Show Leavitt Now Serving One of Our Nations Largest Public Institutions Chris Contributing Writer Former Utah Governor Michael O. O Leavitt was sworn in as the Secretary of the Department for Health and Human Services on Jan 26 2005 To this he has brought three legendary goals to guide him in public service to leave things better than he found them to plant seeds for the next generation and to give it his all Just as he did here in Utah before moving onto head the US U.S. Environmental Protection Agency when he left us with the ghost like remains of his Legacy Highway Project in Farmington As of March 2 2005 the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement regarding that project has been released and is now under review By Mid-Fall Mid the Utah Department of Transportation expects to receive authorization authorization authorization autho autho- from the Federal Government to proceed with construction Let us not also forget Whirling Fish Disease which was wholly introduced into our local ecosystem by the Family of then Governor Leavitt Prior to this mishap Utah's fish population had considered considered considered con con- disease free Whirling Fish Disease was mainly a concern for aquarium fish where certain bacterium may grow though the nature of its growth potential extended it to hatch hatch- eries The Leavitt family has since gotten gotten gotten got got- ten out of the business In his tenure as Administrator of the theU U UiS Us S. S Environmental Protection Agency Gov Leavitt laid claim to such positive actions as the th Clean Air Diesel Rule implemented new protective more-protective air quality standards for ozone and fine particle pollution and organized a regional collaboration of national significance significance sig sig- significance to clean and protect the Great S Ti o oen m en Q rn N rno o J Q Mike Leavitt accepts the nomination of Secretary of The Department for Health and human services Lakes in the Northern Mid Less is known about his negative actions or inactions like allowing a stop to the investigating of Clean Air Act violations at seven of the nine Chicago power plants An audit later discovered that one plant actually increased nitrogen nitrogen nitrogen nitro nitro- gen oxide ozone emissions by 74 percent percent percent per per- cent or tons per year between 1990 and 1999 His inaction was precursor precursor precursor pre pre- cursor to his loosening restrictions on emissions of cyanide from Coal Burning Power Plants in 2003 Coincidently Chicago rests on on the shore of Lake L ke Michigan one one of the three Great Lakes Lake's in the Mid The same great lakes lake's he intended to clean and protect The EPA though only has limited oversight in any states state's plans and lacks rules requiring states demonstrate demonstrate demonstrate demon demon- strate or share documentation for enforcement Now as he begins his next chapter in life as Servant to the People we must individually ask of ourselves am I ready to bear witness to the Leavitt-iza- Leavitt tion of the largest of our national public v i. i r See fi r 3 a b d continued on page 9 Leavitt Cont Cant from page 7 institutions One of every four of our tax dollars goes to funding the Department of Health and Human Services or Of the more than programs administered by the Medicare and Financial Assistance for low-income low families are the themore themore themore more well known The Food and Drug Administration FDA is also a program of the as is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention What many key in on though is certainly the Financial Assistance Program more commonly know as Welfare that many blame for the nations monetary monetary monetary mone mone- tary woes As such in 1996 the Welfare Reform Act was passed which among other things limited the time a person person person per per- son may receive benefits to five years It also limited the receiving receiving receiving time a Single-Parent Single ing benefits may attend a Vocational Program in the given time frame to help them become self On March 21 2005 though that time limit was reduced from one year of vocational training allowed for every two years on assistance to just four months for those same two years That cuts the time allowed in half for a person enrolled over the full course of 5 years This much reflects a stance made by Leavitt in 2001 where he traded issues with Janalee Tobias of the Independent American Party and again later that year when he claimed that Mothers Mother's belong at home I |