Politics - The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah majority leader and lobbyists vacation together abroad

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Utah majority leader and lobbyists vacation together abroad

by Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 24, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Utah House Majority Leader Brad Dee returned this week from a trip to Europe that included an eight-day Rhine River cruise with three prominent Capitol Hill lobbyists and their spouses. While the trip is not a first, and does not appear to violate legislative ethics rules, since the couples paid their own way on the vacation, experts say it raises questions about perception and propriety. “I totally understand that these people can be friends. The problem is the perception of this is problematic...

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Paul Rolly: Holistic conference is LDS in name only

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:36:49 MDT

Paul Rolly: Holistic conference is LDS in name only

by Paul Rolly Tribune Columnist

Published May 23, 2013 09:36PM MDT

Note to faithful Mormons: If you miss the LDS Holistic Living Conference & Expo next month, it won’t affect your standing for a temple recommend. It’s not like missing church. In fact, despite its name, it has nothing to do with the LDS Church. But the name of the conference, and its description on the LDS Holistic Living website, probably helps boost sales for the two-day event, which costs $70 a pop. “Since 2010, the LDS Holistic Living Conference has provided a venue for like-minded LDS mem...

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Ahead of 2016, Huntsman starts new political group

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:55:47 MDT

Ahead of 2016, Huntsman starts new political group

by Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 23, 2013 05:55PM MDT

Washington • Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is launching a new political action committee to try and drive the Republican Party toward his ideas and to support like-minded candidates. The move also hints at a possible second presidential bid, though Huntsman says he isn’t planning that far ahead. “Would anybody be that crazy; I’m not sure,” Huntsman told The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday. “What it does signal is that I’m terribly interested in the issues that will drive the debate and terribly i...

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Recording reveals Mark Shurtleff’s ‘bizarro’ $2 million offer

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:55:47 MDT

Recording reveals Mark Shurtleff’s ‘bizarro’ $2 million offer

by Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 23, 2013 05:55PM MDT

On the breakfast table at Mimi’s Cafe, Darl McBride had eggs and potatoes served in a fried tortilla and an offer of $2 million from Utah’s then-attorney general, Mark Shurtleff, if he would just shut his mouth. McBride says he had invested $286,000 with a prominent businessman, Mark Robbins, who had allegedly promised him a $5 million return that McBride hoped would sustain a grueling legal battle over intellectual-property rights between his company, The SCO Group, and IBM. But, facing a benc...

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IRS probe: Hatch wants to hear from Utahns

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:37:09 MDT

IRS probe: Hatch wants to hear from Utahns

by Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 23, 2013 05:37PM MDT

Washington • Sen. Orrin Hatch wants to hear from any Utahns who feel they were inappropriately targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, setting up a form on his website to collect information that will be used as part of the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan probe into the taxing agency. “Our investigation will be fair, it will be responsible, and make no mistake about it, it will get to the truth,” said Hatch, the committee’s top Republican, in a video message. “I hope you will help and ...

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NSA, Herbert confident data center can avoid new energy tax

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:35:20 MDT

NSA, Herbert confident data center can avoid new energy tax

by Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 23, 2013 05:35PM MDT

Washington • Gov. Gary Herbert and National Security Agency officials are confident they can work out an agreement to avert taxing the new Utah Data Center on millions of dollars in electricity it needs to run the mammoth computer farm. The Legislature this year passed and Herbert signed a new law that would allow the Utah Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) to collect a tax of up to 6 percent on electricity flowing from Rocky Mountain Power to the new Bluffdale data center. The l...

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Chaffetz presses ex-IRS chief about agency’s ‘lie by omission’

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:32:46 MDT

Chaffetz presses ex-IRS chief about agency’s ‘lie by omission’

by Thomas Burr| | The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 23, 2013 11:32AM MDT

Washington • The former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday he disagrees with the charge by Sen. Orrin Hatch that the IRS offered a “lie by omission” in not responding to questions about whether the agency was targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. Under questioning by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Douglas Shulman, who left the IRS in November, noted that he didn’t sign a letter back to Hatch asking about extra scrutiny given tea party-related groups....

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McAdams picks UTA official to promote county

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:08:02 MDT

McAdams picks UTA official to promote county

by Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 22, 2013 02:08PM MDT

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams has hired Christina Oliver away from the Utah Transit Authority to become his new economic development director. Oliver, 34, who has worked to promote commercial, retail and multi-residential “transit-oriented developments” at key UTA rail and bus junctions, will replace Dale Carpenter. He resigned last week after eight years on the job. McAdams said Oliver’s appointment was the first of several structural changes he intends to implement soon to provide “premi...

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Salt Lake County set to create ‘mutual commitment registry’

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:50:09 MDT

Salt Lake County set to create ‘mutual commitment registry’

by Mike Gorrell | The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 22, 2013 12:50PM MDT

Salt Lake County is poised to create a “mutual commitment registry” that could help an individual in a nontraditional relationship obtain access to his or her partner’s benefits — including a family pass at county recreation centers. The County Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to give preliminary approval to an ordinance instructing the county clerk to set up a “registry for adult relationships of financial dependence or interdependence.” That registry, said sponsoring Democratic Councilman Arlyn Brad...

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Sen. Mike Lee rents house from friend who bought his home

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:14:42 MDT

Sen. Mike Lee rents house from friend who bought his home

by Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 22, 2013 10:14AM MDT

Washington • Sen. Mike Lee sold his home in a short sale two years ago to a friend and then rented a home nearby from the same man, a neighbor, federal contractor and campaign donor. Lee was forced to forfeit his down payment and sell his sprawling million-dollar Alpine home — at a big loss to his mortgage bank, J.P. Morgan Chase — in 2011 after he was elected to the Senate and couldn’t afford the payments. The buyer, property records show, was Ron McMillan, an author and co-founder of VitalSma...

