Gary Herbert, Anthony Scaramucci and Donald Trump. Your Tuesday morning political news rundown from UtahPolicy.com

Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the first day of August, the 213th day of the year. There are 152 days remaining in 2017.

Gary Herbert is the most popular elected official in Utah. An investigation shows Gary Ott was not in financial control of his office for the past three years. Donald Trump was personally responsible for his son's untruthful response to reports he met with Russian nationals at Trump Tower.

The clock:

• 14 days until the 2017 Utah primary election (8/15/2017)
• 98 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
• 174 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 219 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 462 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1,190 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

• NEW POLL: Gov. Gary Herbert is rocking a 64% approval rating, which makes him the most popular elected official among Utahns [Utah Policy].
   
• Former GOP Chairman and current MSNBC political contributor Michael Steele says any change in the American political system must come from voters. If they want change, they'll have to vote incumbents out of office. Listen to our exclusive interview [Utah Policy].
   
• A report from State Auditor John Dougall's office concludes troubled Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott has not been in financial control of his office since 2014. The report also says the office may have violated nepotism laws with the hiring of Ott's secretary Karmen Sanone, who also is either Ott's girlfriend or fiancee [Utah Policy].
   
• Sen. Orrin Hatch says the GOP effort to tackle health care is over because Republicans can't find a way forward [Tribune].
   
• More than 3/4ths of Utahns want Sen. Orrin Hatch to retire after his current term in office [Tribune].
   
• The group pushing for an income and sales tax hike to boost funding for public schools is revising how they'll raise those taxes [Deseret News, Tribune].
   
• A Utah Transit Authority trustee wants to look into a $10,000 donation to Sherrie Hall Everett's campaign for Mayor of Provo from SUNROC, which is a company with ties to one of the contractors on a bus project in that city [Deseret News].
   
• More lawmakers are stepping forward with proposals to either cut back on or completely ban, fireworks [Fox 13].
   
• The Granite School District is mulling a 12% property tax increase to raise teacher salaries. The district is struggling to fill 300 open positions for the upcoming school year [Deseret News].

National headlines:

• Bombshell! President Donald Trump reportedly personally dictated the response from his son, Donald Jr., about his meeting with several Russian nationals at Trump Tower during the presidential campaign. Advisors to the president wanted the response to be truthful in order to get ahead of the story, but Trump changed the response to say the meeting focused on the "adoption of Russian children," which was later shown to be misleading [Washington Post].
   
• Whiplash! Just 10 days after he was hired, new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was fired by incoming chief of staff John Kelly [New York Times].
   
• After he was fired, Anthony Scaramucci was escorted off the White House grounds by security [CBS News].
   
• Freefall! President Donald Trump's approval rating has dropped below 40% in the Republican-friendly Rasmussen daily tracking poll [Rasmussen].
   
• While he was still the Secretary of Homeland Security, new White House chief of staff John Kelly was angry over the way President Donald Trump handled the firing of former FBI Director James Comey [CNN].
   
• President Trump has been threatening Senate Republicans on Twitter to revisit their failed effort to repeal Obamacare, but Senators are ignoring the president's taunts [Politico].
   
• A right-wing group is pushing for a congressional probe into Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz because she kept an IT staffer in her employ for months after he became the focus of a criminal investigation [Politico].
   
• Hilarious! An "email prankster" duped several White House officials into thinking he was other officials, including Jared Kushner. The prankster tricked Anthony Scaramucci into thinking he was incoming Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman. He also tricked Huntsman by pretending to be Eric Trump [CNN].
   
• U.S. military analysts say they've detected "highly unusual" submarine activity from North Korea [CNN].

 On this day in history:

• 1790 - The first U.S. census was completed, showing a population of nearly 4 million people.
   
• 1914 - Germany declared war on Russia at the onset of World War I.
   
• 1966 - Charles Joseph Whitman shot and killed 14 people at the University of Texas before he was gunned down by police.
   
• 1981 - The music video channel MTV made its debut.

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Today At Utah Policy

Poll: Herbert is most popular elected official in Utah
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
GOP Gov. Gary Herbert remains the most popular officeholder statewide, a UtahPolicy.com poll finds....

