First, former Gov. Mike Leavitt was booed in his own Republican State Convention when he was running for re-election in 2000 because he was too liberal. The delegates, weary of his leftist ways, even forced the two-term incumbent into a primary against Glen Davis, who was co-nominated at the convention by "Super Dell" Schanze, the only real American in Utah, according to himself.
Then Sen. Orrin Hatch was booed at the same convention because he was too liberal, that senator who got his start in politics through his association with that left-wing organization, the Freemen Institute, headed by Marxist Cleon Skousen. And Barbara Snow, who seconded Hatch's nomination in that convention, also was bood. She had been president of the LDS Church's radical Relief Society organization.
Now, Sen. Bob Bennett is facing a tough battle for re-election among GOP convention delegates because, many of them say, he is too liberal.
I bring up this history because of a statement I noticed in The Tribune recently.
When the think tank, the Sutherland Institute released a study debunking the belief that undocumented immigrants commit higher rates of crime than other groups, Eli Cawley, president of the Utah Minutemen, summed it all up.
The Sutherland Institute released a misleading study favorable to the undocumented immigrants because it is a "liberal-biased organization.
Yea, that Paul Mero, president of the Sutherland Institute, bears an erie resemblance to Che Guevara.
And look at their radical causes. They opposed hate crimes legislation that protected gays and lesbians, released a thesis defending marriage as an institution between a man and a woman, fought to prevent unions from getting dues through automatic deductions of state payrolls and consistently argue the pro-life side of the abortion debate.
Boy are they liberal.
Their favorite panel participants from the Legislature seem to be Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, and Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper — commies through and through.
Remember when Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964 and was considered a radical right-winger, then by the 1990s he wouldn't have gotten a whiff of consideration for the nomination because he was too liberal?
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

For years, Utah legislators have enjoyed free tickets to Utah Jazz games courtesy of corporate lobbyists whose clients buy season tickets them hand them out like candy to the lawmakers to curry favor.
Now, at least one legislator is asking the lobbyists to show a little love to the Jazz organization itself, and most specifically to its late owner Larry Miller, who passed away during the most reason Jazz season.
Sen. John Valentine, R-Provo, has invited about 50 lobbyists and legislators to a luncheon today to launch a fund-raising campaign for a Larry Miller monument to be placed at EnergySolutions Arena.
Valentine is a co-chair with Paul Swenson of Colonial Flag of the fund-raising campaign, which will raise money for the monument through the Utah Track and Field Foundation. They hope to raise about $800,000 to design and construct a bronze state of Miller with six panels behind him symbolizing various aspects of his contribution to the community.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

Mindful that he will be in a tough fight at his own party's convention next year when he tries to equal his father's tenure of four terms in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Bob Bennett is walking a tight rope between showing how his seniority and clout in the Senate benefits Utah and deflecting his critics' claims that he has become too much of a Washington insider.
To show his clout, Bennett announced last week that he successfully passed a number of Utah funding projects in Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies to secure more than $8 million for the Beehive State in Fiscal Year 2010.
He was able to secure in the budget an additional $1 million for construction at the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah and $1.5 million to continue development of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. In addition, Bennett announced he secured about $6 million in land acquisitions and public works grants.
Bennett has a proud history of steering federal money to Utah for needed projects and he played a significant role in getting the funding needed to complete the Trax light rail line in Salt Lake City in time for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
But success comes with a price and a strong conservative wing in Utah's GOP sees the influx of federal appropriations to local projects as a camel's back-breaking addition to the crushing national debt.
These conservatives, which will have a strong voice in next year's convention, decry these projects as wasteful government spending, hence earmark-basher Jason Chaffetz' upset victory over 12-year incumbent Chris Cannon in the GOP Primary last year.
So what can Bennett do? Probably what he has been doing, working to represent the state's interests the best he can and let the Cowboy Caucus cow chips fall where they may.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

