Utah, climate and ethics

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) faces Claudia Wright in a runoff where the five-term lawmaker is favored. But Matheson wasn’t expected even to be in a runoff. Like other conservative-leaning Democrats, Matheson has attracted criticism from liberals for his opposition to healthcare reform.

The race between Republicans Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee will decide who will be the next senator from Utah; GOP victory in the general election is likely to be a mere formality. Bridgewater and Lee ousted Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) at the state’s Republican convention last month.

{mosads}Bennett has endorsed Bridgewater while Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) have backed Lee.

North Carolina Democrats on Tuesday will select who will be their candidate against Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) this fall and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) will look to survive his runoff against Trey Gowdy. Inglis is the underdog.

President Barack Obama has invited senators from both sides of the aisle to meet with him on Wednesday to discuss energy legislation.

In his address to the nation last week, Obama did not explicitly mention climate change legislation, but instead talked more broadly on the need to move an energy bill.

The White House has noted it rounded up votes for the House’s 2009 bill on cap-and-trade. Still, the president’s actions suggest he wants an energy bill without such provisions, knowing it lacks 60 votes in the Senate.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) will need to make a decision this week on whether to extend its investigation pertaining to eight House lawmakers. The Hill last week broke the story of the OCE probe, which was launched on May 24.

According to the OCE’s bylaws, it must make a decision within 30 calendar days on whether its “preliminary review” should be dismissed or advance to phase two, called “further review.” This would mean that OCE has “probable cause to believe allegations.” It could also dismiss certain allegations about some of the eight lawmakers while narrowing the investigation’s scope.

The OCE investigation is looking into fundraisers that members held around the time of the House debate on financial regulatory reform, but there are many unanswered questions about what exactly the ethics office is reviewing. {mosads}