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Senate panel OKs landmark immigration bill with Hatch on board

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:48:57 MDT

Senate panel OKs landmark immigration bill with Hatch on board

by Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 22, 2013 08:48AM MDT

Washington • A Senate panel passed a sweeping immigration reform bill Tuesday evening, which Sen. Orrin Hatch supported after the committee accepted his changes to a visa program for highly skilled workers. The bill offers the largest re-write of the nation’s immigration laws since the 1980s, spending billions of dollars on border security, creating a 13-year path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants and requiring every employer to check the immigration status of workers. Tuesday’s 13-5 vo...

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West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder won’t seek re-election

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:30:15 MDT

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder won’t seek re-election

by Pamela Manson | The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 22, 2013 08:30AM MDT

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder announced Wednesday that he will not run for a second term, citing the need for a full-time job so he can support his family — not recent scandals — as driving his decision. “Public service is always a sacrifice for a family, and in our city’s council-manager form of government, it is especially difficult to serve as mayor,” Winder said. “Although the pay is part-time, the duties of the job of mayor have daily demands that make other employment very difficult....

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Paul Rolly: Separating church, state and Twitter

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:31:14 MDT

Paul Rolly: Separating church, state and Twitter

by Paul Rolly Tribune Columnist

Published May 21, 2013 06:31PM MDT

Utah state government’s Twitter account, @UtahGov, posted on May 12 a link to a spectacular seven-minute video journey through southwestern Utah’s Snow Canyon, produced by Jeremiah Barber. The scenery, accompanied by soft music, creates an enticing tourism lure to that part of the Beehive State. At the end of the video, right after a shot through an opening in a rock formation revealing a star-filled sky, a Book of Mormon scripture, from Jacob 4:9, appears. It reads: “For behold, by the power o...

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IRS lied by omission, Hatch said

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:15:41 MDT

IRS lied by omission, Hatch said

by Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 06:15PM MDT

Washington • Sen. Orrin Hatch slammed top Internal Revenue Service officials Tuesday for failing to tell Congress that the tax agency inappropriately targeted conservative groups when they were directly asked. IRS officials held their ground before the Senate Finance Committee, arguing the actions were a mistake but not politically motivated and while they may not have been forthcoming, they were truthful when responding to letters sent by Hatch, R-Utah, and other senators about accusations tha...

Utah governor: Grand bargain and state taking fed lands ‘complementary’

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:28:55 MDT

Utah governor: Grand bargain and state taking fed lands ‘complementary’

by Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 05:28PM MDT

Washington • Gov. Gary Herbert backed the idea of a congressional “grand bargain” to solve the decades-old contentious public lands debate in Utah but he still says the federal government should hand over public lands to the state. Herbert said the two viewpoints aren’t contradictory, but are “complementary,” and that the state would still want to preserve some land and open other parts up to oil and gas drilling. “The only difference is that we’re suggesting the title of that property should b...

Salt Lake City plume now on Superfund list

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:57:45 MDT

Salt Lake City plume now on Superfund list

by Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 03:57PM MDT

A contaminated groundwater plume on Salt Lake City’s east side is among the latest additions to the Superfund cleanup list. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the PCE plume at 700 South and 1600 East is among nine new sites being prioritized for cleanup nationally. “Sites that pose serious risks to human health and the environment and warrant Superfund attention continue to be identified by EPA and our state partners,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Off...

Veterans push child identity protection in immigration bill

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:56:02 MDT

Veterans push child identity protection in immigration bill

by Derek P. Jensen The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 03:56PM MDT

Bountiful • Too many Utah children fall victim to identity theft at the hands of undocumented immigrants and the contentious immigration reform bill in Congress does nothing to curb the crime. A group of Utah veterans made that claim Tuesday outside an American Legion hall, insisting tens of thousands of Utah minors have had their Social Security numbers usurped and their futures “ruined.” “True immigration reform must not, in fact it can not, ignore this problem,” said Ron Mortensen, a retired...

Wilde declares candidacy for Murray mayor

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:46:47 MDT

Wilde declares candidacy for Murray mayor

by Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 01:46PM MDT

A Murray man through and through, Salt Lake County Councilman David Wilde wants to be the next mayor of that city, in place of the retiring Dan Snarr. “My roots run deep in Murray City. My ancestors helped settle this area more than 150 years ago, and I personally have called Murray home from the time I was just 1-year old,” said Wilde, 57, an attorney who has represented the central valley on the County Council since it replaced the commission form of government in 2000. “From my youngest days...

Dreamers press Senate panel on immigration bill

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:44:02 MDT

Dreamers press Senate panel on immigration bill

by Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 01:44PM MDT

Washington • Itza Hernandez came to the United States as a 4-year-old girl on a vacation with her family. That was 17 years ago. Now she’s a politically engaged woman living in Salt Lake City without legal status, and she’s following every twist and turn of a Senate bill that, if passed, would offer her, her family members and friends an eventual path to citizenship. Through the group United We Dream, Hernandez traveled to Washington, D.C., to observe the Senate Judiciary Committee’s debate on a...

Hatch poised to back immigration bill with changes

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:21:12 MDT

Hatch poised to back immigration bill with changes

by Matt Canham The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 11:21AM MDT

Washington • Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is poised to support a massive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, including a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants. He just wants the Democrats to make some concessions first. Hatch outlined his expectations in an impromptu news conference Monday, saying he’d support the bill when the Judiciary Committee votes later this week if Democrats compromise on temporary visas for high-skilled workers. And he’s willing to back the legislation when...