Salt Lake Tribune: Utah’s ‘Mr. Liquor’ Leaving Legislature to Head Tax Commission -Updated

Sodden Question: Does the 800 lb Gorilla already have another legislative lackey lined up to fill Valentine's shoes?

Tantalizing story in this morning's Salt Lake Trib, which we'll file under our ongoing topic heading, Utah Liquor Law. Here's the lede, folks:

Sen. John Valentine, a fixture in the Utah Legislature since 1988 and the major force behind Utah’s liquor laws for the past decade, will leave the Senate to head the Utah Tax Commission.
The Utah County tax attorney, who is the second-longest-serving active lawmaker and was president of the Senate for four years, technically still must be confirmed by the Senate, but approval by his colleagues is almost certain.

We'll link the full story, for those who'd like to read up:

• Utah’s ‘Mr. Liquor’ leaving Legislature to head Tax Commission

Does Mr. Valentine's legislative departure signal an opportunity for "normalization" of Utah liquor policy? Mr. Valentine himself hints that changes may be potentially on the table:

"I’m sure there will be a lot of people celebrating that Mr. Liquor is leaving the Legislature," Valentine joked. "I’ll still be interested as a citizen to see what we do, because I think those policy balances are really important. I think the balance between the hospitality we show people who want to drink alcohol versus the social cost, I think we have to keep that balance."

This is of course a development is one which we'll be watching like a hawk.

So what do you think, folks?  Will Valentine's "batty brainchild,"  the notorious Zion's Curtain, be an early casualty of the 2015 Utah Legislature? Or does the 800 lb Gorilla already have another legislative lackey lined up to fill Valentine's shoes?

Update 8/5/14 9:00 a.m.:  Utah Political Hub provides a fairly decent list of those political hopefuls who are already jockeying to fill Sen. John Valentine's soon-to-be-vacated Utah Senate slot:

• Buzz: Who will replace Senator John Valentine?