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Show The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday,October31, 1999 AA3 Current Salt Lake Mayor’s Race May Change Democrats Political Habits Thepolitical historian MichaelF. Holt writes in his latest book, The Rise and Fallof the American Whig Party: Jackso- nian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War, that the National RepublicanParty failed in the 1830s because its members could not put aside their petty differences to unite against their commonen- emy, Jacksonian Democrats. The National Republicans, the antiJackson wing of Thomas Jefferson’s divided Democratic Republican Party, were replaced by the Whig Party, which fell apart 20 years later becauseits fac- tions could not cometogetheronslavery. The outcome of the municipal pri- their being, amplify the single-mostissue that has divided and conquered the cans disagreed with each other, and with other anti-Jackson men, over which principles should be abandoned, a more effective opposition party proved daunt- ingly difficult to construct.” Take that premiseasa recipe for party extinction in the 1830s. Fast-forward 160 years and you have discovered the reason the Democratic Party in Utah has been on life-support the last several years. The Salt Lake City Mayor’s race — a non-partisan race in name only — may bethefinal stroke that forces the pulling of the plug. Or, if you believe Democrats tryingto put the best spin ona difficult situation,it could be the heart attack that finally forces party members to change their diet. U.S. Senate against Orrin Hatch . In fact, Grahamissitting this out this race. ™@ FormerSalt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, a former Mormon bishop, has endorsed Anderson, partly because ofhis disgust at the talk in somecircles that good Mormons should not support Anderson. @ A groupofnon-Mormon Democrats, led by former House Minority Leader PAUL ROLLY © 1999, The Sait Lake Tribune will be nearly impossible to achieve. year by the Oxford University Press: pense of offending their original supporters . . . Because National Republi- those factionsifshe decides to run for the their differences and unify againsttheir common enemy — the GOP — if they have any hope of success. But , after this election year, that goal The reason the Rocky Anderson vs. Stuart Reid mayoral finale is a recipe for “National Republican leaders could not conciliate former Democrats at the ex- telling her that if she endorses Reid or does anything else to hurt Anderson’s chances, she can forget anysupport from As Holt said about the National Republicans, Democrats must set aside The Whigswere replaced by the modern RepublicanParty. WroteHoltin his book published this THE ROLLY REPORT mary in Salt Lake City creates the worst scenario for the Democratic Party's 2000 prospects. That is the year Democrats will try to crack Republican coniroi of the governor’soffice, a Senateseat, three congressional posts and the one-sided UtahLegislature. pot-shots from anonymoussources (Reid denies any involvement) exaggerating Anderson’s championing of gay-rights and otherliberai causes. Those pot-shots, conversely, have created a backlash from traditionally liberal Democrats in Salt Lake County who blame right-wing disaster is those two candidates,just by Democrats in Utah for more than 20 years: Mormonism. moralists. Reid, a Mormon bishop and former employee in the LDS Church’s Public Relations Department, highlighted his church membership in the primary election. Somebelieve that helped him come from behind to dispatch two more moderate Democrats, Jim Bradley and Dave Jonesin the primary. Three voting It all spells landslide for Utah Republicans next year. Democrats, clearly the minority party, have no room for error. After this mayor’s race, two factions of the Democratic Party currently throwing bricks at each otherwill haveto work together ina campaign that will get underway in afew monthsto guarantee any success. The Democrats actually thought they had Republicansin trouble on three key issues going into the 2000 election: gun control, tobaccocontrol, and education. districts surrounding Reid’s LDS Ward on the city’s west side attracted 1,200 voters — a phenomenal turnout for a municipalprimary, Anderson,on the other hand, has long championed civil rights and hassaid he would issue an executive order including gays andlesbiansasa protected class Consider these late election-season developments involving prominent Utah Democrats: against discrimination in the workplace in the city. He also favors abortion