Situational Analysis | January 4, 2022

Welcome to Tuesday and the one-year anniversary of Inauguration Day for Governor Cox and Lt. Governor Henderson. 

It's also National Spaghetti Day. Buon appetito!

Be in the Know

1. Neil Abercrombie has been hired to be the legislative liaison for the Cox-Henderson administration. He replaces Karen Peterson, who won a special election to replace Paul Ray. Abercrombie has been vice president of government relations for Utah State University since 2016, where he also served as director of government relations. Prior to that, he was public finance and policy analyst for the Utah League of Cities and Towns and an adjunct professor at the University of Utah. He starts January 12. 

2. Signature gathering to be on the 2022 ballot has begun. Yesterday, Ally Isom, Becky Edwards and Mike Lee all filed their intent to gather signatures for the US Senate race. There were also 2 candidates for US Congressional District 1 and one each in districts 2 and 4. Multiple candidates for the Utah legislature have also already filed. 

Utah Headlines

General

• Fired U of U researcher and whistleblower exposes breaches in student data (KUTV)
• ‘Software instead of pills’: Video game developed at University of Utah to treat depression receives $7.5M grant (Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics

• Salt Lake City’s most diverse council ever is ready to go to work (Salt Lake Tribune)
• A city ‘forged by fire’: Halfway through her term, Salt Lake City mayor reflects on the highs and lows so far (Deseret News)
• In a ‘milestone worth celebrating,’ Sandy swears in its first female mayor (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah Sen. Mike Lee says the Senate could turn into 'Lord of the Flies' if filibuster rule changes (KSL)
• St. George swears in Mayor Michele Randall, first-time councilmembers Larsen and Tanner (The Spectrum)
• Cedar City’s new mayor, 2 City Council members take oath of office (St. George News)
• USU administrator named to senior staff of Gov. Cox (Cache Valley Daily)
• Candidate for U.S. Senate seat, Becky Edwards, off to a strong start to begin the year (Cache Valley Daily)

COVID Corner

• 14,754 new COVID-19 cases since Thursday: 4,659 on Thursday, 3,799 on Friday, 3,267 on Saturday and 3,123 on Sunday, with 17 new deaths.

• Utah reports more than 14,000 new coronavirus cases, likely a ‘dramatic undercount,’ expert says (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Four counties set new one-day COVID-19 case records (Fox13)
• Here's how to avoid Utah's long COVID testing lines (Fox13)
• Walmart temporarily shut nearly 60 U.S. stores for COVID cleaning in December (Reuters)

Environment

• Anti-government conspiracies create another challenge to addressing drought in the West (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• More than 3,000 flights canceled Monday as airlines grapple with wintry weather, omicron variant (Washington Post)
• The Elizabeth Holmes verdict: Theranos founder is guilty on four of 11 charges in fraud trial (Wall Street Journal)
• Last parent of a child killed in 1963 church bombing dies at 93 (AP)

Politics

• Capitol Police see sharp increase in threats to Congress, departure of dozens of officers (Washington Post)
• Less than half of GOP say 1/6 was very violent: AP-NORC poll (AP)
• Amazon and Google deploy their armies to thwart antitrust bills (Politico)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene hit with Facebook suspension after Twitter ban (Politico)
• Biden faces time crunch to pick financial watchdogs (The Hill)

News Releases

Gov. Cox appoints Neil Abercrombie as new legislative director

Today Gov. Spencer J. Cox announced that Neil Abercrombie will join his senior staff as senior advisor of legislative affairs and policy. Following Lt. Gov. Henderson’s lead, he’ll be managing day-to-day interactions with the Legislature and working to advance the administration’s priorities. 

“Neil has earned a sterling reputation for his solid policy sense and relationships built on competency and good will. These attributes will allow him to hit the ground running,” Gov. Cox said. “We’re excited to have him join Team Utah and look forward to working together in advancing our goals for the people of Utah.” (Read More)

Ally Isom filed today to gather signatures

Republican candidate Ally Isom launched an effort to collect voter signatures to ensure her name appears on the June Republican primary election ballot for U.S. Senate. Ally Isom signed the paperwork this morning at the Utah Office of Elections.

More than 28,000 signatures from registered Republican voters are needed to secure a place on the ballot to challenge incumbent Mike Lee. Isom has volunteers anchored throughout the state focused on gathering these signatures and is also working with a professional firm to support the volunteers. (Read More)

Sen. Lee statement on Schumer’s rule change threat

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) released the following statement after Sen. Chuck Schumer’s recent threat to change US Senate rules.

“An evenly divided Senate breaking and forever changing rules that require a supermajority is like a football team declaring its opponent’s endzone starts at the 40 yard-line. It is absurd and dangerous to the institution itself.

Senator Schumer’s rash, partisan power grab should be seen for what it is—desperation and a failure to do what Joe Biden and Democrats ran on: unify.

If this rule change were to pass, the people of Utah and the United States would suffer immeasurably as the Senate devolves into a strictly majoritarian, Lord-of-the-Flies environment. Senator Schumer and his disastrous plan must be stopped.”

Number of the Day

Upcoming

• 2022 Legislative Outlook - Utah Taxpayers Association – Jan 12, 2022, 9:00 am. Register here
• Utah Economic Outlook & Public Policy Summit 2022 - SLC Chamber – Jan 13, 2022, 8:30 am - 1:30 pm. Register here
• Utah legislative session begins – Jan 18, 2022, 10:00 am
• Utah legislative session ends – Mar 4, 2022, midnight

On This Day In History

From History.com

• 1809 - Louis Braille is born
• 1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolvers to the U.S. government.
• 1892 - Helen Hull is born. She was the director of Henry Street Settlement House, and then appointed by FDR to the Committee on Economic Security which created the Social Security Act of 1935 and Unemployment Compensation
• 1896 - Utah becomes the 45th state admitted to the Union. 
• 1905 - Sterling Holloway, the voice of Winnie the Pooh and the Cheshire cat, is born.
• 1911 - Charlotte E. Ray, the first female Black law school graduate, died.
• 1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, historian, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Lincoln, also wrote The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys and Lyndon Johnson.
• 1965 - L.B.J. envisions a Great Society in his State of the Union address.
• 1974 - President Nixon refused to hand over tapes.
• 1995 - GOP wins control of Congress for first time in 40 years.
• 2001 - Michael Jordan scores his 30,000th career point.
• 2007 - Nancy Pelosi is elected the first female Speaker of the U.S. House.

Wise Words

“Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.”
― Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lighter Side

"The C.D.C. said to avoid large indoor gatherings. Now the C.D.C. says parties are fine as long as you set up a smaller ‘tested positive’ table.” 

— JIMMY FALLON

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