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Show D A I L Y A6 H Sunday. January 2.2005 EIALD UTAH'S NEW LEADERSHP) IN TRANSITION ..... " f) "g---- 0oLj q oooo . v,v . . liiuuuuu ( j1''1-1- ' jr '1 if, I ml U - ' inflOQQQ crsd! W . . 4 I 111 l J 1 Jp I JJiPU ' Cedar City Mayor Gerald Sherratt, a member of the transition team, makes a point to Huntsman during a meeting the week before Christmas. The first day of transition meetings d issues to name a few. Huntsman has set up 18 advisory committees around the state. on ( focused public safety, rural agriculture, transportation and work .Voice of experience: force-relate- KM AN INTERVIEW WITH Gary Herbert to ! When Jon Huntsman Jr. was elected as Utah's new governor in November, with Utah County Commissioner Gary Herbert as lieutenant governor, an intense process of transition to a new administration began The Herald spoke with Herbert on Saturday to get a feel for that process. His observations are reported below. The inauguration is set for Monday. "It's been like being on a treadmill that does not stop. On election night I was up until 3 a.m., and the next day I had breakfast meetings that started at 7. So I got about four hours sleep. Then I met with Jon, and we spent a couple of hours kind of mapping out where we go from here and what we need to do to get ready for Jan. 3." "I can tell you that the biggest thing we've learned, and Jon and I have talked about it, is that it's one thing to talk about it on the campaign trail, but it's another thing to actually do it. And the doing, of course, is much harder; So we're very cognizant of making sure that we start off on the right foot, in the right direction, with the right people. That will help smooth out the bumps in the road and make our chances of success all that much better." "It's nonstop. I leave early in the morning and get home at 9 or 10 o'clock at night in time to see my wife and catch up on some of the news, do some reading and go to bed. And it starts all over again the next morning. It's a very heavy pace. It's not that I don't find it enjoyable, by the way. If I didn't I'd probably be choosing something else to do with my life. But it's very intense and very busy. There's a lot to get done in a short period of time." get about five or maybe six hours of sleep on a good day. It's not usually continuous. The biggest problem is that I tend to go to bed usually around 11:30, and I usually wake up about 3. And either I have to get up "I and read there's always plenty I OR ,) rs shows Renee Murphy out of a meeting room as Lt. Governor-elect Gary Herbert walks to his next meeting during the second day of il transition I I "We'll have offices in the capitol when the remodeling is finished Right now we're in what's called the East Building. You walk in through the reception area, and if you're seeing the governor, you go to the right; if you're seeing the lieutenant governor, you go to the left. There's no black and white line of demarcation." Out of the fryingpan at the East State Capitol Building. IB '" ' ' I tj "We met yesterday at 1 o'clock and had our staff meeting, getting our current staff people in place. We all gathered up there and went through the offices and saw where people were assigned. There were pieces of paper of the floor that had the name of the individual I took up a few office supplies and some books. We're going to rearrange some of the furniture, make some changes in the conference room on my side a few modifications that we think will work a little better." ' dis- cussions held 7 for me to be reading or studying up or you try to roll on or reviewing over and go back to sleep. But I'm usually up by around 6 or 6:30 getting ready to go to a meeting, whether that's a breakfast meeting here or meetings in Salt Lake. I think once I get a routine it'll be a little better." "For the first time in my public career I've years had to go to an unlisted number at my home. There are some security issues that I've not had in the past. Also it's been difficult just because I've had to transition out of Utah County responsibilities. I still have Revolving door Huntsman and energy with his or her people putting together a budget that, in essence, is going to be discarded by the Legislature, and then the incoming governor has to do his owa We had not been involved to any great extent with Gov. Walker. In some states, we have found, when there's an outgoing governor and lieutenant governor, the budget personnel in the state start working directly with the incoming governor because it's going to be his or her budget they're going to have to deal with. And they think that they're getting more effective results that way rather than dealing with a lame duck." Top priorities Huntsman and Herbert discuss candidates for government appointments in the opulent dining room of the Huntsman home Dec. 29. Herbert's term as Utah County Commissioner ends Monday, the day he will be sworn in as lieutenant governor. Heads of state: county functions. Last night at New was really First Night Year's my last official function as a county commissioner. And I am technically a county commissioner until Larry Ellertson is inaugurated and my term expires and his begins." Advisers statowldo "Another key is the transition committee, which is looking at all aspects of state government. I have some experience working with state gov- - ernment; Jon has virtually none. All of us are kind of on the outside trying to find out what really is occurring there, what is really happening. We have 18 different committees that we've put together with over 100 of volunteers a good people throughout the state to take a look at all these different departments and personnel and then come back and give us recommendations. We'll listen and hear what they have to say. That was extremely important and very vital, and we've got that completed. We had oral and written reports a week ago, which helps give us direction on what we need to do and what are the recommendations from good eyes and ears from outside the system who say, Here's what we can do better, here's what we do well, here's what we're doing wrong." cross-sectio- n "What we're going to do, by the way, is keep some of those transition people together, so it's not just e shot. Next year, they can a look at what we're doing and give us some benchmarks here's some things you haven't done, we talked to you about that, what are you going to do to address this particular issue. We think that's going to be healthy in getting things done, and not just talking about it." one-tim- Dcdgot Issues Exuberant staff: Transition team managers, from left, Kevin Knight, Brian Maxwell, Tom Harper and Tera Tanner, enjoy a light moment between meetings at the East State Capitol Building in December. Advisers throughout Utah Huntsman on issues ranging pom transportation to public safety. presented information to Governor-elec-t "It seems like we've wasted a lot of people's time if, in fact, we have an outgoing governor who spends time "The overall agenda, the No. 1 thing, is determining the economic development what do we need to do, what can we do, to put together the plan for economic revitalization of the state. But in doing so, you have nt a series of things that have to happen in advance. One is getting your staff put together: the governor's support staff, the chief of staff, my administrative assistant, who's going to be scheduling us, who's gojng to be working with the education people, policy, communications, all those kinds of positions, some of which have been announced. Getting people in place - that's really the key. You can't go to battle unless you've got your squadron in place, so to speak." Local connection "Before I got into the campaign, there was virtually nobody talking about transportation anl in Utah County. It was not on anybody's plan. People knew there were problems, but nobody was doing anything about it. Now, for example, in talking about the budget, Gov. Huntsman says Let's make sure we don't forget Utah County. They've had some discussion and promises, but nothing has been done. Let's make sure that as we put together the budget that we make sure there's some ability to address Utah County's problems immediately. Everybody in the campaign, even Gov. Walker, was saying the No. 1 transportation problem we have in the state is in Utah County. Well, . the transportation situation didn't change overnight; everybody just became more aware of it." Continued on next page |
