Our Caucus Experience

My husband and I had a great experience on Tuesday. Just as we have biannually for the last 8 years, we caucused with the Republicans in Davis County legislative district 20. Our precinct has one state delegate and two county delegates. I was nominated for state delegate, and the other nominee was none other than an employee of the state Republican party. From the beginning, I stated that I had been disappointed with our state representative, and was supporting the challenger, Becky Edwards (our legislative district crosses county lines and our candidate is nominated at the state convention). I also spoke in support of State Treasurer candidate Richard Ellis, who I feel has the experience needed to wisely invest our $1billion Permanent School Fund.

The other caucus participants asked a lot of questions, and I was able to discuss the voucher mess, the problem with omnibus bills, the need for local control, and my frustration that the legislature was unable to fund class size reduction (but was able to fund the $4 million pilot program to buy preschoolers computers). When asked about ethics reform, I mentioned my biggest frustration - our own Republican party accepting so much money from Parents for Choice in the last election cycle.

Well, the vote was 10-6, and I was elected a state delegate. My husband will be helping choose Senator Eastman's replacement as a county delegate.

We are excited to continue to be part of the process, and are grateful for good neighbors and friends who entrusted us with this responsibility!

Bramble Scrambles

My friend Q's husband, 007, posted an article on their blog, The Beehive Bulletin, about the gaff Senator Bramble made on The Nightside Project. I thought it was a very important point that needed some clarification, so I am encouraging people to check it out.

Did I Miss Something?

Tribune Editorial

"Should taxpayer dollars go to private schools, many of which are religion-based?
Our answer is an emphatic no. "

Read more.

Vouchers have not helped students learn

There was a very well done analysis of voucher programs in the Standard Examiner today. If you haven't had a chance to read it, there's a link below.

Vouchers have not helped students learn
Friday, August 31, 2007
By Eric Jacobson
Guest commentary

In November, Utah voters will decide on a voucher program that will provide tuition for students moving from public to private school. A key goal of the program is the improvement of student learning. Will it work?

Read more...

Jacobson is retired from Weber State University, where he was director of academic computing and later did evaluation research in the math department. He is currently involved with the evaluation of a teacher development project in local schools.

A.G. wrong - USOE attorneys (and other rational beings) vindicated

Here's the article...

And, I can't take credit for the headline...

Why is the Utah Division of Natural Resources Short-changing the Students of Utah?

Have you seen this?

For sale: Choice parcel, with strings

So, it seems like a parcel of school trust land (land set aside at statehood for the support of Utah's public schools) will be on the auction block on Friday. And, the value of that parcel is lower because there is an ongoing access dispute between the Trust Land Administration and the Department of Natural Resources.

And, with the value lower because of the access dispute, the Department of Natural Resources is planning to bid on the parcel.

So they can get a great deal on a prime piece of property.

And rob Utah's school children.

Why is the Governor allowing this?

Why are we standing for it?

What I Should Have Said...

The Davis County Republican Party approved a resolution supporting the voucher law and opposing the referendum yesterday. It was the last item of business - almost half of the delegates had already left for the day. The vote was 92-86.

I spoke in favor of tabling the resolution. I said it was divisive, and that there were good Republicans on both sides of this issue.

I feel like I should apologize to the delegates, because this is what I should have said.

"I love the Republican party. I am a lifelong member. I was president of the Teenage Republicans at my high school. I was a College Republican at BYU. I have been precinct chair twice, a county delegate and a state delegate numerous times. And I think we're being taken advantage of.

The pro-voucher component doesn't love Republicans unless we're doing their bidding. Ask Republican State Senator Jon Greiner about that one - they funded his Democratic opponent to the tune of $5,173.57. They've been using us. And they're doing it again.

They want us to pass this resolution so they can say "Republicans support vouchers." And, some of us do. But, almost half of us don't. And they don't care that, by passing this resolution, we're marginalizing our base. We're telling almost half of the people in this room that our party doesn't speak for them.

And, as all of you know, to win elections, we need to appeal to the middle-of-the-road, independent voters. And, over half of them don't support vouchers. And, if we pass this resolution, we're telling them that we don't want to speak for them, either.

We should not touch this resolution with a ten foot pole. Not if we want to continue to be the reddest county in the state. Not if we want to be a party that is relevant to regular, normal Davis County voters.

The voucher supporters are on the ropes. And they need as much help as they can get. We need to decide if we want to shortchange ourselves to help them. Is it worth it? Let's do what is best for us, not for them. There will be costs to our party that come with the passage of this resolution. Do you want to pay those costs? I don't. Let's use our voice to be uniters, not dividers."

But, I didn't say anything that clear or eloquent. I don't know if it would have made a difference, but we won't know. 52% of the delegates passed a resolution that will speak for our party. And, that's how it works. But, today, the Davis County Republicans don't speak for me.

And, I am a good Republican.