have a question for you more mature homeowners — the ones who have owned a home for a few years.
If you had to buy your house today, at current prices, could you afford to do so?
A recent survey by the Utah Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit research organization, found only 37% answering yes.
I would have to be a “no,” especially after seeing a sign on a newly built home along a busy street near my neighborhood, next to a middle school and across from a strip mall, asking for more than $700,000.

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