There’s always a story behind the story and there’s never any shortage of gossip on Utah’s Capitol Hill. In Anonymous Hacks, we provide the cloak of anonymity to 40 of the most well-connected political hacks and let them spill the tea.

Governor Cox’s cabinet members were sworn in during a Gold Room ceremony this past week. Did Governor Cox succeed in appointing the most diverse cabinet in Utah history?

Which cabinet member do you believe will have the greatest impact on his or her agency/division? Which cabinet member will have the least impact? Why?

I’m hoping Dan Hemmert will have the biggest impact. GOED has so much potential, but it’s currently a blackhole of wasted tax dollars, mediocrity, and nepotism. Least impact (unfortunately) is Tiffany Clason. The DABC will change when the specter of President Waddoups disappears.

Jill Love cause she’s awesome.

Sophia DiCaro! She is a rockstar.

I don’t know that white women count as diversity hires anymore…Also, my money is on Thom because that dude is charismatic AF.

Most – Carlos Braceras. Road funding could get ugly.

Hemmert will have the greatest impact because for the first time in years GOED will have a motivated leader.   Casey Cameron will have the least impact – she has some big shoes to fill following John Pierpont.

Dan Hemmert will have a real impact at GOED and return the office to its former glory under Spencer Eccles’ leadership. His business experience far exceeds being an athletic director for a 6A high school in Provo.

Rich Saunders is poised to not even have an agency in a year and some change. Does disappearing the largest agency in the state count as greatest impact?

Dan Hemmert at GOED will probably have the greatest impact. Partly because he’s taking over from the previous director who was utterly pointless. And partly because Hemmert’s friends in the Legislature will now want to shovel all of their pet projects to GOED so he can run them.

It is definitely the most diverse cabinet by “observables demographics.” Time will tell if his cabinet is the most diverse in thought and policy suggestion.

Dan Hemmert at GoED will have the most, he’ll bring new life to an extremely agile agency.  Rich Saunders at Health will be the least. He’s already demonstrated that the only thing he is truly capable of is allowing Kris Cox and the GOMB to walk all over him.

Sophia DiCaro is by far his most diverse, most qualified, and most responsible appointment. She is forward thinking and won’t be caught in the failed policies and conflicts of her predecessor. As a fiscal conservative who is worried about where we are headed in the future, having Sophia and Jonathan Ball in the driver seat is comforting.

When will the Utah House Democrats break the Republican super majority?

If the House Democrats had the power and could censure one of their Republican colleagues who would it be? Why?

Norm Thurston, he can’t get Rep. Pitcher or Rep. Dailey-Provost’s names right to save his life.

Obviously Sean Reyes cause he’s a weirdo.

Steve Christiansen for his crimes against women.

Representative Thurston because he can’t get the names of his democratic, female colleagues correct.

Steve Handy and Ray Ward, for not being honest and just joining them in the minority caucus.

Phil Lyman – because he deserves it.

Seriously, it would probably be Dan McCay.

None- the House Dems can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

Kera Birkeland over her trans bill.

Mike Schultz for saying “shit show” on the House floor.

Tim Hawkes for being the king of alcohol gestapoism.

Phil Lyman for sure. The guy is off the rails and lying is his second nature. But maybe the Dems would leave him alone because he’s the Republicans’ own worst enemy.

Which Chief of Staff is the most powerful in Utah politics?

Why are they the most powerful? Which Chief is the least powerful?

The Senate has a pretty powerful leadership team and I’m sure Mark is an integral part of the team.

I think this question should have been, “Rank the Chiefs in order of least powerful to least powerful.”

Jon wins because the Governor has more power than he should. Least powerful – Allyson Bell. Mike Lee does what Mike Lee wants to do.

To know Abby is to love Abby and be wowed by her power and skills.

Rachel Wagley because she is the only CoS hired based on competency and merit, rather than to satisfy patronage.

