April 27, 2007

"...school safety clearly is something that is on a lot of people's minds. We had our first ever summit on the subject, and we're going to do it every year from here on..." -Gov Huntsman

KEN VERDOIA - KUED 7: Governor, thanks for joining us. Next week reports that a federal fact finding group led and including former Utah governor Michael Leavitt will be making their way around the nation, stopping at certain locations to discuss incidents of violence, what we might do as communities to respond in these very troubled settings. But it's still kind of a gray agenda that they possess. Can you shed any light on it?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, I think we're going to have a whole lot more light shed on it as soon as they're here. I received a call from Secretary Leavitt outlining in broad terms what they hope to do in a few cities across the country, and this being a natural one because of the recent Trolley Square tragedy. And that was getting public ed and higher ed and mental health and law enforcement together for a discussion about what has happened recently, particularly as it relates to Virginia Tech, and what we might all do together to ensure that we are better prepared. I suspect that Secretary Spellings and Secretary Leavitt will have an agenda that they'll want to talk about, and I hope it's consistent with what I spoke to our public educators about last week. We had our first ever summit on school safety, and this is critically important for all, most families, at least, in this state. I mean when I drop little Gracie off at Wasatch Elementary, which I don't get to do often enough, the recurring theme for me is, how safe is she in her school? The doors that just kind of freely go into the classrooms, allowing anyone to walk in. That's the way it's always been, and it would be nice to think that that's how it always can be. But school safety clearly is something that is on a lot of people's minds. We had our first ever summit on the subject, and we're going to do it every year from here on, but I'm also looking forward to hearing what Secretary Leavitt and Secretary Spellings have to say about the subject. I think it will be a very helpful discourse, and we'll make sure that the media are briefed in full after our discussion

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Governor, apparently Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was originally scheduled to join the two secretaries that you just referred to on this visit, but now he's not coming. Were you given a reason for him not visiting Utah on this mission?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Unless he's at an undisclosed location. I don't know what that might be a result of. Originally I thought that Secretary Leavitt was coming on his own. So I hadn't realized that they had a team that was put together until I read the news accounts. So I just don't know if he will be here, or if not, why not.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Would it be helpful to have the attorney general of the United States participate in those discussions?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I think it's most helpful to have some of our local leaders together to discuss this, because it is about our local decision makers. It's about our public education leaders, it's about higher ed leaders, it's about law enforcement. So to get the secretary of health and human services and the secretary of education, that's something that we, of course, wouldn't have expected anyway. So I consider that to be a bonus of sorts. But law enforcement also plays a very critical role, evidenced by the fact that we had our head of state public safety, Scott Duncan, who was at the education gathering. This has to be kind of an all hands on deck discussion.

BRYAN SCHOTT, KCPW: Have you invited any legislators to this meeting as well? Because they would obviously have to take some action at the state level in terms of gun violence in schools.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I suspect that legislators have been made aware of our meeting. Somebody in our office has made the invitations. I think Chris Kearl, who was doing education policy, has been responsible for the outreach. But I suspect we'll have some educators there, or some legislators.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: Last legislature you led a move to get some money for a ReAL stadium, and part of that seemed to be, at the time, that there would be a $7.5 million donation from ReAL to youth soccer in North Salt Lake city. Now the youth soccer people and the ReAL people are disagreeing over that money, and Mr. Checketts, the owner of ReAL, has sent a letter saying we need naming rights, we need control over parking, we control over concessions, we need land, we need a practice field. He wants a bunch of stuff that the youth backers can't give him. In your view, was the 7 and a half million dollars part of the deal you led, an integral part, and if that doesn't come through the rest of the deal's off? Or does the rest of the deal go ahead and the 7.5 million lives or dies maybe on its own?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I would say that the 7.5 is an integral part of the deal. In the inter local agreement that is being finalized. This is one of seven or eight key points, and it was one of the points that was agreed to early on between Rocky and ReAL.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: Will you insist that the money be paid up front, or that the money as the youth backers claim they need it or over time as the ReAL people evidently want to do it? The youth backers say, look we're doing a public bond, we can't give them too much or we lose our public bond status because it's private.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Right

