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Show UTAH VOICES:Living like Thoreau. AA3 OPINI 3 SUNDAY — OctToseRr 12, 2003 inside Drawn & Quartered AA2 Public Forum AA2 Rolly Report AA3 Walter Cronkite AAT WWW.=SLTRIB.COM OurV1IEW Preserveinitiative right lives in just four Wasatch Front nder Utah’s Constitucounties. So, in effect, the 20tion, there are two county requirementturned maways to makea law. jority rule onits head, giving ru. One wayis for the Leg- ral voters disproportionate power islature to pass it. The other way overinitiative petitions. Last is for people to propose a law through an initiative petition. If a year the Utah Supreme Court struck down thatrule, and majority of voters then approves rightly so. the proposal in an election,it beIn reaction,this year’s Legislacomes law. turé came up with several new The Legislature does not like rules, including one requiring to share its lawmaking power that petition sponsors meet the 10 with the commonrabble who percent threshold in 26 ofthe launch initiative campaigns, so state’s 29 senate districts. Unlike last session it put some new procounties, senate district boundcedural hurdles in the wayofpearies are redrawn every 10 years titioners. However,since the initiative process is a right reserved to contain nearly equal populations, so this new requirement to the people under the Constitudoes not give rural voters disprotion, the Utah Supreme Court should strike down these barriers portionate power. However, the new rule does not as unconstitutional. really guarantee geographicdiThe reasonis that the Legislaversity, either. If signature gathture designed these obstacles to makethe processso difficult that erers eliminate the state’s three the initiative right is jeopardized. largest senate districts (in terms of area) from the process, they Though theinitiative rightis can ignore roughly two-thirds of guaranteed by the Constitution, that documentallowsthe Legisla- Utah’s territory, basically everything south of Utah County with ture to makethe rules for the petition process. Since 1917, the Leg- the exception of St. George. The new rule’s real purpose, islature has required initiative sponsorsto gatherpetition signa- then,is political. Legislators not only wantto force signaturetures equal to 10 percent of the gatherers to travel to the hintertotal vote cast for all candidates for governorin the previous elec- lands, but also to make them round up support in conservative tion. In addition, sponsors had to strongholds that favor thepolitics meet the 10 percent requirement ofthe Legislature’s overwhelmin 15 of the 29counties. ing Republican majority. In 1998, the Legislature upped It is that one-party dominance that requirement to 20 counties. that makes the initiative process The reason the lawmakers gave doubly important. Whenlegislawas to makesure that rural vottors repeatedly turn a deaf ear to ers had a voice in the process. certain issues — guns in schools, The trouble with that argufor example — citizens should mentis that Utah is an overhavea right to take their case and whelmingly urban state. More than 75 percent of the population their petitions to the people. Taxing the tube he Legislature should deal with inequities in ting the revenues they were promised from satellite TV. Thelogical wayto correct this inequity would be for the Legislature to rewrite the new law so that cable TV would not be subject to thelocal tax. But there’s a problem with the waylocal sales tax is applied to cable andsatellite TV. Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution. Here’s the problem: Earlier this year, the Legislathat solution, too. States are tryture passed a law that applied ing to unify their sales tax rates state and local sales taxes to caand basesso thatit will be easier ble and satellite-dish television andInternet services. Since July to tax Internet sales. They have 1, these businesses,like retailers, agreed to apply all sales taxes, both state andlocal, to a uniform have been required to collect base, unless they are pre-empted state and local sales taxes from by federal law. their customers. Pulling cable TV out ofthe lo‘However,there is a glitch. A cal tax base would violate that federal telecommunications law agreement. exempts satellite dish providers Anotherpossible solution from local sales tax, but not from would be to repeal the new tax the state tax. When the State Tax law entirely, but that would cut Commission discovered this,it tax revenues by about $20 million ruled that the satellite-dish serat a time whenboth state andlovice providers no longer had to cal governments are hurting for collect the local tax. funds. The result is that cable and Still, if no other solution can satellite customers all pay the be found, the Legislature should state sales tax, but only cable simply repeal the new law. Cable customers also pay