The Utah State Legislature has saved Real Salt Lake.

Whooptie doo!

On Thursday, a few weeks after Utah’s Major League Soccer club appeared headed to St. Louis, the Utah House of Representatives voted 48-24 in favor of HB38, which will set aside $35 million to help fund a lavish stadium in Sandy.

The Senate had already given its stamp of approval in a 20-8 vote, and Gov. Jon Huntsman has championed the bill and his signature is a formality.

Following the House vote, Huntsman, Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and others donned personalized jerseys and celebrated on the steps of the Capitol with RSL owner Dave Checketts.

A day later, I’m still wondering why this was cause for celebration. We’ve just wasted $35 million that could have gone to fund critical higher education projects or help boost Utah’s lagging teacher salaries or address the state’s increasing transportation demands.

That $35 million could have been a boon to our state’s healthcare system, too.

But, instead, our state legislators decided to spend it on a soccer team that has won 15 of 64 games in its first two years of existence. Where do I sign up for season tickets?

Now, I have nothing against soccer. It’s a wonderful sport, a beautiful game.

I just don’t think Utah should be spending $35 million on a game. Not when our universities, our teachers, our roadways and our healthcare system, among other things, are in such need.

Posted by Steve Kiggins at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 4 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

I believe in and encourage transparency in government.

And, right now, one of our local politicians is very, very transparent.

It's Dennis Stowell, who was elected last November to the Legislature to replace Tom Hatch.

Stowell, who has an axe to grind with the media, is pushing a bill in the Legislature that would strip government agencies from the requirement to post legal notices in the newspaper of record.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, it must be said here that The Spectrum & Daily News makes money from these advertisements and, on a very personal level, I can't help but believe that anybody who takes a dollar away from this newspaper takes money out of my pocket.

That said, what Stowell is proposing goes beyond the pettiness of trying to get back at an industry that questioned the way he took the Republican nomination -- which practically ensured his victory last November.

You may recall that Hatch filed to run for another term, then in the last hours before the filings closed, withdrew his name and Stowell entered his.

Exhibit A in the list of transparent acts.

Now, Stowell and his supporters didn't like the fact that this newspaper questioned his methods.

Did he and Hatch do something illegal?

Of course not.

But, often times something that is legal doesn't quite pass the sniff test for being ethical and ethics, as we found during the last national election, is a matter of great importance to a majority of American voters.

Stowell is now pushing for this measure to try to cut the revenue stream of not only this newspaper but those throughout the state.

Exhibit B in the list of transparent acts.

What this bill also indicates is that some of our government officials apparently don't like the idea of having a free flow of information between themselves and the people they represent.

As advanced as the new media is -- I'm referring now to the Internet, which is making great strides in informing the public -- it still is not the primary delivery system for information in this locale, which equates to a great number of people being shut out from these important public notices if this bill goes through.

Really, this brings to the fore the ages-old struggle between those who look for that positive spin so many of our leaders would like put on everything and the media, whose job it is to report the facts and allow the public to decide for itself what is right and what is wrong.

I can't help but wonder about how much influence Stowell's supporters, who so strongly defended his actions, have on this bill. Are they dry-washing their hands, hoping for a little payback because this newspaper is not their house organ?

Dennis, I challenge you and your followers to give good reason to this bill, which not only strikes me as petty, but a dangerous precedent to limit the flow of the public's right to this information.

Put your cards on the table, Dennis, and show us how your bill can possibly serve the greater need of the public you were elected to serve.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Diluting higher education resources by approving Utah Valley State College to acquire university status is irresponsible. Lawmakers are all but ready to approve the move that would take away up to $25 million annually from the other state universities.

SUU President Michael Benson has pledged to raise $115 million in the next five years and it will most certainly be needed to compensate for nearly half of that, which would’ve come from the state, but would be diverted to the new Utah County university.

I’m appalled that — once again — the Legislature acts as if the state ends at the Utah County line. Washington and Iron Counties are the fastest growing areas of the entire nation and yet the educational needs of these and the surrounding areas are being blatantly neglected.

Does the state really need a fifth university? Is this burden really fair to pass onto the taxpayers?

Approximately 110 years ago, two of my ancestors — James and Robert Bulloch — mortgaged their homes to help finance the building of Old Main for the Branch Normal School, which today is SUU. If Utah County desires to become a university then the residents should do the same and raise the money.

There are hundreds of millionaires in Utah County. Why don’t a few of them open up their checkbooks for the $10 million it will take to make UVSC a university and save Utah taxpayers the expense. Southern Utahns had to do it a century ago and today are still fighting for every tax dollar received.

Add to that the competition for students, which will become even more challenging. It simply doesn’t make sense, is not a good move on behalf of students and the state as a whole.

A better solution — and a much cheaper one I might add — would be to create partnerships with successful graduate programs already in existence. This worked well between SUU and WSU’s nursing program for years.

Keep UVSC a state college and have the other state universities provide graduate programs through an extension program or online course or a combination of both. That is more feasible and fair, not only for higher education and students but for the Utah taxpayer.

Posted by Jennifer Weaver at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )