Situational awareness - July 9, 2019

Situational awareness - July 9, 2019

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City

Welcome to Utah's must-read daily political news rundown. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to sign up for our emails.

Here are the stories we're following today:

• Is Mia Love running for Congress in 2020? Probably not.
• Derek Miller discusses the Inland Port controversy.
• Jeffrey Epstein's arrest rocks the political world.

My inbox is open to you!

I love hearing from you! Send your news tips or feedback to me at bschott@utahpolicy.com. or you can message me on Twitter.

The UtahPolicy.com daily newsletter gets you up to speed on the top local and national news about politics and public policy. Our news is curated by Managing Editor Bryan Schott, along with help from Golden Webb. ((Click here to subscribe))

TICK TOCK

Today is the 190th day of the year. There are 175 days remaining in 2019.

14 days until ballots for the 2019 primary election are mailed to voters (7/23/2019)

21 days until in-person voting for the 2019 municipal primaries begins (7/30/2019)

21 days to the second Democratic presidential primary debates in Detroit (7/30/2019)

35 days to the 2019 Utah primary elections (8/13/2019)

65 days to the third Democratic presidential primary debate (9/12/2019)

119 days to the 2019 municipal elections (11/5/2019)

177 days until candidates can begin to gather signatures to get on the 2020 ballot (1/2/2020)

202 days to the first day of the 2020 Utah Legislature (1/27/2020)

209 days to the 2020 Iowa Caucuses (2/3/2020)

238 days to the 2020 Utah presidential primary (3/3/2020)

247 days to the final day of the 2020 Utah Legislature (3/12/2020)

248 days to the opening of candidate filing for the 2020 election (3/13/2020)

266 days until the deadline for candidates to submit signatures to be placed on the 2020 primary ballot (3/31/2019)

350 days to the 2020 Utah primary election (6/23/2020)

483 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today At Utah Policy

Analysis: 5 reasons Mia Love won't run for Congress in 2020
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
The Utah political world was abuzz over the long 4th of July weekend with news that former Rep. Mia Love is hinting she might challenge Ben McAdams in 2020 to win back her seat in Congress. How serious is that threat?

Podcast: Derek Miller discusses the Inland Port, Tax reform and Utah's economy
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Derek Miller, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber joins the podcast. Miller is also chairman of the Inland Port Authority board.

OTHER UTAH HEADLINES

Deseret News

• Editorial: Utah Compact still stands as a model for the nation
• Utah's educational savings plan my529 has $14B under management
• What are Utah leaders doing to prevent youth suicides?
• Utah's pilot teleworking program for state workers saving time, money, emissions and stress
• Utah refutes reports of sharing driver's license photos with immigration agents

Salt Lake Tribune

• Ogden bought an old building from a prominent local business. Inside was a mind-boggling stockpile of hazardous waste.
• Once dubbed 'whipped pups,' Blue Dog Democrats like Ben McAdams are a force in this Congress
• On eve of court hearing, Democratic group unleashes ad blitz against Reyes and other GOP attorneys general fighting to topple Obamacare
• Mia Love says she might have to run against Ben McAdams if Utah Republicans can't recruit a strong candidate
• The state of Utah is ready to let thousands more employees work from home. But that doesn't mean they can spend all day in their pajamas.
• Utah officials deny reports of wholesale ICE and FBI facial recognition sweeps through state driver license and driving privilege card databases
• McAdams calls for more focus on suicide prevention in Utah, where it's the No. 1 cause of death for children ages 10-17

Other

• Utah tax restructuring task force hears from public in Layton, many worry about new taxes (Standard-Examiner)

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Jeffrey Epstein arrest

• The arrest of the billionaire financier on multiple counts of sex trafficking has rocked the political world because of his ties to high-profile Republicans and Democrats, including President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton [NYT].
• The arrest is putting pressure on Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who gave Epstein a sweetheart plea deal in a similar case in Florida [WaPo].
• There are growing calls for Acosta to step down or for Trump to fire him [Politico].
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has demanded Acosta's resignation following Epstein's arrest [Business Insider].

