Through the Veil: The Funeral of Brad Jay Galvez

My wife and I had the opportunity to attend the funeral for my friend and former legislative colleague Brad Jay Galvez today.  The solemn services were held at the Wilson 2nd Ward building of the LDS Church in West Haven, Utah.  Several hundred friends and family were in attendance.    

Brad's son Joshua read the obituary which was then followed by his children sharing memories of their father.  It was very touching.  Representative Ryan Wilcox, County Commissioner Kerry GIbson, and family shared a special musical number.  Brad's sister-in-law spoke as well as Representative Ken Ivory.  The final speaker was Elder Lynn L. Summerhays from the fifth Quorum of the Seventy who had presided over the meeting.

I have to say of all the funerals that I have ever attended,  this was one of the most inspirational and edifying I have ever seen.  The spirit in the room was in accord with Brad's lifetime of service, faith, and devotion to his family.

Brad was serving as the Bishop for his ward at the time of his passing.  He had been diagnosed in the last half of 2012 with untreatable kidney cancer and given three months to live by his doctors.  Undeterred, he pursued a holistic health regiment that included strict dietary protocols and natural treatments for his condition.  Miraculously, he lived over a year after his diagnosis and was able to spend that extra time with his wife and children.  During that time, Brad was continually upbeat and eager to serve others.

There were many poignant quotes from the meeting.  Here are just a couple:

"I never saw a stronger man than the frail and feeble Brad Galvez." - Ken Ivory

"The Galvez family has the faith to be healed, they also have the faith not to be healed." - Elder Summerhays

Elder Summerhays' remarks touched the heart. He mentioned that Brad's early passing opened doors of opportunity as Brad would continue to do the Lord's work beyond the veil.  He also alluded to the rights of a father and husband Brad still has as a patriarch who is sealed to his family by covenant.  He also talked about faith as the Galvez family prayed for a miracle to save Brad but ultimately accepted the Lord's will that now was Brad's time to depart.  Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane acquiesced to his Father's will yet knowing the anguish of the Atonement would be nearly unbearable. (Luke 22:42)  Likewise, the Lord has a plan for each of us and the Galvez family has shown they have embraced that plan, despite its untimely unpleasantness.

It was a privilege to serve with Brad in the Legislature and an honor to call him a friend.  I am grateful for the experience of attending his funeral.  It was a moving and inspiring memorial to Brad's life and a faith building personal experience to be there.  

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brad's wife Lisa and his four children Joshua, Justin, Jenilyn, and Jordana during this time of mourning.  I know that the Comforter will abide with them during this season of transition.    
 

Living and Dying By Federal Funds: A Realtor's Post Mortem Analysis

I don't usually commingle the topics of my living as a real estate broker with my politics on this blog.  But, unfortunately, we live in an age where the economy seems increasingly dependent on government.

Weber County has a very high percentage (10%) of employees depending on the Federal Government for their incomes.  The IRS has a dominant presence as a major employer as well as Hill Air Force Base.

It is also important to note that real estate sales are a vital statistic of the health of an economy.  When people make less money, they spend less money, and thus, buy fewer homes.

So, here is how the Federal Government shutdown affected home sales (my livelihood) in Weber County:

 
As you can see, a 23% drop in November homes sales from the same month last year says a lot.  This is the first YoY decrease in sales since May 2011 when we were in the throws of a real estate depression. Fortunately, this should be an anomaly and not a trend.

But, if there are further political earthquakes and budget gridlock at the Federal level, we can expect more palpitations in the local economy, including the real estate market.  

This is an excellent illustration of the seductive lure and yet lurking peril of depending on government jobs to support a local economy.

Keys to the Republic: The Wisdom of Machiavelli

I recently finished reading the illuminating book Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius by Niccolo Machiavelli.  Unlike The Prince, this book is a fascinating treatise on the successes and failures of ancient republics and governments while also comparing them to contemporary republics of Machiavelli's time, especially those of renaissance era Florence and Venice.  The book is dripping in wisdom from the ages.  I strongly encourage anyone interested in politics and policymaking to acquire a copy.

Here are some of the best quotes.  I have loosely categorized them for your benefit.

Leadership

"Let no man, therefore, lose heart from thinking that he cannot do what others have done before him; ...men are born, and live, and die, always in accordance with the same rules."

"He who would reform the institutions of a free state, must retain at least the semblance of the old ways."

"Remaining undecided, he will be crushed while he still wavers and doubts."

"For nothing, I think, is of worse example in a republic, than to make a law and not keep it; and most of all, when he who breaks it is he who made it."

"Of all the many princes existing. or who have existed, few indeed are or have been either wise or good."

