In politics, you’re either on message or you’re losing. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… Blame it on the Rain.
For the past 18 months, one major story has dominated the headlines across the country and across the globe. COVID-19 and its impact on our everyday lives, our economy and even our politics has been ***the*** major story for so long, it’s a little difficult to remember a time when it wasn’t.
But it sure seems like that has changed over the last week or so, at least here in Utah.
As temperatures soared into the 90s along the Wasatch Front and into triple digits in Southern Utah, Utah’s lack of water taken center stage.
Governor Spencer Cox has positioned himself in front of the issue. Back on May 3rd, he ordered conservation measures at all state facilities.
Just under two weeks later he issued another executive order, this one to allow drought-affected communities and agricultural producers to access state or federal emergency resources.
On June 3rd, the governor invited all Utahns to pray for rain, and on June 8th he signed another executive order reducing watering at state facilities to two days per week and banning fireworks on state lands.
At this point, you know where the governor stands on our current water situation and his willingness to do what he can to address it.
By the way, Cox did get some flack nationally for the invitation to pray for rain, but, in Utah, that remains a politically sound move. Even if you aren’t a person of faith, it’s hard to argue that there is anything wrong with appealing to a higher power for relief.
To show how drought conditions have supplanted the pandemic as the hottest topic… this is the first week the governor will ***not*** host a COVID-19 press conference, according to his public schedule, anyway.
So, what’s the lesson?
It’s sound communication strategy to get ahead of big issues. The governor and his team are taking steps to push the issue front and center, and they are showing just how seriously they take it by being proactive in word and deed.
That may very well prove helpful down the road if conditions do not improve (through conservation, divine intervention or a combination of the two) when banning all fireworks over the Independence Day and Pioneer Day holidays becomes necessary.
That kind of decision, especially following a year when those celebrations were non-existent in the traditional sense because of the pandemic, would likely exact an irrationally-high political price if the issue were not top of mind for the general public.
Water rights and usage have always been a hot topic in the west, mostly among farmers and ranchers. Fireworks are also, oddly, a big deal to a lot of people.
You get elected to make tough decisions and when you are faced with one you can see coming down the track… getting out ahead of it and helping people understand why you may have to do something they probably won’t like is smart strategy.
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
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