Michael Steele: It's up to voters to change American politics (with audio)
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
The chaos and dysfunction in the White House and Congress are not surprising to former national GOP Chairman Michael Steele....

Report says Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott has not been in financial control of his office since 2014
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
A new report says Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott performed no financial oversight of his office for more than three years, and his chief deputy may not have the legal authority to perform the official acts of the elected recorder....

Policy News

Utah research facility leading the way in groundbreaking technology
Members of the Transportation Interim Committee recently visited Utah State University and areas around Cache Valley to see technology being devolved and implemented in cars, trucks and other vehicles around the world....

Fox Files: 'What do you love about your job?'
People always ask me what I like most about my job....

Utah Manufacturers Association announces success of 'Make Manufacturing Your Future'
Utah's manufacturing community is committed to developing a skilled manufacturing workforce.  As part of that commitment, Utah Manufacturers Association employers have led efforts this past year to create, track, and evaluate a targeted education and messaging campaign ...

Salt Lake City ranked #3 on CBRE's annual list of Tech Momentum markets
Salt Lake City ranked #3 on CBRE's list of tech talent momentum markets, a measurement of the change in tech job growth, as part of its fifth annual Scoring Tech Talent Report, which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talen...

Local Headlines

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Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Republicans, be inclusive, open your primary

Editorial: John Curtis is the best choice for 3rd District Republicans

With Outdoor Retailer show gone, Utah will try to convince people there's more to the state than redrock

By 3-1 margin, Utahns favor independent commission to redraw political boundaries

Over 75 percent of Utahns support medical marijuana ballot initiative, a new poll says

Rolly: UTA board member gets hefty mayoral campaign check from UTA contractor's subsidiary

In-person early voting for primary begins Tuesday

Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch says efforts to kill Obamacare are dead - for now

State auditor says recorder's office may have violated county's anti-nepotism rules

Utah's Our Schools Now initiative trims its proposed tax hikes

State Charter School Board member resigns

Poll: 78% of Utahns want Sen. Orrin Hatch to retire after this term

Deseret News

Op-ed: Blame Congress and Mexico for migrant tragedy

Jay's Jokes: Why Kid Rock's political future is bright, and what Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts was really about

Editorial: Real health care reform will require hard work, study and bipartisanship

Utah's school system ranks within the top 25. Here's one reason why it wasn't No. 1

Remake for ballot initiative to raise taxes for schools

UTA trustee calls for review of $10,000 campaign contribution to board vice chair

Granite School Board to hold hearing on proposed 12% property tax hike for teacher pay raises

Auditor: Recorder's office may have violated nepotism rule

Officials take next steps for flood aid - but don't expect feds to pay for home repairs

Other

Op-ed: Centrally assessed properties create an unfair burden on Utah taxpayers (Standard-Examiner)

National Headlines

US detects 'highly unusual' North Korean submarine activity (CNN)

No Bubble in Stocks But Look Out When Bonds Pop, Greenspan Says (Bloomberg)

Bible Studies at the White House: Who's Inside This Spiritual Awakening? (CBN News)

Trump studying executive action on healthcare, senator Rand Paul says (Reuters)

Australia Weather Bureau Caught Tampering With Climate Numbers (Daily Caller)

Kellyanne Conway May Be The Next Communications Director (Daily Caller)

Scaramucci Removed as White House Communications Director at Kelly's Urging (Wall Street Journal)

Opioid commission tells Trump to declare state of emergency (CNN)

Cubs fan dishes on faceoff with nacho-gripping Chris Christie (New York Post)

Trump Presents Medal of Honor to Former Medic (Winchester News Gazette)

Big Oil weighs in on Texas 'bathroom bill,' warning it will threaten state's economy (Los Angeles Times)

Wise Words

Attitude

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." Albert Einstein
 

Lighter Side

Dancing

"Dancing With the Stars" is reportedly trying to get former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to be a contestant, marking the first "Dancing With the Stars" contestant who's hit rock bottom before going on the show." Jimmy Fallon