"Men, moreover, in proportion as they see you averse to usurp authority over them, grow the readier to surrender themselves into your hands; and fear you less on the score of their freedom, when they find you acting toward them with consideration and kindness."

"Excellence is praised and admired even by its enemies."

"More glory is to be won in being beaten by force, than in a defeat from any other cause."

"A great man is constantly the same through all vicissitudes of fortune; so that although she change, now exalting, now depressing, he remains unchanged, and retains always a mind so unmoved, and in such complete accordance with his nature as declares to all that over him fortune has no dominion." - Marcus Furius Camillus

"Very different is the behavior of those weak minded mortals who, puffed up and intoxicated with their success, ascribe all their felicity to virtues which they never knew."

"For as a captain cannot be present everywhere while a battle is being fought, unless he have taken all measures before hand to render his men of the same temper as himself, and have made sure that they perfectly understand his orders and arrangements, he will inevitably be destroyed."

"The criterion of character afforded by a man's manners and conversation is a safer guide than the presumption of inherited excellence, but is far inferior to that afforded by his actions."

"It is men who give lustre to titles and not titles to men."

Corruption of the State

"For the corruption I speak of is wholly incompatible with the free government, because it results from an inequality which pervades the state and can only be removed by employing unusual and very violent remedies, such as few are willing or know how to employ."

"But where corruption is universal, no laws or institutions will ever have force to restrain it.  Because as good customs stand in need of good laws for their support, so laws, that they may be respected, stand in need of good customs.  Moreover, the laws and institutions established in a republic at its beginning, when men are good, are no longer suitable when they have become bad."

"But when the people grew depraved, this [the tribune] became a very mischievous institution; for then it was only the powerful who proposed laws, and these not in the interest of public freedom but of their own authority, and because, through fear, none durst speak against the laws they proposed, the people were either deceived or forced into voting their own destruction."

"The vices of our age are the more odious in that they are practiced by those who sit on the judgement seat, govern the state, and demand public reverence."

Freedom Gained and Freedom Ruined

"There is no difficulty, therefore, in determining whence that ancient greatness and this modern decay have arisen, since they can be traced to the free life formerly prevailing and to the servitude which prevails now.  For all countries and provinces which enjoy complete freedom, make, as I have said, most rapid progress.  Because from marriage being less restricted in these countries, and more sought after, we find there a greater population; every man being disposed to beget as many children as he thinks he can rear, when he has no anxiety lest they should be deprived of their patrimony, and knows not only that they are born to freedom and not to slavery, but that they may rise by their merit to be the first men of their country, in such states, accordingly, we see wealth multiply, both that which comes from agriculture and that which comes from manufactures. For all love to gather riches and to add to their possessions when enjoyment of them is not likely to be disturbed."

"The multitude...formed themselves into a government and at first, while the recollection of past tyranny was still fresh, observed the laws they themselves made, and postponing personal advantage to the common welfare, administered affairs both publicly and privately with the utmost diligence and zeal.  But this government passing, afterwards, to their descendants who, never having been taught in the school of adversity, knew nothing of the vicissitudes of fortune, these not choosing to rest content with mere civil equality, but abandoning themselves to avarice, ambition, and lust, converted, without respect to civil rights what had been a government of the best into a government of the few; and so very soon met with the same fate as the tyrant."  

"A lost freedom is avenged with more ferocity than a threatened freedom is defended."

"Those states consequently stand surest and endure longest which, either by the operation of their institutions can renew themselves, or come to be renewed by accident apart from any design.  Nothing, however, can be clearer than that unless thus renewed these bodies do not last.  Now the way to renew them is, as I have said, to bring them back to their beginnings, since all beginnings of sects, commonwealths, or kingdoms must needs have in them a certain excellence, by virtue of which they gain their first reputation and make their first growth.  But because in progress of time this excellence becomes corrupted, unless something be done to restore it to what it was at first, these bodies necessarily decay; for as the physicians tell us in speaking of the human body: "something or other is daily added which sooner or later will require treatment."

"Nothing is so necessary in any society, as to restore to it that reputation which it had at first, and to see that it is provided either with wholesome laws, or with good men whose actions may effect the same ends, without need to resort to external force."

"For it is no less arduous and dangerous to attempt to free a people disposed to live in servitude, than to enslave a people who desire to live free."

The Decline of Religion Presages the Decline of a State

"And as the observance of the ordinances of religion is the cause of the greatness of a state, so their neglect is the occasion of its decline; since a kingdom without the fear of God must either fall to pieces, or must be maintained by the fear of some prince who supplies that influence not supplied by religion."