Census fight

• Attorney General William Barr says he believes there's a legal path for including a citizenship question on the 2020 census despite the Supreme Court blocking its inclusion last month [AP].
• Plaintiffs fighting efforts to include a citizenship question are trying to prevent the Justice Department from changing lawyers in the case [WaPo].
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the continued push to put a citizenship question on the census an effort to "make America white again" [CNN].

Mueller

• Attorney General William Barr says special counsel Robert Mueller's public testimony next week will be a "spectacle." He added the Justice Department would support Mueller if he did not want to appear before two House committees [AP].
• More members of Congress admit they haven't read the full Mueller report [Politico].

The investigations

• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill allowing certain members of Congress to access President Trump's state tax returns [NBC News].
• Congressional Democrats issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization and other businesses as part of a lawsuit accusing President Trump of profiting from foreign governments in violation of the Constitution [CNN].
• A top deputy for former White House counsel Don McGahn refused to answer more than 200 questions from the House Judiciary Committee because she said the White House told her not to [Politico].

Trump vs. the UK. President Trump says he will no longer deal with the British ambassador who called him "inept" in a series of leaked memos [CNN].

Trump vs. Fox News. President Trump has grown increasingly critical of the network. Trump has groused to associates he is confused why the usually Trump-friendly outlet sometimes "goes negative" in their coverage of him. He has also said he believes Fox should remain "loyal" to him to counter coverage from other networks [AP].

• Left-leaning media companies are on the rise ahead of the 2020 election [Axios].

2020. Elizabeth Warren posts a $19.1 million fundraising haul for the most recent quarter [NYT].

Prescription drugs. A federal judge has blocked a proposed Trump administration rule requiring pharmaceutical companies to include the prices of the medicine in TV ads [WaPo].

Super genius? President Trump has repeatedly called his admission to the Wharton Business School "super genius stuff." The admissions officer who interviewed him says he remembers it differently, and Trump used his family connections to help get in the school [WaPo].

So long Swalwell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Democrat Eric Swalwell is the first to drop out of the 2020 presidential race. Instead, he will run for another term in the House [CNN].

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1540 - King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.

1776 - General George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.

1850 - President Zachary Taylor dies of cholera after eating raw fruit and iced milk; he is succeeded in office by Vice President Millard Fillmore.

1877 - The first Wimbledon tennis tournament is held in England.

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.

1893 - Chicago surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery.

1896 - William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

2004 - A report by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence accused the CIA and other intelligence agencies of producing false and misleading pre-war information about Iraq's weapons program.

Policy News

Lt. Governor Spencer J. Cox announces rollout of statewide teleworking program for employees of the State of Utah
Lt. Governor Cox has announced that the state is implementing a statewide teleworking program following the success of a pilot project that saw great success.

More National Headlines

• Trump outmaneuvers the media on the 4th (American Thinker)
• Americans must choose alternatives to government-managed schools for their children (FEE)
• In Democrats' war on Donald Trump, 'stupid' economy still stubbornly good (USA Today)
• Warren Staffer Draws Criticism for Anti-Israel Tweet (Free Beacon)
• Lawyers For Jeffrey Epstein Once Said He Helped Conceive The Clinton Global Initiative (Daily Caller)
• Noncompliance Kneecaps New Zealand's Gun Control Scheme (Reason)
• Democratic field readies for the big shrink (Politico)

Wise Words

Dignity

"There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means." Calvin Coolidge
 

Lighter Side

Rock Stars

"Trump tweeted and called the debate 'boring.' But he still watched, even though he also said it was a, quote, 'very unexciting group of people.' As opposed to the rock stars he usually hangs out with, like Mike Pence and Steve Mnuchin." - JIMMY FALLON