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: Are you going to- - once it gets out of your hands then Sandy doesn't have either, they're not sure about the power and they don't have much incentive to beat up on ReAL for Salt Lake. Are you going to ensure that Salt Lake gets a good deal, or is it going to be sort of like what Checketts wants?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, first of all I'm not going to negotiate for Salt Lake. I think Rocky Anderson and his people are quite capable of doing that. And this is a Salt Lake issue, to be sure. Our responsibility is to make sure that the 7.5 is part of it, and that was clear from the very beginning. And so long as that is an implicit part, an explicit part, pardon me, of the understanding, then it's left to ReAL and Salt Lake to negotiate the terms.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: ReAL bought land, and they're going to sell it to the state, I guess the state's put up 15 million bucks. Deeply suspicious as I am

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Oh, come on, rod.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: I fear that ReAL may not have paid $15 million bucks. That ReAL may have paid less. And that there will be some money made here by the team on ReAL estate speculation. If that happens, is that legitimate, in your view, or is that something that you're going to take measures- - specifically, will the amount of money ReAL paid for the land be made public? Will that be a condition that you and your administration will insist upon?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Oh, yes, I think it ought to be made public. $35 million set aside for the deal, $20 million of which, again we've gone over this many, many times is for the parking structure, which was a fait accompli, it was a done deal before ReAL even came into the picture, which then left the $15 million for the land. Now, there will be appraisals done on the land, and there will be analyses and appraisals done on whatever improvements on that land, and then a very real value assigned to the land. And we're not looking for anyone to make money, just a straight deal on whatever the value of the land is, straight up.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: And we can expect to know what ReAL paid?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I suspect so. It's a transaction that is using public money, and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be a public number.

JOHN DALEY – KSL 5: Governor, are you troubled by this latest development, and does this say anything about the viability of the team? Are you concerned that their fortunes are maybe not as rosy as we may have been led to believe?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: You're talking about the team's performance, or

JOHN DALEY – KSL 5: No, no, no. I'm talking about this latest disagreement about the soccer complex, and that the, that it would seem that real is interested in monetizing parts of that deal, that at least the public wasn't aware of, that may have been part of discussions behind the scenes, but the public wasn't aware that that was part of the understanding.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I think the 7.5 has always been part of the understanding, with the negotiations between the city and ReAL then to follow. And that's where we are. And negotiations sometimes are difficult, they're contentious, but you get to the finish line eventually. But I don't think this signals that there's in any way a breakdown in the overall plan. Listen, it's a pretty straight up deal, and that is we're building a parking structure, we're buying the land, they have agreed then to do certain things in return for that, including the $7.5 million, and making so many tickets available to underserved youth, so on, so forth, and we would fully expect that all of those would be met. And then we would hope that Freddie Adu would score a lot of goals.

TOM JORDAN - METRO NEWS: Were you expecting, were you aware of this kind of, some sort of a hard ball approach on the soccer complex, back when you were working on the original deal? Were you expecting to have this kind of issue come up, and were you aware of it?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, any time you have negotiations that are part of a deal, and here you've got some sub negotiations dealing with the city and with Salt Lake City and ultimately with Sandy. Those are always difficult and complicated and yes, you always know that you're going to have snags and you're going to have disagreements, and you leave it up to mature people to work through them. And they either can deliver them or not.