I'm told there is a groundswell of support building for State Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, to be Gary Herbert's lieutenant governor once Herbert, the current lieutenant governor, is sworn in as governor upon the departure of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., soon to be the next U.S. ambassador to China.
While a number of names our out there and Herbert has many options to chose from for his number two person, support is solidifying around Bell for a number of reasons.
An attorney by training with a profession in real estate, Bell was the mayor of Farmington for eight years before he was elected to the Senate in 2002. He only is in the middle of his second term in the Senate, but already has been elevated to leadership by his peers as the assistant majority whip.
Bell is a conservative legislator, but is moderate enough that he does not come across as offensive to either side of hot-button issues, supporters say. And, from a purely political point of view, he has geography on his side.
Republican pundits say that realistically, when Herbert runs to retain the governor's seat in 2010, he needs a running mate from either Davis or Washington County, two Republican strongholds which have the population and economic and political clout to be significant in the Republican Convention and in a primary or general election.
Utah County, is equally significant for Republicans, but that is Herbert's home county and conventional wisdom argues against having a gubernatorial candidate and lieutenant governor running mate from the same county.
Two other legislators who would be attractive lieutenant governor possibilities are Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack of Syracuse, another Davis County lawmaker, and House Speaker David Clark of Santa Clara in Washington County. But I'm told both of those legislative leaders might want to remain in their current positions, from where they could run for higher office in their own right if they have those kinds of ambitions.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

With Utah's historic liquor reform about to take effect July 1, some still might wonder how Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was able to pull off such a dramatic change as doing away with required private club memberships and making the state basically a free-wheeling liquor-by-the-drink province.
Huntsman got national attention for doing what many thought couldn't be done, creating a legal environment that makes it as easy for someone to get a drink in a bar in Utah as it is in, say, California.
He parlayed that national attention into what looked like a preliminary exploration before President Barack Obama eliminated a potential rival by nominating him to be Ambassador to China.
So how did Huntsman pull off what no other politician could accomplish during all those years of Utah's uniquely restrictive liquor laws?
You remember Huntsman's "Strengthening Democracy Commission," made up of community leaders who were charged by the governor with examining numerous governmental and political institutions and policies and coming up with ways to make them better.
Remember how Huntsman pulled the two most controversial measures — legislative ethics reform and redistricting — from the agenda.
Well, the two were related. The Legislators have made it clear that it doesn't want anyone other than legislators deciding what is proper ethics reform for themselves and they jealously guard their control over drawing legislative and congressional districts.
After Huntsman pulled those two items from the commission's agenda, so lawmakers can keep control over scrutiny of their own behavior and the boundaries of their own districts, lawmakers found a way to pass the governor's ambitious liquor reform.
Pretty good back-scratching exercise, wouldn't you say?
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

While he seems content to continue on for the foreseeable future with his current professional duties, the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics Director Kirk Jowers is getting to be a hot topic in Utah Republican circles.
GOP sources say Jowers rose to number one on Gov.-in-Waiting Gary Herbert's list to replace him as lieutenant governor once Gov. Jon Huntsman becomes ambassador to China and Herbert assumes the throne.
But Jowers reportedly isn't interested in a number-two job at the moment, although don't rule out a run for political office in his own right sometime in the future. Jowers has a built-in following of young politician wannabes who he places in internships throughout the country and internationally each year. He also is a popular speaker and panel discussion participant, is an election law expert and is a veteran of both the John McCain 2000 and Mitt Romney 2008 campaigns.
If Jowers ever does take the plunge, he wouldn't be the first Hinckley Institute director to jump from that stepping stone to run for public office. Original Hinckley director J.D. Williams ran for the U.S. Senate in 1968, but was defeated in the Democratic State Convention. Former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson ran for governor in 1988 while he was Hinckley director, but was defeated by Republican Norm Bangerter.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly

The State Republican Convention Saturday featured booths for all the usual suspects — major officeholders and those who have made it clear they are running for office in the very near future — and most of them peered out of the corner of their eyes at a booth sponsored by someone who hasn't indicated any higher office ambitions than what he already holds.

But, some insiders say, he might scare the pants off the declared candidates.

There were booths for Sen. Bob Bennett, who faces re-election next year, and Mark Shurtleff, Tim Bridgewater and Cherilyn Eagar, who have said they will run against Bennett. Then there is Gary Herbert, expected to become governor soon, who will have to defend that position in an election next year.

And then there was the booth sponsored by House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara, which was basically an informational booth about Clark's request for better governance from other legislators and letting delegates know their ideas that can be sent to a designated e-mail would be welcome at all.

Clark's initiative, labeled "vox populi" (voice of the people), seem to have some of the other hopefuls in next year's senatorial and gubernatorial elections nervous.

So maybe Herbert can offer the speaker the lieutenant governor's job and eliminate a potential rival, like President Barack Obama did when he nominated soon-to-be-former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to be ambassador to China.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly