January 27, 2000

As I have thought through the last seven years, I think we've accomplished a great deal in the area of quality jobs. We have a state that's had a vibrant economy, we've generated and developed as a state over 250,000 new jobs.

Reporters (in order of appearance):

KEN VERDOIA, KUED
RAY FRIESS, KALL / K-NEWS
LUCINDA DILLON, DESERET NEWS
LISA ROCHE, DESERET NEWS
CHRIS VANOCUR, KTVX
JUDY FAYHS, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Transcript:

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, thanks for joining us this morning. You've requested some time for an announcement.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Over the course of the last several months, many of you have been asking about my future political plans. I indicated to you that over the holidays my family and I would be thinking this through, and I wanted to spend a moment and lead you through, today, the process that I've been going through and my conclusion.

The last over seven years, now, have been a remarkable time in my life, and a great time for the state. When I became governor I had five very specific goals. The first, I wanted to assure quality jobs in Utah; the second, to have quality education be a priority for our students; third, to assure the quality of life that we've come to enjoy here would be part of our legacy, not just our heritage; fourth, to assure that we have cared for the truly needy in our society, but fostered an atmosphere and an ethic of self-reliance; and last, to make government operate more efficiently.

As I have thought through the last seven years, I think we've accomplished a great deal in the area of quality jobs. We have a state that's had a vibrant economy, we've generated and developed as a state over 250,000 new jobs. That constitutes one in every four jobs that exists in the state today. They're not just more jobs, they're better jobs. A decade ago Utah was 21st in household income. Today we're 8th. We have had our household income, personal incomes have been going up, our people are making and earning more money, they're better jobs, they're jobs for the future. We've gone from an economy that was based on national defense and just natural resource industries, to a diversified economy that includes high-tech industries. We've been able to attract some of the most valued employers, literally, in the world in the last seven years. We've been seen as one of the best places in the country to start a business. Over and over we're seen as a favorable business climate. I think under about any circumstance you could say that the first goal is on track.

The second goal, quality education -- Our schools are making great progress. Our class sizes are lower, our teacher salaries are better, our test scores are going up in almost every area. We have technology being put at the fingertips of our children, our parents have more opportunities to have input into the schools. There's still lots to be done, but I think you could argue that our schools are better financed, our class sizes are smaller, we're making good progress, and I feel very good about, both on the higher and public education side, that we are moving toward quality education.

In the area of protecting our quality of life -- Transportation, we've made a huge investment over the course of the last seven years, and will continue. Nearly $4 billion of roads, a very optimistic statement about the future. We're planning open space, we're now working toward envisioning the next 20 years, we're on a planning cycle that I think people feel good about. Our air is cleaner, our water is cleaner, we're preserving, moving toward wilderness, we're accomplishing land swaps. This has been a very fruitful seven years with respect to our quality of life.

In the area of fostering an atmosphere of self-reliance while caring for the truly needy -- When I became governor there were 19,000 families that were on welfare. Today there's just under 7,000. Almost two-thirds reduction. We have made a complete renovation of the child welfare system to a system that was badly in need of renovation, to one that's being seen now as a candidate to be a national model. In addition to that, children's health care, when I became governor, again, there were tens of thousands of children who did not have health care, and now there is not a child in the state that doesn't have at least access to basic health care. Not all of them have it, but through the Chip Program and through Medicaid and expanding to the blind, aged, and disabled, by being able to make insurance reforms, we've made good progress there, as well. So there's lots to be, I think, satisfied with.

With respect to making government work better -- We have reduced taxes 29 times, a total of over a billion dollars. We've consolidated almost 38 different departments into the Department of Work Force Services. We've been seen as the best managed state in America by Financial World Magazine and by Governing Magazine. The world sees us as a model in many, many areas. So there's lots I feel good about, about the last seven years.

Many that I have consulted with have said to me, "Governor, when you look at the last seven years and what you've accomplished, it seems that you could withdraw from public life and have some satisfaction, and go back to the private sector or go on to some other public service." And yet, as I look to the future, I think of the opportunity of a new millennium, and I'm stunned by what I see in terms of opportunity.

There's so much that I'd still like to see: The transition between where we are with respect to our current condition and transforming into this information age; the digital state proposal I have to bring the Internet, high speed, high quality bandwidth into every household, or to give access to every household in the state; to be able to continue to prepare a work force that can transition into this process. That's a remarkably interesting challenge.