local sales TV customers already are paying tax, This applies a tax to some pay TV customersbutnotothers, franchise fees to local governments that dish customers do not andit gives the satellite TV prohave to pay. viders a competitive advantage Whacking them twice with over their cable TV competitors. In addition, local governments taxes that dish customers escape is simply unfair. are miffed that they are notget- CORRECTION ‘ against the University of Utah over the SS Our Sept. 28 editorial “Taking sides” incorrectly stated that Attorney General Mark Shurtleff filed suit university’s policy banning weapons on campus. In fact, it was the university that sued in defense of its policy. Ss omeSacEVRCCARE = Easing up on the Axis of Evil | There is an old proverbthatsays,“If partner andtotally responsible for all the Axis of Evil, if they stem the flow of you're going to sup with the devil, use a Palestinian terrorism. But Israel keeps militants and armsinto Iraq. long spoon.” Does the White House him totally powerless under house ar- pantry have any long spoons? I ask be- rest, and the Bush team says Israel cause if President Bush really wants to achieve his objectives in can’t kill or deport him. Israel has the Finally, Iran. There is enormous pressure within the Bush team to confront the Iranians before they develop a nuclear option. Iran, though,is worried about a pending U.S. invasion. I would use that leverage to open strategic dialogue with iran about the nuclear issue and about using its considerable little with Yasser Arafat, the Iranian leader Ali © Khameneiand Syria’s pres- any other Palestinian fig- ident, Bashar Asad. ure to work with Israel, because Arafat still huids the legitimacy. First, let me state my own bias: Iraq is the whole The former Mideast ballgame.If we can produce envoy Dennis Ross has a a reasonably decent, constiuseful suggestion: Israel tutiorially grounded Iraqi should try to strike a deal government, good things with Qurei. Offer to give will happen all around the THOMAS Middle East. If Iraq turns him what he needs: “a into a quagmire, it will bea FRIEDMAN two-way ticket” for disaster for U.S. interests are Arafat (so he can come and go without fear of all around the world. So, for me, everything should be focused on deportation). In return, Arafat would haveto give getting Iraq on the right path. Which is why we may need to let someofthe Axis of Evil out on parole —or at least out on work-release. We can’t Che Salt LakeTribune = Publisher -= WititaM Dean SINGLETON Nancy Conway Editorial Page Edi Past Publishers VERN ANDERSON Joun F. Frrzparnick (1924-1960) E Joun W, GALLIVAN (1960-1983) ive Edi Tom BapEn M ine Edi Jenny O'Brien (1983-1994) Dominic Weick (1994-2002) Tr Frraparrick Teray Onme Qurei “carte blanche,” Ross says, to crack down on Islamicterrorists in exchangeforIsrael’s easing up on Palestinians. I know there are no simplesolutions or sure things here, but to not allow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spread into an Israeli-Syrian-ShiiteHezbollah conflict. It would greatly complicate the ability of Iraqis to work openly with us and would greatly enhance the ability of anti-U.S. forces in again, is to invite total despair. Moreover, the best way to create an alternative to Arafat is to strengthen Iraq to mobilize militants. I have enormous sympathyfor Isra- Qurei. As for the Syrians;they.got the mes- el’s predicament in confronting the madness ofsuicide bombers. No society has ever faced such a thing. But every military strategy Ariel Sharon has tried has failed. Maybe the only wayIsrael can deal with this phenomenonis by trying anew to do business with sage from the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but Arafat — indirectly, through his new prime minister, Ahmed Qurei. Here’sthe logic: Israel says Arafatis totally irrelevant as a_ negotiating explore every alternative, again and maybe too much so. They are so convinced they are next on the Bushhit parade that they have been easing the entry ofanti-U.S. guerrillas into Iraq — influence among someIraqi Shiites to help stabilize Iraq. As Ray Takeyh,an Iran expert at the U.S. National Defense University, wrote in the latest issue of The National Interest: “The Bush administration finally has the opportunity to arrive at the modus vivendi with Iran that has eluded previous U.S. administrations. Washington should capitalize on [ran’s emerging pragmatic tendencies and reach a settlement with the theocracy on issues of common concern.” , The Bush team’s tough-minded approach to all of these bad actors has gotten their attention. Hats off. But now it has to decide whether U.S. interests can best be served by trying to take them all down at once, which the U.S. public has no energy for and which would clearly hamperus in Iraq, or try to engage them — with a long spoon — to maximize the chancesof success