Although we'd planned to lazily cruise through the whole weekend on the strength of yesterday's open thread, the hard-working crews on the top three three northern Utah newspapers wouldn't permit that. We thus link today's three breaking Emerald-City-significant stories below:
1) This from our lower article comments section, courtesy of gentle reader Ogden Lover: "Wow! Rebecca Walsh has done a superlative analysis of our Mayoral election in today's SL Trib. Standard Examiner, this is what you should be doing!"
We thank OgdenLover for the story tip. As Emerald City post election 2007 articles go, we consider Ms. Walsh's piece to be the Gold Standard so far.
2) Gentle reader Sharon tips us off to this morning's Deseret News Godfrey fluff masterpiece, in which the "thrifty" little bounder who drives the '92 Nissan overcompensates for his personal financial prudence, by spending the taxpayers' money (other peoples' money) like a drunken sailor. Perhaps the amateur psychologists in our midst will step up today and explain Boss Godfrey's possibly "schizoid" behavior.
3) For those readers still fixated on the nuts-and bolt errors in our November 6 election, DO NOT MISS this fantastic Marshall Thompson piece, in which Std-Ex reporter Thompson digs in, interviews experts, cross compares the statements of folks from the Governor's office down to regular street folks, and provides a wonderful overview of the series of glitches which, operating in conjunction, transformed Election 2007 into one of the most strange in Weber County history.
4) And as an added bonus we'll highlight this morning's Standard-Examiner editorial, in which Lee Carter's paid editorial mouthpieces get closer to the truth than they have in any editorial in the weeks, from which we incorporate a few pertinent paragraphs below:
Eight days. That’s how long it took for ham-handed voucher supporters in the Legislature to strike back after their 63 percent to 37 percent flaying at the polls on Election Day. They’ve resurrected last year’s defeated effort to nearly double the size of the State School Board and require its members to run as partisan political candidates — in other words, to make them answerable to the GOP instead of students and parents.The above editorial is also accompanied by this "pointed" Grondahl cartoon. We think it would be a fair statement to say that the Std-Ex isn't pulling its punches today.
No, no, not at all, says the measure’s foremost cheerleader, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper. Utah needs this change because few voters actually know who their board representative is. It has nothing to do with vouchers, he protests. Rather, it is simply a renewal of a year-old discussion. Nothing more, nothing less.
These guys must practice keeping a straight face in the mirror; a normal person couldn’t help but crack up when telling such tall tales.
Note to our Weber County GOP legislative delegation: Quit while you're ahead. The "voucher concept" is D.O.A.. The people of Weber County won't buy it; and neither will they buy your 2008 candidacies, if you follow your Utah County legislative leadership over the cliff, and start inflicting crass party partisanship upon the state school board. Perhaps you need to talk to your State Senate colleague John Greiner, the only single Weber County GOP elected official who seems to have gotten it mostly right. Just a helpful hint from yer old pal Rudi.