I believe it is less about the person and more about which member they are chief for. The number of levers a Governor can pull compared to a member of congress (being 1 of 535), makes a massive difference.   Least powerful: either chief to freshmen Congressman Moore or Owens. Weeks of “Utah”/Congressional experience under their belts and I’m sure they are still drinking from the fire hose.

Small crowd, lots of power.

Cox is the most open to suggestion and guidance.  Keelie Broom is the least powerful because Burgess doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing and won’t listen to guidance as evidenced by his comments during the campaign cycle.

Abby has the confidence of not just the Speaker, but the entire leadership team.

Look at the appointment of directors to the DHS and the DOH? Both have ties to the people of DWS, which, for some reason, is a fast track to powerful positions and a black hole for legislative audits.

Pierpont has a reputation as a micromanager. That means he’s going to be a major gatekeeper and bottleneck. Tie between Keelie Broom and Rachel Wagley for least powerful. Why two freshman members of congress would choose chiefs with no ties to Utah is incomprehensible.

Jon Pierpont has the ability to most influence the policy and communications agenda of Governor Cox’s bully pulpit.  Jen Christensen is the least powerful. Being COS in the LG’s office means that you’re still having to report under the umbrella of the Governor’s team.

Jon is a strong leader.  The rest are wh.

Liz Johnson is a dark horse and unknown to the majority of Utah politicos but she is brilliant and not flashy.

Will the legislature pass more bills this year than the 2020 total of 510?

What bill is the biggest waste of time? Which causes Utah the most damage to the state’s reputation? Which is getting the least attention from the public but should get more?

Biggest waste of time: Message bills. Could be abortion, transgender policies, referendum bills, etc. but none of them matter and they’re all an overreach perpetrated by the legislators who call themselves believers in small-government.  

All the license plate bills are a giant waste of time.  The Teuscher bill will damage Utah’s rep as a conservative state that doesn’t engage in voter suppression and it should absolutely get more attention.

Biggest waste of time is ADU Bill, it should just pass and move on to bigger solutions. The porn filter bill will harm our ability to attract sex workers and high-tech manufacturers. The bail issue could be a disaster on all sides.

Oh the attack on cities is in full force by developers and their lobby.

Most damage: Any trans bill. Utahns have so much learning to do when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues and they should probably shut up until they can stop saying hurtful, bigoted things. Plus someone needs to tell them their high school athletes aren’t going to be pro athletes so it doesn’t matter who plays in a girl’s soccer game.  

Least attention: Rep. Teuscher’s bill about party identification. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. But sure, go ahead and alienate tens of thousands of unaffiliated people on the off chance a couple hundred democrats want to vote in your primary.

Waste of time: the communist one.

Damage: transgender sports and protected hair.

Least attention: we want all of our bills to stay under the radar.

Birkeland’s bill on transgender kids and sports activities. GROSS.

Resolution honoring a sports ball player has been a pretty big waste of time, even if he is super cool at doing sports. Ironically, the same legislator is sponsoring a bill that would damage the states reputation, the bill to ban trans women from participating in sports. Last time a state tried to mess with trans women, the NAACP publicly suggested that sports would not be allowed at the collegiate level in that state. I mean, I know it isn’t the Jazz, but I feel like if that is the public blow back we get here, there are going to be some very disappointed college football fans around these parts.

Most damaging: the unlicensed concealed carry bill.  

Should get more attention: any of the election law bills.

Biggest waste: McCay’s flag bill.

The ADU bill should be getting more attention. Taking zoning authority out of the hands of local governments is bad policy, and is going to have far-reaching unintended consequences.

Proposing a bill that requires people to freeze their political affiliation before a primary is embarrassing and ridiculous. People should have the ability to choose to affiliate with whatever party they want whenever they want.

Waste of time: Phil Lyman’s bill on redistricting. The math cannot work, you would need to either willfully violate the constitution or have more than 2,000 members of the House.