in Iraq. Trying to remake Iraq is hard enough — trying to do it with the oppo- because the more preoccupied the sition of all the neighbors would be even harder. And most important, a liberalized Iraq would be the greatest long-term force for change in Iran and United States is there, the less likelyit Syria. I don’t see what we haveto lose is to invade Syria. It may be worth a new high-level strategic dialogue with the Syrians to strike a deal assuring them they will not be treated as part of by trying, but I sure know what we haveto win. New York Times News Service Ifyou sit in this chair, youd betterlisten Here are a few observations after 13 months in this job: @ Readers of The Tribune editorial pages generally are not shy people, es- pecially if they strongly disagree with something written here. They can be noless exer- opinion pages. Oh, I get threats, too. Don’t you ever dare get rid of Molly Ivins! (Or Cal Thomas,of course.) @ Which, indirectly, brings me to a sore subject made sorer in the past year: the extreme polariza- tion afflicting our local, cised about editorials or columns they agree with.I state and nationalpolitics. One of its poisonous byproducts is an almost frenzied compulsion to permanently and dismissively affix everything and everybody to an idealogical line running from ultra-liberal (read socialist) to neo-conservative (read fascist). just don’t hear from those folks as often. I’d be worried if I did. @I'm a better listener today. Callers, even those who have their blood up, nearly always have something worthwhile to say, and they are grateful for a chance to be heard.I recall VERN ANDERSON one gentleman who broke off in mid-bluster about a gun editorial we'd written to thank mefor not hanging up on him. replied, and he picked up his argument right where he’dleft it. With no loss of vigor, I might add. @Some samples: I'd just like to know why you run Molly Ivins’ col- umn, not once, but twice a week. How can any self-respecting newspaperallow Cal Thomas space to spewhis venom? I don’t understand Maureen Dowd’s appeal. Does she have any? You notice there are no quotation marks around these statements. Thatis because I wasn’t taking notes when I heard them. But they are fairly representative of what was said and of whatI - get a fair share of — complaints about the syndicated columnists Thisstrategybyparties, party factions and special interest groups to demonize all opposition is doing The thought never occurred to me, I Uran’s INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1871 worst of all worlds: It’s getting nothing for keeping Arafat locked up — except the inability to get Iraq, he may have to sup a on the serious damage to the body politic. That is because attack politics distorts and oversimplifies every issue, makes reasoned, and reasonable, debate virtually impossible, and turns the art of compromise, so crucial to good governance, into perceived weakness. In Utah, as we know, demonization plays out in our culture no less than in politics, notwithstanding efforts by manygood people to makeit otherwise. @ Enough on that for now. Except to say that complaints about The Tri- bune’s columnists often entail placing all of them on an imaginary setof scales that tip right or left depending on who is doing the complaining. Which is one wayto look at them, I suppose. My hope is that they provoke thought, inform debate and, yes, raise and lower blood pressure. @ The best part of my job is hearing from readers, whether by telephone, fax, e-mail, mailed (or hand-carried) envelope. Some of the commentis just that; much of it comes in the form of submissionsto the Public Forum and to the opinion pages.I'll take this chance to offer a reminder:If there is one thing that will improve every writer’s chance for publication it is brevity. Keeping it short is just as important, given our limited space, as clarity and choice of subject. Everyone has opinions. Sadly, not everyone can articulate them in less than 250 wordsfor the Forum orin 300-800 words for an op-ed column. Yes, we do make exceptions, but not often. @ The missionofthe editorial board of this newspaperis unchanged.It is to independently address the issues of the day in order to stimulate thought, understanding and dialogue. We also want our pages to be a marketplace for a public exchange of ideas and a forum for a variety of voices and opinions. The aim is to help all of us better un- derstand who weare, where weare going and how bestto get there. Weare committed to helping forge a bright future for this uniquely wonderful state and ask your participation with usin thateffort. @ Finally, I'm compelled to say that the toughest part of this job is writing columns.But then you've divined that: Vern Anderson is The Tribune's edi- torial and opinion editor. He can be reached at 801-257-8743 and by e-mail at vanderson@sltrib.com. |