Rural Utah, I think, is such a profound economic opportunity and has so much to do in terms of planning for the future. The opportunity of the Olympics, to be able to showcase ourselves to the world, and to set ourselves apart. The whole area of international commerce and providing our businesses with an opportunity to bring their wares to the world. We've increased our international trade by 400 percent during the time that I've been governor, but we're just scratching the surface.

On education, that's clearly going to be the key. Investing more and expecting more, bringing a sense of accountability to our educational system is, I believe, the next step in higher education, being able to challenge the board of regents to reduce the time it takes to get a degree by 10 percent, to double the number of engineers that we have, and also to extend access into areas where we currently don't have it. That will be critical for our success in the next decade.

In the category of being able to take care of our environment, and of the land swap that I've now got negotiated that I'd like to finish up, the whole idea of finishing our roads. We've got lots of roads still to build, and water systems to prepare for, and an entire generation to prepare for. There's lots more to do. And I guess the bottom line that I've come to is that I don't think I've ever been better prepared for public service than I am right now, and there's still so much I'd like to do, at a time when I think the state's opportunities are just unlimited.

So I've concluded that I will seek a third term. I will be notifying the leaders of the Republican Party that I'll be seeking their nomination. This is not a time to launch a campaign. I do not intend to shift into a campaign mode. That will come later. I'm very much engaged right now in the legislature, I'm trying to prepare to meet my more immediate goals for the state. When the time comes I'll be ready, and I look forward to it, it will be a moment where I'll be able to lay an agenda, a vision for state, before the people of the state of Utah, and I hope that they'll continue to have confidence in my leadership.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, you've talked about the accomplishments, you've talked about the first tentative steps toward an agenda for the next four years. Many times executives are challenged on the issue of energy, enthusiasm for the job. Calvin Rampton raised questions about his own third term. We've seen mayors burn out in the middle of a third term. What leaves you confident that you still have the energy, the fire, to move forward into a third term of grueling labor for the state?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Because every morning when I wake up I look forward to going to work. I've never worked in an environment that is more stimulating to me personally, and more challenging and more rewarding. When I walk through the state capitol on a daily basis, I look at that building and I think what a blessing it is to be here, and what a privilege it is that the people have given me. I feel a deep sense of gratitude about this, and I would not do this if I did not feel that I could bring the same level of energy that I have the last seven years. Nor would I if I felt my family could not be nourished and well during this time. My family is doing very well, they support me in this decision, and I have too much respect for this job not to want to do it in the same energetic and devoted way that I have the last seven years.

RAY FRIESS, KALL / K-NEWS: Governor, in light of the way that the caucuses and primaries are going with your, and you've made no secret you support George W. Bush, if, in fact, he is elected, are you prepared to commit that you'll finish out your term as governor?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I would have every anticipation that I would do so. On two counts. One is, I can't think of a job I'd rather have, but more importantly, I don't think a new governor that had just been re-elected, the people would not understand the nature of that commitment. Now, you know in politics you never say never, but I don't, I would have every, I have every anticipation of serving the complete four years of my term.

LUCINDA DILLON: Have you talked to Governor Bush recently?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I haven't. It's been several weeks since I've actually spoken to him. I anticipate that I will in the next day or so. With Senator Hatch's withdrawal from the race, it makes it more comfortable for me to be, to increase my level of involvement to the extent that he would like me to. Prior to Orrin becoming a candidate I was doing a fair amount of writing and thinking about a number of subjects that he had interest in my views on, and I expect that that will likely continue.

LISA ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Governor, how much did the Olympics become a factor into your decision? I'm asking because, not only because new questions are being raised about you possibly knowing more than you have suggested in the past about the wrongdoing by the bid committee, but also because when all this did become public, one of the steps that you took as governor was to sit down with the leaders of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and tell them that there needed to be a change at the top. New people needed to be brought in. Any questions hanging over the leaders of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee would affect the success of the games. Did you take some of those things into consideration, to heart as you made your decision for a third term?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, a desire to make certain that the Olympics are concluded in the most positive and successful way possible did have a factor in my decision. I don't believe there's anyone better able to assure that than me.

Let me say that there is nothing new about any of the discussions of the last week. Nothing new. We're now at the point where we've been talking about the same subject now for nearly fourteen months. We're now talking about rumors upon, about rumors about rumors. Now, it's very understandable to me why, at this point in this process, people would be second guessing and trying to speculate about why I or lots of other people didn't connect up the dots in this puzzle. I wish we had; we didn't. But what cannot be speculated on, because it's just a matter of fact, and the record is clear, that every time I had any credible evidence of anything that was inappropriate, I acted, and aggressively moved to not just correct it, but to straighten it out and to move it forward.

