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Convention hotel still hasn't come to downtown SLC

3/27/2018

Whoever said, “the only thing that is constant is change” obviously had nothing to do with building a convention hotel in Salt Lake City.

I wrote my first column on the perceived need for such a thing 23 years ago. We’re still waiting for dirt to be turned, and conventions are still telling Visit Utah, the county-supported convention and visitors’ bureau, they would love to come but they don’t want their delegates spread around the city in lots of different hotels.

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When it comes to tax giveaways, the 'but fors' have it

3/20/2018

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When it comes to giving away taxpayer money to companies, a new Brookings Institute study notes politicians like to use the “but for” test.

It goes like this: “But for this incentive, company X would not be making this investment.”

However, it’s important to note that the “but for” test depends on your perspective. A rival company that already exists in a market might say, “But for this incentive to my competitor, I could earn a

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Utah needs a way to remove office holders

3/14/2018

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Utahns had to experience a painful, prolonged and ultimately tragic case involving a public official with dementia before finally getting a smidgen of a glimmer of a hope that such cases could be handled with dignity in the future.

In its just-completed session, the Legislature passed SB38, which sets up a procedure for possibly removing an elected county officer who is mentally incapacitated. It could apply only to six counties because it was politically impossible to pass anything broader.

That means the situation involving the late Salt Lake County recorder Gary Ott, who was protected from the media by top staffers despite exhibiting clear signs of dementia, could repeat itself in any of the other 23 counties without recourse.

But despite that partial and tentative first step, it should be evident now that lawmakers need to take

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Utah Legislature wants you to vote for a gas tax increase

3/14/2018

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Would you vote to add 10 cents to each gallon of gas you purchase, with the money going toward education?

After all, a measly dime isn’t worth much any more, is it? In fact, today it’s worth only what a penny was in 1969.

But let me put it another way. Would you vote to increase your gas taxes by 33 percent?

Now that’s all together different, isn’t it? Many of

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Utah lawmakers apparently like playing big brother

3/7/2018

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Utah lawmakers like to talk about the need to get government out of the lives of average citizens, but they just whiffed on a great opportunity to take a step in that direction.

Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, sponsored a resolution that would have asked Utah voters to approve a simple amendment to the state constitution. It would have protected Utahns against government infringement “on the individual, inalienable right of the people pursue

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Utah education's big ballot box risk for 2018

3/6/2018

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Of all the predictions surrounding the Our Schools Now initiative that once hoped to put a tax increase for education on your ballot in November, one seems to have sticking power.

It goes like this: If voters were to reject it, public schools would be worse off than if the initiative never had been started. Lawmakers might feel emboldened to ignore future calls for increases in school funding. After all, the people would have spoken.

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No one is in charge of education in Utah

3/6/2018

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Who is in charge of education in Utah?

I’ve asked that question before, not only in this column but to the people who ought to know — state school superintendents, candidates for the state school board, governors and state lawmakers. The answers don’t inspire confidence. They vary from nobody to a little bit of everybody, which is the same thing. Governors and state lawmakers like to campaign on education promises, but they have little power right now to do anything other than cause mischief by requiring more tests or graduation requirements.

Voters, meanwhile, are rightly confused when they face decisions for state school board positions and candidates they hardly know (even after listening to debates, some of which I moderated in 2016). On the same ballot, they often face decisions about local school district board officers.

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Convention hotel still hasn't come to downtown SLC

When it comes to tax giveaways, the 'but fors' have it

Utah needs a way to remove office holders

Utah Legislature wants you to vote for a gas tax increase

Utah lawmakers apparently like playing big brother

Utah education's big ballot box risk for 2018

No one is in charge of education in Utah

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