The last 2 days I have been up at the State Capital all day, very interesting. On Tuesday we had a meeting for the Miners’ Hospital Trust, and we had to postpone it to go listen in to Gov. Huntsman speaking to his Miners’ Safety Commission. I had the chance to see Scott Matheson, Jr. for the first time. Matheson of course ran against Huntsman in 2004 for Governor and lost 57-43. He used to be the U of U Law School Dean. His brother Jim is in Congress (I helped re-elect him in 2002) and his Dad was the Governor from 1977-85 and the courthouse is named after him and he died of cancer from being downwind of radioactive fallout from Nevada’s nuclear testing.
Jake Garn, the former US Senator who interrupted the Bennett family’s hold on that seat from 1974-93, and “astronaut” who puked for 167 hours when he became the first Senator in space, is also on that Commission. Garn is kind of a crazy and angry type who interrupts the political back scratching and praising of all the other folks who spend all this time talking about how great everyone handled the Crandall Canyon Mine Disaster in August.
After that we met with House Minority Leader Brad King about some pending legislation.
Yesterday I spent in the morning in the Public Utilities Committee, talk about nuclear power, wind, solar, etc., renewables. Same old same old. John Christy, scientist and anti-Al Gore on Global Warming, was supposed to be there (this is Utah). Unfortunately Ted Stevens from Alaska stole him to go testify before the real Congress against global warming, and, since apparently the shelf of such opinionated scientists isn’t well stocked, someone just read previous Congressional testimony by Christy. You can read a Discover Magazine about the guy here
http://discovermagazine.com/2001/feb/featgospel
At lunch in the Capital Cafeteria I saw Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler having lunch at a table near ours, Becker recently defeated Buhler 65-35 to succeed Rocky Anderson as Mayor of Salt Lake City.
Gayle McKeachnie joined us for lunch, he was Lt. Governor under Olene Walker (2003-2005 when Mike Leavitt went to Bush’s Cabinet) and is on our Board of Directors and is also an attorney who has helped this offices with lawsuits in the past.
In the afternoon another committee that is considering legislation that would radically alter Utah’s use it or lose it beneficial use of water system. It made it out of Committee 18-2, we had major worries about it and spent 30 mins or so afterwards debating it with Rep. Mel Brown, who used to be Speaker of the House.
I’m definitely loving it, and about 10 times a day I have to stop myself from wanting to take cell phone pictures of the guy I’m talking to or someone I see in the hall and stop acting like a tourist.
Jake Garn, the former US Senator who interrupted the Bennett family’s hold on that seat from 1974-93, and “astronaut” who puked for 167 hours when he became the first Senator in space, is also on that Commission. Garn is kind of a crazy and angry type who interrupts the political back scratching and praising of all the other folks who spend all this time talking about how great everyone handled the Crandall Canyon Mine Disaster in August.
After that we met with House Minority Leader Brad King about some pending legislation.
Yesterday I spent in the morning in the Public Utilities Committee, talk about nuclear power, wind, solar, etc., renewables. Same old same old. John Christy, scientist and anti-Al Gore on Global Warming, was supposed to be there (this is Utah). Unfortunately Ted Stevens from Alaska stole him to go testify before the real Congress against global warming, and, since apparently the shelf of such opinionated scientists isn’t well stocked, someone just read previous Congressional testimony by Christy. You can read a Discover Magazine about the guy here
http://discovermagazine.com/2001/feb/featgospel
At lunch in the Capital Cafeteria I saw Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler having lunch at a table near ours, Becker recently defeated Buhler 65-35 to succeed Rocky Anderson as Mayor of Salt Lake City.
Gayle McKeachnie joined us for lunch, he was Lt. Governor under Olene Walker (2003-2005 when Mike Leavitt went to Bush’s Cabinet) and is on our Board of Directors and is also an attorney who has helped this offices with lawsuits in the past.
In the afternoon another committee that is considering legislation that would radically alter Utah’s use it or lose it beneficial use of water system. It made it out of Committee 18-2, we had major worries about it and spent 30 mins or so afterwards debating it with Rep. Mel Brown, who used to be Speaker of the House.
I’m definitely loving it, and about 10 times a day I have to stop myself from wanting to take cell phone pictures of the guy I’m talking to or someone I see in the hall and stop acting like a tourist.
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