The second point I would make -- I'm not sure that there could be pointed an example in contemporary either political or social history, where a community has been more forthcoming after having realized that there was wrongdoing, than has our community, and it was done at my instigation. I have insisted from the beginning that the, that the records be opened in terms of the ethics committee. Granted, that report is not perfect, but they did the best they could with the time they had and the tools they had, and the basic facts are on the table, and we have acted on them. I moved in, I corrected it the best that could be done, we got the facts on the table, we cleaned it up, and we put it back on track.

Now, it is time for me and for everyone else, I believe, to move forward. We have turned the past over to the Justice Department. And if anyone is implicated by the Justice Department, they need to get off the train, because the train's moving north. We need to put on the games, and we will. And I feel quite confident that we will put on a games that will be extraordinarily successful.

CHRIS VANOCUR, KTVX: Governor, if we can for a second, let's put aside the question "What did you know, what did others know," and maybe ask the question, "What should you have known?" I believe it's the 1995 SLOC budget specifically talks about scholarships, the name of the IOC children, or the children of IOC members, and even the dollar amounts that they received. I guess my question is, why didn't you or your Olympic advisors or your budget advisors catch that? What does that say about your competency and their competency?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Chris, people can speculate, and will, as to why a lot of people didn't connect up these disparate dots into some picture that would have allowed us to somehow avoid the pain that we all went through. I've said many times I wish I had, I wish others had, I wish we had avoided it. We didn't. But what can be said very clearly is that when we did become aware, we moved as rapidly as we could to completely disclose, to open it up, to fix it, and to move us forward on a positive track.

As I indicated before, I don't know a community that, once we understood that there was a problem, I directed that, the committee, and asked them and prodded them and suggested to them that they needed to open this up, I asked for the ethics committee to do it, we did exactly it that. We did the best we could, then to act on it, to clean it up, and to put it on a good track, and I think it's working. Our sponsors are with us, the world is now seeing our preparations moving forward. We have been successful in, I believe, putting the past in the hands of the Justice Department. If someone is implicated, if there's some level of new understanding we gain from that, then whoever it involves, they need to get off the train and deal with the Justice Department, and then we need to move forward, just as I believe we are today.

CHRIS VANOCUR, KTVX: But Governor, in response to Lisa's question a second ago, you said one of the factors in you deciding to run for re-election was that you might be the best person to oversee the Olympics. But the fact that you and your other people missed what was in the budget in 1995 about the scholarships and other things, doesn't that raise the question whether you are the best person?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, Chris, I think there's great disagreement on whether or not we had the information to make those judgments. It's easy for those looking back four years, now, saying, "You should have seen this, you should have seen that." -- I'm not going to speculate on that. What I am saying is that it's time for me to move forward, to leave the past in the hands of the Justice Department. We made the best decisions we could based on the information we had. There are those who are second guessing, or those who remember conversations that is no one else does. The ethics report raises this whole issue and lays it out, there's absolutely nothing new here. This information has been available for almost a year, now, and it seems to resurrect about every six months. And I understand that. If I were not in the place that I am, I suspect I'd be asking the same questions. There's nothing I can do about that.

What I can do is to say, every time, every time information came to me where I believed something inappropriate had occurred, I acted. And the record will show that. There have been three or four times, now, in the development of the games, where there were serious matters that I had to respond to. Now keep in mind that the job of the governor in the Olympics isn't to oversee the games. The job of a governor is -- at a 30,000 foot level -- to deal with the large picture. And to be able to, using some limited tools, provide leadership when it's absolutely necessary. And I think I've not only met that standard, I think I've done it well.

JUDY FAYHS, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: But Governor, what about -- You've had a few days to consider the idea of an independent ethics commission. Do you think, given the information that we now have about the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the scandal in the legislature, scandal in the state government, that you maybe should start pursuing that avenue? Proposing that?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, this is a really interesting idea. I've given some thought to this. This was raised the other day in a news conference. Who would appoint the ethics -- How would the limit of that body's responsibility be? It seems to me that it's very logical for the Olympics to have an ethics panel. They have one. The legislature really ought to have an ethics panel. They have one. Frankly, I think the media ought to have an ethics panel. And maybe you could have an ethics panel and decide what's ethical among yourselves, and I'm sure the public would be supportive of that. Who is it that's going to make these ethical judgments about other, about others? That's a process we're all engaged in.