"Princes and commonwealths that would save themselves from growing corrupted, should before all things keep uncorrupted the rites and ceremonies of religion, and always hold them in reverence; since we can have no surer sign of decay of a province than to see divine worship held therein in contempt."

"Wherever there is fear, the want of faith will be the same."

Balance of Power

"In every republic there are two conflicting factions, that of the people and that of the nobles, it is in this conflict that all laws favorable to freedom have their origin."

"The cruelties of a people are turned against him who it fears will encroach upon the common rights, but the cruelties of the prince against those who he fears may assert those rights."

"For a monarchy readily becomes a tyranny, an aristocracy an oligarchy, while a democracy tends to degenerate into anarchy.  So that if the founder of a state should establish any one of these three forms of government, he establishes it for a short time only, since no precaution he may take can prevent it from sliding into its contrary by reason of the close resemblance which, in this case, the virtue bears to the vice."

The People

"For though they be ignorant, the people are not therefore, as Cicero says, incapable of being taught the truth, but are readily convinced when it is told them by one in whose honesty they can trust."

"For though the multitude be unfit to set a state in order, since they cannot, by reason of the divisions which prevail among them, agree wherein the true well-being of the state lies, yet when they have once been taught the truth, they will never consent to abandon it."

"But when a people is led to commit this error of lending its support to some one man, in order that he may attack those whom it holds in hatred, if he only be prudent, he will inevitably become the tyrant of that city."

"A people deceived by a false show of advantage will often labor for its own destruction; and unless convinced by someone whom it trusts, that the course on which it is bent is pernicious, and that some other is to be preferred, will bring infinite danger and injury up on a state."

"So blinded are men in favor of what seems a spirited course."

"Nothing tends so much to restrain an excited multitude as the reverence felt for some grave person, clothed in authority, who stands forward to oppose them."

"For often a people will be open-mouthed in condemning the decrees of their prince, but afterwards when they have to look punishment in the face, putting no trust in one another, they hasten to comply."

"On the one hand there is nothing more terrible than an uncontrolled and headless mob, on the other, there is nothing feebler."

"But as for prudence and stability of purpose, I affirm that a people is more prudent, more stable, and of better judgement than a prince, nor is it without reason that the voice of the people has been likened to the voice of God; for we see that wide spread beliefs fulfill themselves, and bring about marvelous results so as to have the appearance of presaging by some occult quality either weal or woe."

"How greatly men are governed in what they do by necessity."

Miscellaneous Wisdom

"For men, if they would judge justly, should esteem those who are, and not those whose means enable them to be generous; and in like manner those who know how to govern kingdoms, rather than those who possess the government without such knowledge."

"Whence it happens that by far the greater number of those who read history, take pleasure in following the variety of incidents with it presents, without a thought to imitate them."

"Calumny is most rife in that state wherein impeachment is least practiced and the laws least favor it."

"For men used to live in one way are loath to leave it for another, especially when they are not brought face to face with the evil against which they should guard, and only have it indicated to them by conjecture."

"For the causes of division in a commonwealth are, for the most part, ease and tranquility, while the causes of union are fear and war."

"The past should have our reverence, the present our obedience, and that we should wish for good princes, but put up with any."

Reforming Utah's Court Systems - Part 2

In October, I presented a proposal to the Judiciary Interim Committee to reform Utah's court system.  My proposal and the data supporting the change were illustrated in an hour long conversation.

After gauging the concerns of some of the committee members, and to make proposed changes more palatable (and thus more likely to succeed), we changed the direction of our conversation for November's interim committee.

Instead of major reforms themselves, we changed our proposal to create a task force of stakeholders.  I believe that getting the stakeholders to the table will foster better discussion and better results.  The task force will debate the issues and then make recommendations to the legislature regarding changes it feels are appropriate to our court system.  Members of the task force will include representatives of the courts, the House, the Senate, prosecutors, defense attorneys, the public, and others.  Here is the original draft of the task force bill:

Court System Task Force

Unfortunately, the November interim meeting of the Judiciary committee was very chaotic.  It started an hour late due to the Senate conducting confirmation hearings.  Then, when it did start, it lacked a quorum and could not take any action on bills being presented.  To accommodate the schedules of legislators who had conflicting appointments, the committee bumped our task force item to last on the agenda with 15 minutes left in the meeting.  Most of the committee was in support of the concept but voiced reservations on details regarding the make up of the committee.  After hearing some constructive criticism, we adjourned.

You can read how the press reported on the meeting HERE.

I will be working with committee members before the General Session begins in January to make sure we address their concerns and move forward with the task force.

