Matheson: Hard To Argue With 64% Approval

Basically, I'm link dumping here, but Jim Matheson has the highest approval rating of any of our congresscritters:

Name Approve Disapprove Don't know
President Barack Obama 30% 69% 1%
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 21% 72% 7%
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid 25% 55% 20%
Senator Orrin Hatch 64% 30% 6%
Senator Bob Bennett 54% 37% 9%
Congressman Rob Bishop 48% 18% 34%
Congressman Jim Matheson 64% 27% 9%
Congressman Jason Chaffetz 55% 21% 24%
Source: Dan Jones Poll for KSL/Deseret News Margin of error: +/- 6.5%

The poll also asked about aspects of the health care bill:

Reform Agree Disagree Don't know
Pre-existing conditions covered 76% 22% 2%
Coverage for 36 million uninsured 49% 48% 3%
Americans required to have insurance 42% 57% 1%
Exchange to shop and compare policies 77% 21% 2%
Reduce out-of-pocket prescription costs 73% 23% 4%
Source: Dan Jones Poll for KSL/Deseret News Margin of error: +/- 6.5%

Overall Congressional Democrats' Health Insurance Reform Plan
Favor Oppose Don't know
30% 67% 3%
Source: Dan Jones Poll for KSL/Deseret News Margin of error: +/- 6.5%

Of Popularity and Polls

From Utah Policy:

Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff has an approval rating of 63%, the second highest rating among Utah's top politicians, only behind Congressman Jim Matheson at 71%....

After Shurtleff comes Sen. Orrin Hatch, 62%; Sen. Bob Bennett, 58%; Gov. Gary Herbert, 57%; SL County Mayor Peter Corroon, 45%; Congressman Jason Chaffetz, 41%; and Congressman Rob Bishop, 39%. Those statewide numbers are the results of a survey conducted by Dan Jones & Associates Jan. 8-11, with a 600 sample and a possible 4% error margin, plus or minus.

Ah! Panic! Corroon only has 45% approval Numbers, right?

Well, these are statewide numbers. Corroon's numbers actually look pretty good:

Corroon, who is running for governor, has a relatively low favorability rating at 45% statewide, but he also has the lowest unfavorable rating of all politicians, at only 12%, and a whopping 40% have no opinion or haven't heard of him. So those who have a locked-in opinion about him are overwhelmingly positive. In his home stomping grounds of Salt Lake County he has a very healthy 67% favorability rating.

LaVarr Webb, who wrote the piece, doesn't say what Governor Herbert's disapproval numbers are. I'd be interested to see that.

-Bob

LIVEBLOG: The Legislature is talkin about ethics

I'm at the State Capitol this morning attending a hearing about ethics reform. Congressman Bishop is going to be joining us. I'm going to be updating this as we go, so be prepared for spelling and punctuation errors as we go.

9:04 glad to see these things run even less on time in the summer than they do during the session.

9:10 finally starting. skippping minutes and moving on to Rep Bishop.

9:11 RBishop: I think it's funny that you're looking to Wasington for how to do ethics.

Bishop is part of the pool of legislators that could be drawn to sit on investigative subcommittee.

This type of thing needs to be done with compassion and free of political games.

All complaints from members of congress must have personal knowledge, no innuendo. Can't be within 60 days of election.

This is not a new issue. We were studying this since I was speaker.

lobbyists can't take a representative to a baseball game unless he also gets a campaign donation too.

sen jenkins: is dislosure enough?

rep bishop: I'm not sure. It has some merit.

sen mccoy: why should a lobbyist be paying for your lunch?

rep bishop: when i became a lobbyist, didn't pay for meals because i realized many legislators don't have time for meals.

rep king: should discloure come from the legisaltor or the lobbyist?

rep bishop: I have opinion either way.

sen killpack: when legislators do the process, they are accountable to the voters. when an independent comission is appointed, they are beholden to those who elected them.

rep bishop: congress has a habit of "we want a solution, but we don't want to deal with it." so they appoint an unelected comission. do you devolve your athority onto some other group, or do you take it upon yourself?

rep dougall: please tlk more about travel rules.

rep bishop: all travel must be approved, whether it's funded by government or outside entity. More and more people are using the ethics panel to get advice.

rep cosgrove: asking about campaign donation caps. does it put a halt on free speech?

rb: if you move into regulating donations, don't move into saying that some money is good and some is bad. our system in washington is a great incumbent protection system. (i'll have to pull the audio to get full comment).

9:40 moving on to other business.

