For anyone listening to Monday's debate between Huntsman and Springmeyer, this was quite evident. When Huntsman claimed "$1 Billion increased education spending over 3 years" under his administration (that's 40% more), Springmeyer countered with this:
"I don't know where Jon is getting his numbers, but off his own budget, it was just barely revised, public ed (in) fiscal year 2009 only provided a point three, 3/10ths of one percent increase in public ed...that's off your own website."(Let's not get into Bob Springmeyer refusing to grant the Governor the dignity of the title Utahn's saw fit to grant him, and just calling him Jon. It's a classic, yet classless political move.)
Huntsman is right, and Springmeyer is wrong. In fact, Springmeyer seems to be attempting to tell the truth in order to obscure the reality of what Huntsman and the Legislature have done for public education, but he fumbles the truth and ends up lying. In fact, .3% is not the number in 2009, it's 3.0%. That sounds small, but it's over $92 Million dollars. Feel free to check me on this, but the budget is clear at http://www.governor.utah.gov/budget/Budget/Agency%20Summaries/FY2009/14_Public%20Education.pdf He may not of intended it, but by attempting to muddy the waters on education funding, Springmeyer ends up lying.
On another note, and a very boring one at that,Springmeyer whines that the Tax Commission is failing to release TC-23 reports, apparently in some sinister ploy by the Governor to hide public information. Now, for those unaware (that's 99.9% of Utahns), a TC-23 is essentially the Tax Commission stating what revenues are, and sometimes, predicting what revenues might be according to current trends. A forecast of sorts. What Springmeyer doesn't seem to realize is that the reports he whines about not seeing are reports that detail the first 2 months of the fiscal year that have only been compiled 3 of the past 10 years, and are generally just part of the Quarterly report issued by the Commission. So he's complaining about receiveing a report that is rarely issued, and that few people are even aware exists. Springmeyer is probably whining about this at the behest of Bob "Dirty Bernie" Bernick of the DNews, and Doug MacDonald, former Tax Commission economist. Are you bored yet? Me too, and Doug Fabrizio sensed the ticky-tack nature of this attack, moving the debate on.
But by all means, Mr. Springmeyer, continue fighting for those TC-23s. Send mailers out about it. Doubtless, half of the 1/10th of 1% of people who know what you are talking about will find your TC-23 complaints to be the main issue driving them to the polls...
One last note on the debate: Governor Huntsman gets the first ever Ninth Circle "Quip of the Day" for his take on the Salt Lake City Weekly. When asked about a Holly Mullen article in the liberal SLC rag, where Editor Holly Mullen (wife of Ted Wilson, who is a good Springmeyer friend from what I know) essentially says Governor Huntsman is a leader unwilling to use his political capital, willing to coast and not take on the issues of the day, the Governor responds in full dry wit mode:
"...that comes from a great newspaper, by the way, the Salt Lake Weekly, which is where I go to get all my information, since we don't have any other reliable papers in the state."Meantime, this is one thing the people of Utah should understand about their Governor: He is a diplomat, and a kind man, but do not mistake his gracious and calm demeanor for a man devoid of passion, intellect, or pride. In fact, in my 28 years, only Neal Maxwell has impressed me more with his talent for dry one liners. Having spent time around both men, these quips are rare, but always richly deserved by the target.
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