Park Politics Propaganda: Patrons Put Off By Preachy Promotion

I love the outdoors.  As a family, we make it a point to get out regularly to enjoy nature and explore many of the unique and special places in Utah and abroad.  We had such an opportunity this Thanksgiving as we visited Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho.

It was a fascinating day as we walked across the lava flows and cinder cones created by very chaotic and violent volcanic activity just a couple thousand years ago.  I highly recommend a visit to the monument's tortured landscape.  It truly is otherworldly.

However, our last stop before we left was a short walk around Devil's Orchard.  In many parks, a plaque is often posted to describe or explain what the visitor is seeing.  Often, natural phenomena are explained, special plants or animals are highlighted, or historical information is shared.  Yet, at Devil's Orchard, the plaques come with an agenda.  Here are some of the interesting messages we saw:

This first one is interesting.  It mentions the presence of lichens in the park.  What is a lichen?  It is the unique result of the symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi which manifests itself in brightly colored patches on rocks.  Unfortunately, you wouldn't know that from reading this plaque. Instead, we discover that we are killing these pretty colored creatures:

"Tough as they are, lichens can still be threatened by human activity because they store airborne chemicals in their cells.  -snip-  First to grow and first to be damaged, lichens warn us that the park's air suffers from polluters near and far."

Well, isn't that a cheerful endorsement of nature's wonder.

Here the plaque offers to educate the reader through definitions:

"Broken rocks.  Polluted plants. Bad decisions. The process of understanding, correcting and preventing all this is called resource management."

Oh, to have the coveted position of Resource Manager.

The plaques continue their monotonous tirade:

"Take a deep long breath.  Hard to believe, but this fresh air is getting dirty.  The damaged lichens prove it."

Then the plaques berate the visitor:

In a world ever more affected by humans, you are a "park neighbor" wherever you live.  Being a good neighbor means being informed about recycling and the sound use of resources.

I never felt so bad being a human.

And finally, the UN steps in to blame the visitor for visiting :

"It is not the presence of animals and plants that makes conservation necessary, but the presence of people" - Maurice Strong, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme 1972-1975

The unsuspecting visitors to Craters of the Moon national Monument were just told that to save the park from themselves it would have been better for them to stay home.  I am all for smart conservation, mindful use of resources, and respecting our outdoors.  However, brow beating visitors with this poorly presented message is not the way to do it.

Youth Leadership Summit: Opening Minds and Lifting Expectations In Utah's Ethnic Community

I had the privilege of attending a Multicultural Youth Leadership Summit hosted by Weber State University.  As a member of the Multicultural Commission, I meet regularly with members of the commission who are stakeholders in Utah's diverse ethnic communities.

A big part of our discussion is about education and how to open children's minds to the opportunities in society to succeed and excel.  The Youth Leadership Summit was a great opportunity to show these kids how they can be successful despite the popular narrative that ethnic minorities can't be.

There were 1,000 kids in the audience today which is a great turnout.  The meeting had a tremendously positive message with some great presenters. 

Our new Lt. Governor Spencer Cox gave a rousing introductory speech about his personal experience.  He first apologized for being "the white guy in a suit".  He described how he was on the wrong road as a youth and through some the care of some mentors was able to change his life, attend school. and make a difference in his community.  It was a well received message by the audience and very poignant.

   Judge Andrew Valdez spoke about his personal story of being mentored as a young man by a stranger he met while selling newspapers.  His story is compelling.  So much so, that it has been put in a book titled No One Makes It Alone.

I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy.  It was great to see the young men and women at this meeting being uplifted by the message.

Truly, we will be whatever we want to be...if we are willing to do what it takes to become it.  Hopefully, these messages of hope will find a home in the hearts of these young people and lift our rising generation.

  

Reforming Utah's Court Systems - Part 1

I recently presented my proposal to reform Utah's court systems to the Judiciary Interim Committee.  The presentation went well except for the time constraints which limited input from the public on the issue.  Here is the document presentation I gave the committee:

Judiciary Interim Committee Presentation - Utah Court Modifications 2013

 

At the conclusion of my presentation, and in reference to the brightly colored charts, Senator Mark Madsen who is Vice Chair of the committee, said " I don't know Rep. Peterson very well.  But based on this presentation, I could't tell if you are an attorney, an economist, or an interior decorator."  I almost took offense.  Nobody has ever accused me of being an attorney before.

You can listen to the entire presentation including a rhetorical rebuttal by the Administrator of the Courts against the proposal.  While his rebuttal was spirited, he did not offer any alternative solutions to the problems discussed in the presentation.  Here is the video (audio only):



The committee was mostly receptive to the idea but again time constraints prevented us from getting into the dollar figures debating idea thoroughly.  We are on November's agenda to discuss the issue further and give the public time to comment.