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SLC Mayoral Race

I will be interviewing Salt Lake City Mayoral Candidate and Utah State Representative Ralph Becker on Tuesday afternoon. Do you live in Salt Lake City? Do you have a question you would like to ask Rep. Becker? Well, let's hear it.

Please submit all questions to by Monday, April 23 at 5 p.m.

Look forward to reading the scoop and hopefully listening to a podcast of the interview on NewWest.Net/SaltLakeCity by Thursday, April 19. [more]

Big Money Hustla

Mitt Romney’s got bank and Utahns (presumably Utahns of the LDS variety) have filled the presidential hopeful’s coffers with a cool $3 million, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. $3 million from Utahns! - And that’s just within the first three months of Romney’s primary run to become the Republican contender for president in 2008. Candidates for both parties have been neglecting Utah for ages, with Repubs counting us as "in the bag" and Demos treating us like box office poison. Well, see - we've got rich folk with nothing better to spend their money on too. So there. Never you mind that Romney is "one of our own."

The Tribune reports that Romney did receive a couple million more from California residents, but was quick to point out that California’s population is close to 14 times greater than teeny Utah.

So, of course the usual – “Mormon in the Whitehouse?” debate arises and the questions about the former Massachusetts governor’s pockets being lined with Mormon money are flying once more. But, with so much Mo-money floating his way, one has to wonder if Romney’s “Mormon problem” is really that big of a problem for his campaign after all. I mean, Mo-money is still mo’ money, if you know what I’m saying. [more]

They're Uniters Not Dividers

Salt Lake City mayoral candidates Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler sat down Wednesday to debate several citywide hot button issues at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

The two hopefuls shared their divergent views on subjects ranging from the Real Soccer stadium deal to Sat Lake’s palpable religious divide…oh yeah…and Rocky Anderson. Actually, Rocky’s national anti-war activism was the one thing the two candidates agreed on with both promising to keep their focus on SLC.

The Skywalk in the planned for the downtown City Creek Center was also a focal point; with Buhler hailing the idea and Becker panning, saying, "I'm not convinced" it is needed. We don't need another insulated development. We need to open up our downtown." That’s according to The Salt Lake Tribune. [more]

One Less

The Utah Legislature isn’t known for its compassion toward women’s health issues and their recent refusal to earmark funds to provide immunization against cervical cancer for underinsured and uninsured women. Luckily for Utah women – billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr. stepped in to do what our Legislature refused to. Huntsman Sr. has offered up $1 million to the Utah Department of Health, who announced the generous gift on Wednesday.

Huntsman said in a letter to the health department, "My quest in life and my pledge in death . . . is to assist in the eradication of cancer in all its ugly mannerisms, irrespective of cause."

The $1 million will be used to promote and provide Gardasil, a vaccine that has show enormous promise in guarding women from the human papillomavirus (HPV), the sexually transmitted disease known for causing cervical cancer. Ah ha! and now we know why the Legislature passed. Conservative lawmakers worried that officially approving the vaccination would encourage promiscuity among young women, that’s according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Gee-whiz ma. I wasn’t going to have pre-marital sex before, but now that I know I’ve lessened my chances for developing cervical cancer – promiscuity, here I come!!” [more]

Pulling my Cheney

We live in interesting times, in an interesting state. Whatever quaint notions the rest of the nation has about Utah – no one can accuse us of passing on a good political dust up and Brigham Young University’s recent announcement that Vice President Dick Cheney would be giving this year’s commencement address is no exception.

Last week Rebecca Walsh of The Salt Lake Tribune wrote a cutting editorial asserting that Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints leaders had blown their cover as political neutralists by inviting the godfather of neo-con soul veep to speak at the church owned school. Walsh makes an interesting, but ultimately unsaleable and unnecessary argument, because well, duh…have the LDS church’s political leanings ever been much of a mystery? Well, no. Was inviting the controversial, patron-saint-of-partisanship...er, Vice President to speak an ill-conceived move on the church’s behalf? Maybe. But what Walsh fails to point out is that church leadership aside, not all Mormons are on the Cheney bandwagon. [more]

Anything you can do, I can do better

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and churlish Fox News personality Sean Hannity have been threatening to throw down for weeks now and according to The Salt Lake Tribune a date and time have finally been set – and no, it won’t be high noon at the O.K. Corral.

In the weeks since Fox News Channel canceled Rocky’s appearance on the Hannity & Combs show the two have been verbally sparring, each accusing the other of gutlessly dodging the exchange. Neither Hannity nor Anderson are known for refusing the chance to spit into a microphone – so this extended battle has given them both ample “smack talk” time in their respective corners.

Jeremiah Stettler of The Tribune reports that KSL Radio’s Doug Wright caught the two off guard on his show Wednesday, where the two swapped the typical barbs before agreeing to meet on May 4th at 8 p.m.

Their on-air meeting arose when Anderson made a call to the Doug Wright Show to talk about Hannity’s refusal to schedule a debate. Wright then initiated a call to Hannity who had this to say, “Is the mayor really there or is he holding a protest of having a press conference?” - Burn [more]

Let's talk about STD

Ah, Utah. We truly have it all: Mountains, desert, goblin-like rock formations, cheap electricity and lots and lots of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Eh. The Deseret News is reporting that while STDs such as Chlamydia and gonorrhea are on the decline throughout the rest of the U.S., Utah is experiencing, well – a bit of an STD boom. [more]

How Long Has this been going on?

Several gathered in downtown Salt Lake City Monday to mourn the 4-year anniversary of the war in Iraq. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson spoke to a crowd outside of the City County Building, repeating the same sentiments he expressed last August when he articulated his opposition to the war in Iraq and demanded President Bush’s resignation. Anderson spoke to a crowd of about 600 anti-war protesters. That’s according to the Deseret Morning News.

Despite local criticism, Utahn demonstrators are actually in lock step with the majority of Americans when it comes to discontentment with this war. According to The Salt Lake Tribune recent polling suggests that the majority of Americans are in favor of withdrawing American troops from Iraq within a year. Even within Utah support for the president’s handling of the war is on the decline. The Tribune conducted a poll in January that showed only 41 percent of Utahns agreed with the president’s course of action since the war’s conception four years ago. [more]

Please Put Down the See Through Top

Rep. Chris Cannon is always good for an eye rolling or a pat on the back depending on your point of view. Love him or hate him, Cannon knows how to stir the pot and seems to thrive on playing the perfect partisan.

Over at the Utah State Democratic Party blog Party Chairman Wayne Holland points out that "The Cannon" recently voted against four House bills that would increase transparency in government. The Bills include legislation to reaffirm aspects of the Freedom of Information Act of 2007, an amendment that would strengthen the Presidential Records Act, a Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act and Presidential Library Donation reform. [more]

Drop it!

A federal lawsuit to keep guns off the University of Utah campus has been dismissed. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball ruled on the case Wednesday after both the U and the Utah Attorney General’s office requested the litigation be sacked. [more]

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