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… Dual Mission.
Governor Spencer Cox held a press conference this week in the Gold Room at the State Capitol and he brought along leaders from Utah’s medical community.
The recent and ongoing increase in COVID cases thanks to the Delta variant has Intensive Care Units operating at capacity and pushing health care workers to their limits.
At first glance, the main message of the press conference was to highlight the alarming situation and encourage Utahns to take it seriously – though with slightly differing messages from each of the healthcare leaders ranging from thank healthcare workers on social media to pushing everyone to wear a mask all the time. Press events with multiple mouthpieces can stray from the thesis pretty quickly.
The governor’s message was that Utah’s hospitals are at a breaking point. Reports show ICUs are at 85 to 88 percent capacity and it’s not difficult to see why that is a cause for concern and how it impacts non-COVID patients.
If that’s the message for a general audience, great. But don’t miss the fact that there’s more going on than just that.
The governor also emphasized that current pandemic circumstances have changed from when he signed into law restrictions on his authority to institute a mask mandate. He told reporters he is meeting with the legislative caucuses to present updated data and his proposal to address the situation.
In doing so, the governor was clearly setting the narrative that he is ready to take some kind of action… if only the Legislature would agree.
Full disclosure: We’re shooting this video a few hours before the governor is scheduled to take his case to legislators so I won’t get into the prediction game here. Senate President Stuart Adams did point out that there is a system in place to address the dynamic COVID threat as county governments and county health departments work in coordination with school districts.
Now, The governor is always an easier target as one person than the Legislature is as 104 people. And I don’t doubt the governor’s sincere concern about the number of COVID cases and our capacity to treat those who need care – 97 percent of whom are unvaccinated, by the way. But that does not mean he’s not also actively working to put the spotlight on the Legislature and turn up the pressure to get what he wants.
Two things can be true at the same time and politicians are adept at multitasking.
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
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