I think that we all want to have ethics, we all want to operate in a world that has ethics. But I don't know that there's a mechanism in place to put some sort of all-knowing ethics panel who will make judgments on the ethics of others on every subject. We have courts for that, we have investigative bodies for that, we have all kinds of other mechanisms. But I'm having a little trouble getting my arms around this kind of thought of a huge, powerful ethics body that will pass judgment on -- We had an ethics panel for the Olympics, we have a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a former U.S. Attorney, three very distinguished people from the private sector. Those are -- those are distinguished people who have very difficult jobs, they did the pest possible job they could, and yet of course there are people who question whether they did it as well as they would like. But that's just the inexactness of a very complex area.

JUDY FAYHS, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: But Governor, it took a Swiss lawyer to remind Salt Lake City that what was happening with the Olympics was a bribe.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: But it happened...

JUDY FAYHS, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE:: Someone else saw it.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: But it happened, and we cleaned it up. Whatever the cause, whatever the method was, every time there's a problem that comes forward in a different way, sometimes it's the media, sometimes it's a public official, sometimes it's a private citizen, sometimes it's somebody from outside. Every one of these situations is somewhat different, but we live in a society where we have freedom and liberty and free press, and a democracy, and the system, you can't create a perfect circumstance, but we all strive to do better. I just am having a hard time seeing how this proposal solves all of those problems.

RAY FRIESS, KALL/K-NEWS: Governor, on Tuesday, you declined the opportunity to express support for Mr. Joklik, saying you needed time to think about it, and couldn't think about it with 13 microphones in front of you. You've now had almost 48 hours. Have you talked to anyone or had a chance to mull it over in light of the stories of what Mr. Joklik knew and when he knew it and didn't tell us?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Yes, I have, actually. I talked to Mr. Joklik I was asked a very complex question that had a lot of assumptions -- assumptions that are based on one person's differing opinion from another, and I said, "I need to reflect on that." I did not intend to impugn Mr. Joklik's integrity, because in dealing with me he's been straight up. And what I said earlier about the Olympics holds true of everyone. Frank Joklik has acted honorably with me, we have turned the past of the Olympics over to the Justice Department. If anybody is implicated -- I'm not referring to Mr. Joklik in particular, I'm talking about a general sweep -- if anybody is implicated they ought to get off the Olympic train. Because the train is moving to the future. And I believe that that would be true of anyone else, and I felt badly that it was interpreted that I didn't respect his integrity. I do. And I thought, frankly, that that interpretation was unfair.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: The Justice Department investigation which you have referred to now several times is a criminal investigation. Perhaps one of the challenges to Utah putting this truly behind them is the sense that we're not getting all of the answers beyond criminal conduct -- on issues of oversight, on issues of records disappearing, on issues of reputations being protected, of some of the more influential men and women of the state of Utah -- that somehow something is being held back. Not assuming criminal conduct, but assuming that the story isn't fully being laid out, as you maintain it has been laid out. How do you address that lingering suspicion?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, you know, we're at a point where you can't prove a negative. And we're now just responding to the same rumors that were there a year ago, again. I mean the discussion of the last couple of days, that was all covered in the ethics report.

LUCINDA DILLION, DESERET NEWS: What is this new wave about then?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: You've got me.

LUCINDA DILLON, DESERET NEWS: Does it have to do with the legislature? Is it political maneuvering? What has triggered this most recent wave of attention?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I'm not the best one for answer that question. I think the others in this room might. I just don't know. It seems to me that we are getting closer, I suspect, to the Justice Department being done. I think there's an anxiety about that. There may be some of all of the things you've talked about. There's nothing new here. This is the same discussion we've had for fourteen months. And again, I need to say I think this is probably part of a natural process that people go through. They speculate, we second guess, we try to look for a new angle on this. I just don't know.

But I will say that, what I said before, number one, every time I saw anything that I thought to be inappropriate, I responded. I don't know how the community could have been more forthcoming. And we need to move forward. We leave the past in the hands of the Justice Department and then move forward. And now, I said this over and over, and I guess I don't need to say it again and again, but --

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, we are short of time. We want to thank you for joining us this morning. This news conference taped on Thursday morning for Thursday night's presentation on KUED. Thanks for joining us, see you next month on The Governor's Monthly News Conference.

Recorded: January 27, 2000, 10:00 a.m. Eccles Broadcast Center
Broadcast: January 27, 2000, 7:00 p.m. KUED-Channel 7; and 11:30 p.m. on KULC-Channel 9.

 

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