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Show The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday, December26, 1999 AA3 After Short-Lived Coup Attempt, There Are 2 Big Political Losers in Utah ae that ced ees leaders we emerged fro! -lived coup Saas against con Mike Leavitt shaken but confident of a cautious reconciliation,it is becoming clear who will ea guys. Two political careers be allowed the infighting to reacha levelit should not have. lobbying job for gun-rights advocates. Bishop, after the failed coup attempt by House Speaker Marty Stephens and his band of Stephenistas,not only is considered untrustworthy by the Governor's Office, those behind the failed rebellion see him as a Benedict Arnold,as well. Manyof the big-doliar contributors of the Republican Party showed their frus- just a concocted escape route on the part of Bishop to get outof the sticky palacecoup business and save face. But even those folks are angry that the leader of He BeDery fiddled while the state house trations with Bishop during a conten- tious meeting of the Elephant Club with Stephens earlier this month. They basically told the speaker to knock off the hop clearly has indicated frustra- volleys sae Leavitt and repair the damages to the party. While Stephens left the meeting bloodied but politically intact (several members said they would be happy with proclamation pens), Bishop was vilified tions with Leavitt over the governor’s past stands against concealed weapons holders bringing their guns to schools. The governor also has questioned publicly the wisdom of having a paid lobbyist as the state party’s chairman. Bishop has angered both sides: The Leavitt supporters for allowing the coup to go forward andgivingit at least tacit support; the Stephens supporters for governor’s former chief of staff Ted and shareslegislators’ concerns with the executive branch. Buthedid notlead the Stewart is outof the picture in that he has been appointed federal judge in the shaky lawmakers who fearfully followed Stephens down the gardenpath, say that aed“ eea the speaker so hard fo chalk e governorhe evensaid, "r you dort't do it, I'll do it myself.” Some Republicans believe the Bishop-as-Cardinal Wolsey scenario is from the ashes like a Phoenix. He tem Stewart. up only wounded. the aftermath of the revolt, heard the talk that he should resign and has made several calls to Republican legislators and GOP delegates in recent days, arguingthatit is better to have ue inside the establishmentwhere he can be controlled than outside untamed. It follows the logic of former President LyndonB. Johnson, whooncesaid of an adversary: “Beiter to have him inside the tent pissing out than outsidepissingin.” WhetherBishop finishes his term as chair is secondary to the potential damage to his careerin the behind-the-scenes maneuvering for the 1st Congressional District seat, if an when 19-year GOP veteran Jim Hansen decides to retire. revolt and he helped brokerthe deal with Leavitt for Stephensto end the rebellion and to work toward reconciliation. feels he has repaired enough damageto The second big loser from the failed coup is Assistant Majority Whip Greg Curtis, R-West Jordan, who is getting the blame for blabbing to Leavitt when the conspirators were trying to keep things quiet as they assessed support for a coup. After Leavitt's office wasfirst tipped off to the coup attempt, Curtis was approached and reportedly spilled the beans, according to his detractors. Fair or unfair, the perception amonglegisla the only one ofthe three whose possible © 1999, The Salt Lake Tribune backing out when the kitchen heated up. Bishop knowsheis in trouble. He has pers his role by explaining to Leavitt supportersthat he supportedhis speaker U.S. District Court for Utah. Stephens harbor gubernatorial ambitions once Leavitt moves on. That leaves Bishop, PAUL ROLLY the coup, but seems to be emerging whole tioned as Hansen’s eventualreplacement have been Bishop, Stephens and former Hansenaide, state bureaucrat and the Moreover, Stephens supporters are now pointing at Bishop as the culprit who pushed their Marty into the lion’s den, then ran away when the king ended ome biggest loser, politically, is Retee State Chairman and former House Speaker Rob Bishop, the Brigham City high school teacher who parlayed his legislative career into a nice Stephens as a gubernatorial candidate when Leavitt decides to hang up his For years, the three names most men- THE ROLLY REPORT as an ineffective leader of the party who removalfrom consideration as Hansen's successoris involuntary. Conservatives and moderates alike say Bishop'srole, or lack thereof, in the embarrassing family squabble at the Capitol meanshewill get precious little support in the convention should he de- cide to run for Congress. Bishop's desire for that job has been so obvious he once had a tempertantruminfrontof Leavitt because the governor was considering naming Peter Knudson, now a Republi- canstate senator from BoxElder County, to a high-profile state board. Bishop worried at the time that Knudson might be arival for Congress. The name now emerging as Hansen's successor is House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton. Garn was backing Stephens during tors is that Curtis sang. Expect a stiff challenge to Curtis’ leadership position next year. Legislative insiders say he will not be in the leadership circle when the new Legislature convenes in January 2001. It was Curtis who carried the Republicans’ water when they wanted to strip Democratic Atty. Gen. Jan Grahamof most of her powers. That coup attempt, too, was short-lived and Curtis will al- ways be remembered for the ludicrous quote: “Thisis notpolitical.” To Have Peace on Earth. Please. Canada, We Need Your Cooperation BY JOEL ACHENBACH Department ‘THE WASHINGTONPOST