Utah State Bar Ethics Commission Process

Art Berger, Former Chair, Utah Supreme Court Ethics and Discipline Committee

AB: 34 people on office of professional conduct (ethics committee), 8 are non-lawyers. Complaints that come in and are reviewed before procecuted, and there is an appeals process if denied. Committee has diversity of location, type of lawyer/law firm. both parties can be represented if they desire. rules of evidence do not apply like in a court hearing. office of prof conduct also works to educte lawyers on ethics, including running a hotline and continuing education. all lawyers are required to take ethics class each year.

rep dougall: it's a private process, correct?

ab: it is, until it is clear that disciplinary process.

rep dougall: is it appropriate for attorneys to sit on the panel?

ab: usually, people who come before panel think attorneys will protect their own. Attorneys who come before the panel feel that the panel is out to get them. the members of the public that are there help bring some independance to the committee.

rep dougall: how is opening on the panel filled

ab: publicity to get applications, then ut supreme court gets involved. all members are volunteer. 3 year terms, no more than two consecutive terms. they can serve again after break of one year.

rep cosgrove: open vs closed.

ab: being an attorney isn't a public ffice. being in the legislature is. having an open process can help protect against inapproriate charges against legislators, people people will see what's actually going on in the hearing.

next agenda item:

Constitutionality of Independent Ethics Commissions - Recent Nevada Supreme Court Decision -- John L. Fellows, General Counsel

nevada supreme court held that legislature can't appoint an independent ethics comission over legislators. utah constitution has similar restrictions that nevada used. nevada was executive branch comission, a legislative branch comission could be ok.

next item:

Discussion of Utah Legislative Ethics Committee Membership, Jurisdiction, and Powers
-- John L. Fellows

sen mccoy: every citizen is required to obey every law, including those they don't know about. shouldn't the same apply to a member of the legislator.

sen killpack: we have seen the problems that come from the citizen initiative process. we need to act in a proper manner so that others won't.

adjurn.

UtDems: Celebrate Utah's "Blue Dog" Me: Hell, no!

I got invited by the Utah Democratic Party to come celebrate Utah's Blue Dog Democrat, "Representative" Jim Matheson on August 31 in Millcreek Canyon.

My initial reaction is "Hell, no."

You see, I used to support Jim Matheson. I understand the need to run a more conservative Democrat in Utah so you can win.

However, when you get a 29-point victory, it's time to spend a little of that political capital.

However, when you cater to your campaign contributors and not your constituents, you no longer are a Representative. You have become Rob Bishop.

Sure, you talk a good game on Health Care reform. You say you support it.

Except your actions reflect the opposite.

You have become Orrin Hatch.

And the bad part about this is, given the campaign that the GOP has run against RepINO (Representative In Name Only) Matheson the last three election cycles, he's still going to be painted with Health Care Reform (like it's a bad thing). So, since it's a no-loss situation, Jim Matheson needs to stand with those you voted for him, not those who bought his vote.

-Bob

Fair Boundary Friday I: Drawn by whiskey-liver gentlemen

Back in 1999 (could have been early 2000), Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura got in trouble for telling David Letterman that the roads in St Paul were laid out by drunken Irishmen.

Some of the boundaries drawn during the 2001 redistricting process would fit the same description.

Take this map of congressional boundaries in Salt Lake City's Avenues Neighborhood. The gray is Congressional District 1 (Rob Bishop), while the white is District 2 (Jim Matheson):



So, Speaker Clark, how do these lines make any sense?

-Bob

P.S. Given that Drunk Irishmen is not PC, I solicited more PC termsfrom my twitter followers. The one in the title comes from MteeJ

Rob Bishop says passage of clean energy bill will be as tragic as the death of Michael Jackson.

(h/t and headline stolen from Think Progress)

So, earlier in the programming, they covered the death of Michael Jackson. And then they talked about the Clean Energy Bill. And they had Rob Bishop (ES-UT) on.



I spoke recently with a political insider who has known Rep Bishop for years who said that his smart-alack remarks would be his undoing some day.

That being said, can we PLEASE get him to do more Chaffetzing?

-Bob

Utah Democratic Party’s Response to “Tea Party”

It's a one-two punch with an uppercut at the end:

As a party with a record of fiscal responsibility, Democrats understand the anxiety people are feeling over ballooning deficits. In January 2001 when Bill Clinton left office, it was projected that by now our national debt would be paid off. Instead, Republicans decided to cut taxes for those with top annual incomes and now we are facing record debt

The premise of these corporately funded, Fox News and right-wing radio orchestrated “Tea Parties” is that conservatives now can be trusted to spend our money wisely. They propose we put off needed investments in infrastructure, education, energy and healthcare during the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The decreased spending will magically revive a declining economy instead of driving up unemployment rates and thereby driving down consumer spending, and digging a deeper hole in revenue.

“Tea Party” participants complain a great deal about taxes. As of April 1st nearly one million Utahns began receiving a tax cut that will total more than $500 million. This tax cut took effect immediately in the form of less income tax withheld from workers’ paychecks. The only member of Utah’s congressional delegation to vote for Obama’s tax cut was Congressman Jim Matheson. Congressmen Bishop and Chaffetz, both speakers at today’s “Tea Party”, voted against this tax cut for struggling Utah middle class families.