rights. Those positions have encouraged @ Atty. Gen. Jan Graham hasreceived calls from people claiming to represent liberal factions of the Democratic Party, Frank Pignanelli, bought a full-page ad in today’s Salt Lake Tribune that dis- BY MARION C. BLAKEY General Motors. Unfortunately, the people mostlikely to toast this verdict are drunk drivers. e award stemmed from an accident in which a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu, stopped for a traffic light, was rear-ended by a drunk driver going about 70 miles per hour. Gasoline leaked from the fuel tank andcaughtfire, burning four children — a eefe unnecessary tragedy. A egged on by the clans’ ee yers, decided in July that General Motors deserved 95 percentof the blamefor the crash and should be “serious” offense than many punished by the largest product liability verdict in U.S. history. In the narrowsense,trial lawyers managed to achieve their usual goal of shifting responsibility toa defendant with deep pockets (a tactic for whichall of society ays through higher prices — Set verdict Cod have added other crimes. Even repeatoffenders often receive a slap on the wrist before being turned loose to drive again. And the judgein the GM case made a very disturbing decision, refusing to let jurors more than $1,000 to the price of the 4.6 million vehicles that GM sold last year), But from a larger perspective,this case reinforces a messagesenttoo often by legislators, prosecutors andjudges: that drunkdrivingis no big deal. Judges, in particular, deserve muchofthe blame. They tend to regard drunk driving as a less hear that the driver who caused the crash had a blood alcohol contentof at least .20 percent — about two times California’slegal limit. As a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, | know that vehicle safety regulations can only go so far to protect the public from irresponsible driv- ers. In fact, the Malibu in the GM case had an exemplary record on economic and educational issues Democratsfeelarethei ngth Bui Pignaneili, i believeit. I wor what they were Mormons | couldn't id tell peopleto listen to ying, then re) e the womanor JewandseehowbigBe they sounded.” @ Bradley and Jones have been getting panic calis in recent days from both campaigns worried that they will en Reid give the prayerat the annual Dem. ocratic Legislative Ball to show that a prominent Morinonlike Reid couldbe a solid Democrat as well. “I took alot of dorse the other. Both have decided to refrain from making any endorsement. The Mormon vs. non-Mormon paranoia has ripped scabsoff old sores in the party that Democratic Chairman Meg Holbrookhaspainstakingly tried to heal. Several years ago, Pignanelli, State Sen. Scott Howell and Reidtried to form a Moderate Democrat Caucus and forma Pignanelli and Howell purposely had heatfor that,” said Pignanelli. Holbrook, in an attempt to mend wounds, put Reid on herexecutive com- mittee to show that Mormonswere welcomeand could contributeto the party. But four years after, the Democratic Party wassplit in 1992 because their two so-called middle-of-the-road or conservative Democrats. The idea was to soften candidates differed on the abortion rights issue, some Democratic leaders refused to help Andersonin his congressional battle with Merrill Cook because the pro-gay and abortion rights imageof the party that had emerged from the of their fear of his liberal image. The ironyof the present-day fear that liberal. groups in their camp becauseit demonstrates the party’s commitment to civil Anderson is endorsed by former Gov. Calvin Rampton and former U.S. Sen. Frank Moss, the two giants of the Utah Democratic Party in the 1960s. ‘ PAC toraise money specifically to hold financial and grass-roots support provided by those groups. Most Democrats are proudto havethose special interest ism wiil kill Democrats in Utah is that BACsof .15 or higher. In other words, society is having the least success with the was withheld from the jury. The most dangerous drivers. One reason is that hardcore drunk so many others, is that the trag- driversand their lawyers use our flawed legal system to evade pun- the road non-Mormon, said whenhelent his nameto that moderate. building cause he received telephone calls and letters from Democrat co)ol ‘that containedsuchvitriolic di- parages the notion Democrats cannot support Reid because he is an active Mormon. Huge California Jury Verdict Underrates Reality of Drunk Driving This summer, a Los Angeles jury returned a sobering judgment: a $4.9 billion award against rights for everyone. Democratic leaders are becoming bolder in telling