In this joyous holiday season we engage in special rit Wedecoratea tree with ‘pretty ornaments and strings of lights. Wemake eggnog. Weputthe yule log on thefire. We pass around beautifully wrapped gifts, and listen closely to makesure they’re not emitting the kind of ticking sound associated with explosives. We search the closets and underthe bed for hid- den agents of Osama bin Laden. We makesure we haveplenty of spare ammo. Welock and load. Thisis the most nerve-racking holiday season in a long time. The FAA wants airline passengers to be prepared for additional security scrutiny and to “be alert for any suspicious, unattended bags, parcels or other items.” (I've found that staring at people for long periods and wondering if they mightsecretly be a terrorist contributes to a more relaxing aviation experience.) Meanwhile, the State says Americans around the world should be prepared to be targeted by terrorists at special millennial events. A State Department official, Michael Sheehan,hastried to explain the competing goals of the government in these delicate times: “One is to share informa- tion we haveregarding threats in a prudent manner, and the other is not to be overly alarmist so as to unnecessarily frighten the American people.” In other words, people should just be a little bit worried that en be killed by.a terrorist. All this jitteriness comes on top of the Y2K bug, which, evenif it doesn’t trigger blackouts or cause planes to fall from the sky, has already inspired countless people to hunker down with huge barrels of dried beans,a five-year supply of Spam and a massive arsenal offirearms, You want to knock first these days whenyouvisit a friend. What’s the cure for all this anxiety? Here’s a suggestion: Go to Canada. It is the land of no worries, Canada is so even-keel, so open-minded, so desperately intent on being as boring as possi- ble, that no Canadian dares to imaginethatthere is such a thing as a jon. In Canada, ev- eryone is presumed nice. That’s whyterrorists love the place! It appears that terrorists in Canada now outnumber the hockey players. As we speak, terat are standing inline, doing their last-minute holiday shopping at Plastic Explosives R Us. There are homeless terrorists on the streets carryinglittle signs saying “Will Drive Truck Bomb for Food.” As Americans we need to get ae about the Canada problem. Personally I have never trusted that place. It comes on so mild, so easygoing.It tries to lull everyoneint an keeps sending us these surnaturally calm and levelReaded people like Peter Jen- the primelendingrate. us think aboutlove. Insteadoffear, let us feel cour- guard. We're talking about 3,000 miles-plus ofvirtually unguarded border, a massivesieve. Incredi- age. Instead of despair, let us have Over time, we've let down our You Can Submit Opinion Pieces In Three Ways faith. This is the time of year when wecan all engage in sudden and unexpected acts of kindness. You could say this is a form of bly, there are border crossings guarded only by a video camera. Our national defense is a Camcorder! counterterrorism. This is a mo- This might be a good time to start considering the annexation ment for everyone to pause and Does Canada really need to be an entirely separate nation? We need to makeclear to these people that we can take them. They need to realize that we're really on edge, and if someone accidentally Pops a champagne cork when we're not expecting it, we may accidentally order an are in pain, whoare suffering a think about what they can do for those whoare less fortunate, who solution. deficit of hope. You can visit a person in the hospital or a hospice, or write a letter to someone you haven't seen in manyyears. You can bring food to a homeless person. You can vowto nur- ture the weak. You can call someoneoutofthe blue and wish him a happy invasion. All right. Enough of the prattle. Here’s a more serious idea: Opinion piecesfor the Sunday op-ed pages may be submitted in oneof three ways: E-mail the submission to RandyFrisch, editor of the editorial page, at Rfrisch@sltrib.com WSend the typed, doublespaced submission to Randy Frisch, The Salt Lake Tribune, 143 S. Main, Fourth Floor, Salt LakeCity, UT 84107 Send the submission by fax machine to 801-257-8515 All submission should include name, address,telephone number and some information on the authorso thatit can be included on the endof the piece. holiday. Yes, there are bad peoplein the ron of doinglast-minute holi- world. But there are a lot more of us than there are of them. , let's do somelasteds charity. Instead of thinkingof hate, let nings, who could make Armageddon no more dramatic THE DEAN ‘Steve Luhm ‘Tribune Jazz Reporter SAY than a quarter-point increase in ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ TO YOUR NEWSPAPER CARRIER Wireless Web in the palm of your hand! The Sprint PCS Wireless Webs. Receive messages, stock updates,travel info, weather reports and more...right on your Internet-Ready Sprint PCS Phone display screen. Now you can use your laptop computerto surf the internet, or to send & receive e-mail, anytime, without having to search for a phonejack. Wireless Web START-UP BONUS! Sign up for Wireless Web now andget: #50 Wireless Web Minutes FREE 50 Information Updates FREE $30 Mail-in Rebate available on any Sprint PCS Phone ($100 rebate when you buy two Sprint PCS Phones) Clear calling 129” = “30 | YourPice ‘After Rebate 27 comm ieee ' “tySprint. SprintPCS «RS : || SE Bedilieyer i y Vg \ ; tach 7 ‘i a a 9ch P.O,Box 45838, (143 S. Main Street) Salt Lake City, Utah 84145 enclosed Is a for carrier's is eee woe service ; (Q The Salt Lake Tribune Carrier iis i veSredmeye.com Soeeee. eescusbo duncan ‘ 2 ‘ as Amounts $ Q Deseret News Carrier 1, Nee Acct. # | Address Apt 1 * ' al % ! i ‘ 2 ais wba '‘ | ' 3 tiles Laie jy: ws ; . |
