OCR Text |
Show Nationally known for astronaut adventure Garn has served Utah in Senate for 1 7 vears Between the hours of 12:30 and 3:30 he attends a steering committee com-mittee luncheon, a V AHUD subcommittee sub-committee hearing concerning the EPA, an EPA budget request hearing, hear-ing, and a meeting with the representatives rep-resentatives of the New World Order. At 4:05 he speaks to about 50 interns in-terns from Texas Congressman Bill Archer's office. They are 17 -year-olds and ask questions about his space flight and his feeling on the war. One young man asks, 'My father used to live in Utah and I've heard that the Mormon people are unkind to non-Mormon people. Is that true?" Gam later responds "Just when you think you've heard every question ques-tion imaginable, someone asks one that you thought you'd never hear." At 5 p.m. he meets with the director direc-tor of the Salt Lake City airport to discuss aviation issues. "I scheduled that one last on purpose so I could really talk. It's not often I get the director of the Salt Lake Airport Authority in my office!' Airplanes are his passion, espe cially the one he is currently restoring restor-ing himself. His wife has just started flying lessons, 4 'She is taking them because in my advanced age if I have a heart attack, she'll be able to save herself. ' The evening is spent at a reception recep-tion and then a dinner for the Association of Airport Executives. "This is the chicken and peas dinner circuit. It gets old real fast," says Gam. Here in Utah, most of us have no idea how much time and effort our leaders put into their jobs back in Washington. It is hard to keep up with Washington politics and still be aware of what is important to Utah. Sen. Gam, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Congressman James Hansen all have schedules that would keep even the most fit person feeling rundown, and yet it is unquestionable unques-tionable they love what they do. I have always wondered what these people do and if they really earn the money, power and perks that come with being a politician. After just one day with these men, I say "They can have it!" Network TV intern Brenda Baumgartner spent a day with Sen. Jake Garn and shared her experience with Davis County Clipper readers. She also spent a day with two other solons representing her home state of Utah. By BRENDA BAUMGARTNER Clipper Correspondent Editor's Note: This is the third in a three-part series. Clipper correspondent Brenda Baumgartner recently spent an internship in-ternship in Washington, D.C. During her stay she spent time with our busy Utah legislators. Jake Gam has been serving Utah in the Senate for 17 years. He is nationally known because of his adventure as an astronaut and because of his heroic efforts to save his daughter by donating one of his own kidneys to her. Because of hearings that the public pub-lic is not allowed to attend, my time with Sen. Garn was divided among three days. It begins at 9 a.m. on . March 7 with an appropriations defense subcommittee meeting to discuss the Air Force budget. Gam speaks without notes and for the last 14 years has not employed the services of a speech writer. "This Senator is tired of defense getting dumped on. We ought to be making defense decisions deci-sions based on threat, not on where it fits into the budget,' says Gam to the panel. 'If it's not Saddam Hussein, Hus-sein, it will be some other damn fool!" At 10 a.m. he attends the Banking, Bank-ing, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing. It is his 17th year of sitting on this committee. He is the senior member. He is tired of hearing the same things and tells the panel he could give their testimony for them. He is never afraid to say what's on his mind. There is a vote on the Senate floor at 11:15 a.m., and then he walks quickly back to his office for a noon meeting with representatives from Geneva Steel in reference to clean coal technology. At 12:30 there is a vote at the Senate gallery, and then he must stay on the floor for the RTC bill. "The floor wasn't much of a nuisance nui-sance until about 12 years ago, when I became ranking and then chairman for six years. Because of your schedule, you essentially don't have much responsibility on the floor, but the ranking member and the chairman of each committee manage the legislation for their committee on the floor. So it's been unusual for three weeks of three banking bills in a row, on the floor. I've never had that happen in 17 years I've been here. ' ' My next meeting with Gam is on March 11 at the Federal National Mortgage building, where he is giving giv-ing a speech. It's 8:30 p.m. and about 50 people listen intently as he speaks about his experience in space and how different the conflict in the gulf would be if Saddam Hussein or any government leader could just see how very insignificant insignifi-cant their little disputes are in the enormity of space. After dinner I ask him if he is aware of the rumor of his running for governor and if it's true. "Absolutely not - I'm not running runn-ing for governor. I'm amazed at how that rumor persists...As for the Senate, I sincerely have not made a decision. If for no other reason than it's too early. Campaigns are too long and to start a campaign 21 months before is just too long. Each time it comes up, it's a decision you have to make with your family. ' 'If you just ask Sen. Jake Gam yes. Sen. Jake Gam would love to run again. I enjoy what I'm doing. It's exciting. You're at the center of everything that is going on in the world. I don't know where you could find anything more interesting inter-esting or challenging to do. But then there's Jake Gam, husband and father that says, 'Gee it would be nice to spend more time with my family like a normal human being. Home at nights and not giving 300 speeches a year. And so that's the conflict that goes on. It is now March 13 at 11:45 a.m. Gam poses for pictures in his office with five interns from other Utah congressional and senatorial offices. of-fices. Gam's office is stately, yet conservative. Pictures of his family and the crew of his space shuttle flight adorn almost every wall. Every two years he has the opportunity op-portunity to choose a new office, but he has stayed in the same office for 14 years. "It's convenient to the elevators, it's convenient to my committees, so I've just stayed." At 12:15 he has a taping at the Senate recording studio. He is told as we are walking into the studio what the taping is for. His press secretary, sec-retary, Laura Snow Turner, explains that the piece is to salute the families of the men and women in the Gulf and that it should be around one minute in length. Without a script he looks into the camera and begins to speak. When finished, he asks, "How long was that?" The cameraman informs him, to everyone's surprise, that he was only seven seconds off a minute. "It's amazing how he does that," comments Ms. Turner, "'I've seen him do hour-long speeches on tape, without a script and without being timed. ' ,;,( i a s i mpi I III ; .V? . I B ft v&W V 1 . , ' f- T I 1 II -ill H i1 ' H i l ...... , , Utah Sen. Jake Garn addresses a group of interested citizens in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Garn is the senior senator representing Utah in the Senate. |