certain groups theysupport them and appreciate. the groups’ support, but their public presence illuminates hot-button emotional issues that pushto the background informationthat also undeniabletruthin thiscase,like funded by America’s leading dis: tillers to help solve the problemof hardcore drunk driving. We are working to provide more information to judges and prosecutors about dealing effectively with these offenders, through certain punishment and effective edy would never haveoccurred if ishment, avoid treatment and one driver hadn’t gotten behind the wheel after becoming highly intoxicated. While drunk driving treatment The GM crash in California years, thanksto public education continue drinking and driving. When sober and contrite, standing in business clothes before a judge, hardcore drunk drivers typically appear to be ordinary, andstiffer penalties, deaths re- respectable people. Their crimeis ing lives requires a commitment fromsociety to fight drunk driv ing, not eye-popping verdicts from flamboyant lawsuits fatalities have fallen in recent lated to hardcore drunk driving portrayed as an “accident.” But, have retained about the same. far from being an accident, hard- Each year, as manyas 40 percent of fatally injured drinking drivers had been previously convicted of DWI. Ofthese, 80 percent core drunk driving should be percent of drivers involved in Driver Project wascreated in 1997 by The Century Council and had BACsofatleast.15.In 1997,58 alcohol-related fatalities had was a tragedy forthe victims, but the car was not to blame. Preventing such accidents andsav- seen by judges andjuriesalike for whatit is: an act of premeditated, random violence. The National Hardcore Drunk Marion C.Blakey, a former ad- ministrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is coordinator of the National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project. agROMAMio,” Salt Lake Clean Cities Coalition and their sponsors encourage the students andtheir parentsin the State of Utah to use other formsof transportation to improve the air quality and enhance our lives. The following program is made possible bythe following sponsors who's financial support is greatly appreciated. | | Eyre FUELS | UTA Simon » Bymaster Geotechalal& Simiroamentl Engincding DAIMLERCHRYSLER 4) UTAHA PacifiCorp Company t Mw Utah"GuteCollect Ue ae monpa 7 | UTAH PROPANE GAS ASSOCIATION ‘The public meetings are being held to allow citizens the opportunity to commenton the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft PEIS) covering the transportable treatment systems which are being developed to treat certain types of non-stockpile CWM. WHEN & WHERE? Thepublic is invited and encouraged to attenda regional public meeting, which will be held: a, f Linc Orme BaBE ensccans Group The U.S. Army Product Managerfor Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel is responsible for destroying non-stockpile chemical warfare materie! (CWM)containing agent located within the United States and its territories that is not part ofthe nation’s stockpile of unitary chemical weapons. This materielis presently known to exist, or possibly exist, at more than 200 sites in 38 states, in the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands. |QUESTAR Gas | WHAT? Location: HolidayInn Airport, 1659 West Temple,Salt LakeCity Date & Time: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 — 6:00 p.m.to 9:00 p.m. Comments on the Draft PEIS can also be mailed to: exes Ny 7 iy . 7 I Program Manager forChemical Demilitarization ATTN: SFAE-CD-NP (Mr. Gieseking/PEIS) Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5401 Draft PEIS material by calling the toll-free Citizens may also request a comment card or request telephone number 1 y/ Interested parties will find additional information regardingthe Non-Stockpile Draft PIS by visiting the Program Managerfor Chemical Demilitarization World Wide Web site at: www-pmed.apgea.army.mil/NSCMP/or at the following locations: Summit County Library, Grand CountyPublic Library, Marriott Library, South Salt Lake Library, C.S. Smith Library, East Millcreek Library, West Valley Library, Magna Library, Hunter Library, Kearns Library, West Jordan Library, Tyler Library, Sandy Library, Riverton Library, Draper Library, Weber County Library, and the Wendover City Hall Special assistance, to include an interpreter for deaf or Clean up:the Air in Utah by donating your en CLE rR Sete 1a rg Fe!are RoveraN hearing-impaired persons, will be provided at the meeting if you request such assistance by November 2, 1999 by calling 1-900-488-0648, |