In 1992, Parks accepted an invitation to speak to the Salt Lake City Chapter of the NAACP.
Then-State Rep. Joanne Milner, D-Salt Lake, remembers that she asked House Speaker Craig Moody, R-Sandy, if Parks could address the House for five minutes. Moody declined, telling Milner the Legislature was too busy.
The House, of course, did have time to recognize a high school cheerleading group, a county dairy queen, cherry queen and turkey queen, as well as a champion cowboy.
Right hand, left hand: On the utility side, Questar Gas Co. recently was granted a 20.3 percent rate increase by the Utah Public Service Commission to cover its own costs in the wake of higher natural gas prices.
On the corporate side, Questar Corp. was named the top revenue growth company in Utah for 2005 at MountainWest Capital Network's annual Top 100 Awards banquet last week.
The new rate increase will generate $196,481,000 in additional revenues for Questar Gas.
You might recall the national story last week announcing Exxon Mobil and other large oil companies enjoyed record profits in the last quarter while consumers pay increasingly high prices at the gas pump.
Questar's rate hike will increase the monthly bill for a typical residential customer by about $18.
SkyWest Airlines placed second in revenue growth. Third place went to Zions Bancorporation, despite its complaints of being unfairly hurt because of tax exemptions given to its credit union competitors.
Give and take: ATK, the federal contractor that operates the Hercules and Thiokol plants in Utah, is canceling retiree health benefits as of Dec. 31 and will no longer match any portion of employee contributions to their 401(k) programs.
While the moves will shift some burden of retiree health care to the federal government, in terms of more reliance on Medicare, ATK will still enjoy a healthy income from NASA contracts through 2012.
Good for the goose? The Utah Taxpayers Association supports a ban on local governments hiring outside lobbyists and released a study last week showing Utah's major cities and counties spend more than $1 million annually on lobbyists.
What the taxpayer association didn't mention is that it hires its own contract lobbyists to pitch its case to state and local governments.
And what makes that particularly amusing is that the president of the Utah Taxpayers Association is Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who, you would think, would have his own clout at the Legislature.
Of course, the association doesn't pay lobbyists with taxpayer money. It pays out of its membership dues.
The association's lobbyists include Mark Bucchi, Gary Thorup and Steven Young (not the football player), all with the law firm of Holme Roberts and Owen. Those lobbyists' client list also boasts several large businesses whose interests often conflict with residential and small-business taxpayers.
prolly@sltrib.com