According to Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland, Bishop and Chaffetz’s vote against a tax cut for working Utah families was a real slap in the face. “Over the past eight years the average working family has seen their income decline by about $2,000 and their healthcare costs mushroom. Meanwhile the wealthiest one percent of Americans saw their income literally explode and their taxes cut.” Chairman Holland concludes, “Utah deserves representation that will stand up for working families when they need it most. By voting against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Bishop and Chaffetz both failed us.”

Republicans in the Utah legislature dutifully voted against any proposal that involved increasing anything with the word “tax” in it including: gas taxes, cigarette taxes, centrally assessed property taxes that hit big business, income taxes, or severance taxes. Instead, they decided to increase the cost of nearly everything else: vehicle registration fees, business fees, court fees, college tuition, public employee health insurance co-pays and premiums, public school student fees, and even marriage license fees.

Utah Democrats have been a consistent voice against the ballooning of the national debt during the Bush years. It’s these past Bush and Republican policies - and not the Recovery and Reinvestment Act - that is to blame for the current economic and fiscal crisis. Some of the Bush policy supporters speaking at the downtown SaltLake “Tea Party” should be the focus of participant’s rage.

Tea Baggers' irony

As I'm sure you've heard, the GOP is going to do what they do best today: solve the mote in Democrats' eye by complaining about it (but not actually DOING something), all the while ignoring the beam in their own eye. They have called today TEA BAG day to protest how much taxes have gone up (really? really. Someone forgot to tell them who's been running the show the past 8 years...), and are having tea bag parties all over the country, including here in Utah.

Nobody informed Jason Chaffetz, Rob Bishop, or Mark Shurtleff (all of whom are attending the SLC tea bagging at the Federal Building) how gay a term that is. Chris Buttars knows it's a form of sexual activity practiced by gay people, and is getting a good laugh at it.

I might add that my Utah tax liability is 462.5% that of my federal tax liability. That's because of a huge tax increase at the hands of the GOP legislature, but that's for another post.

There is some irony about today's events (aside from all the gay talk), from Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog:

I wonder how many tea baggers will be protesting against "socialism" while gathering at publicly financed parks and outside publicly financed buildings -- you know, socialist facilities that wouldn't exist without taxes and wealth redistribution. In Georgia, for example, almost every single tea bag event is taking place at a county courthouse, at a park, at a town square, at a city hall and so forth.

Socialism huzzah!

-Bob

P.S. I wonder if, in Utah, they are going to be tea bagging herbally. I don't even want to know what that means.....

Free Money From Congress!

Kudos to Bishop, Matheson on Bailout Bill

I just wanted to applaud Reps Bishop and Matheson for voting against the bailout yesterday.

Matheson explained his vote, saying "Utahns are outraged that even as they try to cope with a weakening economy, Congress wants them to come to the rescue of big banks who contributed to this financial mess."

He added, "I don't agree with government being in the business of bailing out private companies that make bad business decisions. I'm uncomfortable with granting one individual so much power to distribute taxpayer funds."

Matheson concluded, "While the current financial crisis is unsettling, I believe more thoughtful attempts are needed — including necessary reforms — to calm the volatility in the markets."

Bishop said: "We are in a tough financial spot, and things could get worse fast, but Congress is acting too quickly based on what you've really got to admit is an artificial deadline. We should be focused on acting correctly rather than just quickly.

"The first proposal that (President) Bush and (Treasury Secretary Henry) Paulson sent up was totally unacceptable," Bishop added. "The apparent 'deal' with the Democrats short after that was even worse." He said the latest proposal was better, "but there are still a couple of major problems."

Oh, and props to Orrin Hatch for being against the bill, also.

-Bob

Comapare Utah's Roll Call Speeches At the two conventions

At the Republican National Convention, Congrassman Rob Bishop (R-EnergySolutions)


And, lost to the world until now, Wayne Holland and Mayor Peter Corroon:

Rob Bishop: Utah can solve all of America's Energy Needs

Yeah, that's what he just said when announcing Utah's votes at the Republican Convention tonight.

I'll be pulling the video shortly.

-Bob

Rob Bishop "to push for energy solutions."

Surely, this has to be a Freudian slip from Congressman Bishop's chief of staff:

Utah GOP Rep. Rob Bishop plans to jet back to Washington this week to take part in the Republicans' weeklong protest against Democrats for adjourning without passing energy legislation.

Bishop's chief of staff, Scott Parker, told Politico: "He'll be returning this week to D.C. to push for energy solutions."

Yeah, he just threw in the name of one of their biggest donors (EnergySolutions). Senator Hatch's chief of staff is reportedly looking for a way for the Senator to write a song for his good friend Senator R.J. Reynolds.

Bob