Free Republic

Governors’ Fight Over Stimulus May Define G.O.P. By ROBERT PEAR and J. DAVID GOODMAN Published: February 22, 2009 WASHINGTON — Republican governors split sharply over the weekend over how to respond to the economic crisis, a debate whose outcome will go a long way toward shaping how the national party redefines itself in the wake of its election defeats of recent years.While the $787 billion stimulus bill might help avert draconian budget cuts by deeply stressed states, Republican governors clashed over just how much of the stimulus money to accept. And governors of both parties said that they did not...

I personally don't completely like his policies. He supports civil unions, and is big into global warming. Though, he is conservative on a lot of issues, and seems to be fiscally conservative. From the Deseret News: Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is looking more and more like a presidential candidate for the GOP nomination in 2012. During a trip this week to Washington, D.C., for a meeting of the National Governors' Association, Huntsman will make two political stops, including one in South Carolina. As the first Southern state to vote in a presidential primary, South Carolina is seen as a critical...

The day after declaring his support for civil unions, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. canceled a press conference and held other meetings at the governor's mansion rather than in his office in the Capitol. His spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, declined Wednesday to comment on any threats that may have been received by the governor's office. She said the majority of the calls and e-mails made to the office, however, were to say "thank you." Huntsman's statement that he backs civil unions "in the broadest sense" as well as the "Common Ground" legislative initiative intended to extend the benefits of marriage to gay...

Timing is all a matter of motivation. Luck happens to you. Strategy takes planning. And in politics, the line is deliberately blurred. So, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. comes out this week in favor of civil unions. And three months after Election Day, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes out with a report acknowledging -it spent nearly $200,000 to amend California's constitution to ban gay marriage. Both Utah's governor and Utah's church insist there was no political calculation to the timing. I don't believe it. Huntsman has been working himself up to this moment for four years. As...

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. endorsed a $2.30 tax increase on a pack of cigarettes this morning, giving Utah the highest state cigarette tax in the country with a goal of wiping out the remaining state sales tax on food. "I think that's a perfectly fair tradeoff," the governor said after publicly embracing the tax hike for the first time and going further than previous legislative proposals. Huntsman's target would more than quadruple the existing 70-cent tax on a pack of smokes. Legislative leaders were open to the idea, and said it will be among the topics discussed in the upcoming...

Sen. John McCain said Sunday he would not necessarily support his former running mate if she chose to run for president. Speaking to ABC's "This Week," McCain was asked whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could count on his support. "I can't say something like that. We've got some great other young governors. I think you're going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party," he said. He then mentioned governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah.

Utah governor critical of GOP Jon Huntsman, the Republican governor of the ruby-red state of Utah, stopped by Politico HQ this afternoon with some tough criticism of his own party. Huntsman is in Washington this week in his role as chairman of the Western Governors' Association to promote the group’s bipartisan energy policy. Huntsman and the WGA’s vice-chairman, Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (D), are discussing their proposal with President-elect Obama's transition team tomorrow. Huntsman has been one of the leading Republican voices on dealing with climate change, and he was blunt in criticizing elements of his party for ignoring the...

Speculation grows on Utah's young leader completing a McCain ticketWASHINGTON - In Utah political circles, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. seemed to be hitching his future on a John McCain presidency with an eye toward a big-time ambassadorship or high-level Cabinet post. Not even the most starry-eyed of the Utah GOP had the audacity to hope for a McCain-Huntsman presidential ticket. But now that McCain is the presumptive nominee, Huntsman is appearing on several short lists as a possible running mate. The Washington Post, The Associated Press and the Atlantic, among others, have floated Huntsman as a possibility for rounding out...

...Why is Utah Governor Huntsman in the McCain camp? Several years ago I had a lengthy conversation with the late Elder David B. Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church. He and I were driving through the streets of little Oakley, Idaho where both he and George Romney, Mitt's dad had grown up. He spoke fondly of the long, lazy summer days when he and his best boyhood pal, George, would don their worn and cutoff bib overalls and swim for hours in the irrigation canals of Oakley. He mentioned how it was that these...

No one says, “As goes Utah, so goes the nation,” but what happens over the next month in the Beehive State may well affect the prospects for education reform nationwide. Last February, Utah’s Republican Gov. John Huntsman signed into law an education voucher bill that promised to help the parents of Utah’s 512,000 public school students send their children to the school of their choice—public or private. The Parent Choice in Education Act was subsequently challenged and a referendum has put the issue before the state’s voters on November 6. A majority vote is needed to uphold school choice. It’s...

This deals with both illegal immigrant identity theft and general social security number only identity theft by fugitives etc. CitizensForTaxFairness.org is still pursuing this issue and needs your help to convince the Huntsman administration that cheap labor is not worth letting your taxes go to those stealing children’s identities (especially, fugitive pedophiles). I was able to get a couple of statements from Huntsman’s head of purchasing (Mr. Douglas Richins). I’ll excerpt the pertinent bits. The first is an e-mail sent to the chair of a key legislative committee (PDF) regarding a proposed law (HB 127) to require government contractors who...

May 25, 2007 Dear Governor Huntsman: Just over a year ago, in a letter dated May 8, 2006, our organization, CitizensForTaxFairness.org, respectfully asked the Huntsman administration to (a) help protect Utah’s citizens and especially our children from identity theft which occurs when someone else uses another person’s social security number and (b) to ensure that taxpayer funds are not being used to hire illegal aliens. http://citizensfortaxfairness.org/x_oldnewsdetails.asp?id=16Several months later, the importance of verifying social security numbers to protect our children was confirmed by the arrest of the self-proclaimed “King of Child Pornography”, Kirk Swearingen, in Salt Lake City. That arrest came...

Both Mitt Romney and John McCain would make great presidents, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Wednesday, but his decision to back the Arizona senator helps reflect Utah's diversity. The governor's support of McCain surprised many since Romney, a former Utah Olympic leader and now governor of Massachusetts, is a fellow member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "I don't think it does anybody any good to see it through a religious prism," Huntsman said. "This is much broader than that. And I think the LDS population is to be seen as broader than that and increasingly diverse...

A 19-year-old broke his leg in two places while kicking at a spider in the NSW Southern Highlands NRMA CareFlight said the teenager was flown to Liverpool Hospital in a stable condition from a property 25km west of Mittagong after the incident involving a large huntsman spider before 1pm (AEDT) today. The force of the man's kick at the spider broke his right leg in two places and also killed the spider. The huntsman is listed by the Australian Museum as being a relatively harmless species, although the Badge Huntsman can cause pain, headache, vomiting and an irregular pulse.

Huntsman aims to bring Utah, Mexico a bit closer It's the economy: Utah's governor hopes to make some connections to boost local business climate By Jennifer W. Sanchez The Salt Lake Tribune Utah's southernmost edge is about a six-hour drive from the U.S.-Mexico border, but no Mexican president has visited the Beehive State for as long as anyone can remember. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants to work on changing that with his first economic development trip outside the United States since taking office. Huntsman is scheduled to leave today for a short visit to Mexico City to meet with the...

Utahns to guv: Tackle immigration on trip As Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. heads south of the border this week to talk to Mexican leaders about business and tourism, Utahns say he should not ignore a big state issue - immigration. Many residents - from undocumented Mexicans living here to folks who want them out - say they hope Huntsman doesn't shy away from talking about the fast-growing Latino population here. They also want to see him figure out ways the state and Mexico can work together toward immigration reform. "It doesn't make sense that he goes to Mexico and doesn't...

Jon Huntsman Jr. 69% leads Nolan Karros 23%.