The latest casualty of that fallout: The Elephant Club.
That name for the elite group of party faithful whose initiation into the club was a donation of $1,000 or more has been scrapped. Its replacement: The Ronald Reagan Republican Club, which had its kickoff party at the Huntsman family home in Deer Valley on Wednesday evening.
The fate of The Elephant Club probably was sealed the day Huntsman was elected governor.
It was no secret that the Huntsman campaign was miffed at the Republican Party after Liv Olafsson, a gifted fundraiser for the party, took a leave to work on the Karras campaign. After Huntsman defeated Karras in the primary, Olafsson returned to the party and the Huntsman camp believed that showed the party officers took sides in the primary.
Olafsson was a key organizer in The Elephant Club and the name change is an indication that it will be reorganized under the watchful eye of the governor.
Right or wrong: Listeners of KSL Radio who are accustomed to a steady diet of Sean Hannity, Doug Wright and other conservative pontificators were shocked out of their euphoria recently with the addition of a liberal commentator in the 7-10 p.m. slot.
KSL Radio News and Program Director Russ Hill said when the station began airing Ed Schultz's syndicated program recently, more than 150 listeners sent e-mails to complain.
Schultz raps on President Bush, the war in Iraq, the deficit and all things considered contraband subjects to devoted conservatives.
Hill says Schultz is among the most successful of the commentators who have a progressive or liberal point of view. He is temporarily filling the slot that had been the territory of Bill O'Reilly, who was dropped by KSL for contractual reasons.
"We are looking for someone local who will be interesting and entertaining," he said, adding that being a liberal or a conservative is not a criterion, even if a bevy of KSL listeners think it should be.
Fading, fading away: It seems that old Christopher Columbus keeps losing his luster 513 years after he sailed the ocean blue.
This year, for the first time, Salt Lake County employees do not get Columbus Day off Monday. Instead, they get the day after Thanksgiving off.
County Personnel Director Felix McGowan says several agencies in the county have made that choice optional and many employees have expressed a preference for the day after Thanksgiving, so the county council decided to formalize the change.
After all, we wouldn't want our dedicated county employees to miss out on all those superstore "first-day-of-Christmas-shopping" sales.
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Paul Rolly welcomes e-mail at prolly@sltrib.com.