BRYAN SCHOTT - KCPW: So what happens if Salt Lake City and ReAL can't come to an agreement over the seven and a half million? What if they hit an impasse? What is your role then?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, I don't want to speculate, I don't want to address a hypothetical. We'll let the duly designated people determine where this goes and kind of take it one step at a time. But I don't want to speculate about the future in that regard.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: The UEA appears to have enough, UEA and their allies, appear to have enough signatures to force a vote of the people on vouchers. You've indicated maybe February 5th as the date. And it is reported, I haven't actually heard you. I heard you on the first thing I heard you say this. The will of the people should prevail, and you used to be very strong, I think, on the will of the people, and your job was to facilitate once there were enough.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Right.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: It is reported that you've now said statements less strongly in favor of the will of the people. Some of the people suspect that the Republican establishment sort of wants to get around the will of the people. They don't view the will of the people as what they should do, but as rather a nuisance that they should get around. Are you moving more from the will of the people to the nuisance school?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, I ain't the Republican establishment, and I'm not trying to circumvent anything. And Lisa has written some good stories about this, and I think I've been very consistent from the beginning, and that is I am, in fact, a facilitator. As chief of state, I'm a facilitator once the 92,000 votes are certified, which will happen on the 30th, and there will be an announcement on the 30th, and we'll then know exactly where we stand. And that will then trigger, I think, a couple of things. Because the law is supposed to take effect on July 1st, I suspect you'll have those who are fighting for an injunction on the school board side. On the other side you'll probably have some who will sue to make it happen because it is the law of the land. And then I will determine when the vote takes place. That's one of my responsibilities. And I have talked about February 5th, which is our western primary date. Why? Because we're already spending $3.5 million to make that vote available. Otherwise we'd have to spend an additional $3.5 million to make this possible. So I think all would agree, just based on financial pragmatics, that February 5th is the date. And so I'm a facilitator in that regard. And if the people turn out on February 5th and vote in favor of it, then I will support that. I don't have a unilateral lever that I can then use, but I suspect, being in the middle of the legislative session, that some people are going to float legislation that might reverse that, and we'll address that at the appropriate time. ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: In the fall we'll have this vote pending and we'll have the law. Will the state be paying voucher money, or will the state wait until after the vote before they start paying voucher money?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I think the courts will probably settle that. The law of the land, which I have to support, would suggest that July 1st is when this law begins. The injunctions, of course, will be filed for, and we'll respect within the courts choose to do. But I think between April 30th and July 1st you're likely to see a couple of court cases that will then result in what we see through the summer months. ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: If the people, if there's enough signatures, if the people vote it down, as if I understand you, you say you will support ending vouchers.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Right.

DAM BAMMES, KUER-FM 90.1: Do you intend to campaign in favor of vouchers if this is on the ballot this fall?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I didn't lead the charge for vouchers. I'm not going to lead the charge against vouchers, but I will tell you what I've told you consistently, even though it's been regurgitated and written different ways. I am a facilitator, I will support the will of the people come February 5th. And whatever, then, follows in the legislative session, that is consistent with the will of the people. I would be inclined to support that.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Does that include vetoing a bill that might seek to clarify the existing legislation?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: It won't make it that far. It won't make it to my desk, would be my guess.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: Okay, now maybe, the attorney general, maybe the attorney general's right, and the people vote and it makes no difference. There was a legal, technical legal glitch, and therefore vouchers go ahead. Do you still think that if the people If there's enough signatures, if the people vote to end vouchers, ought But if that vote is legally nugatory, ought there then to be action taken for the will of the people?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well that will then be manifest during the legislative session. You're talking about ending 148, which is the target of what the school board is doing, and 174, living onward, which likely would be the case. But again, we're going to see court battles through the summer months that will clarify whether 148 or 174 is the overriding piece of legislation. But the vote by the people I think will be a signal loud and clear about vouchers, whether it's targeting 148, which in this case it is, or 174. And all I've said is, I now, even though I voted for vouchers, I signed the legislation, I now become a facilitator for the people. We're going to take it through April 30th, which is the next major event, and then July 1st, of course, is when it begins, and we'll see some lawsuits in the run up to that, filing for injunctions, I think, and then we go into February 5th and let the people speak

MATT CANHAM, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: The pro voucher group, parents for choice in education, had some TV ads recently that featured you in the TV ad.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I saw those.

MATT CANHAM, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Do you plan on participating in other advertisements about this as the campaign goes forward? Are you

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I didn't participate in those ads. They were clips that they took. So that was something they chose to do.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: Okay, now personally, I take it, you were for vouchers before, I take it you still are. You think this is a good bill, but if the people, but if you end up in the minority you'll respect the majority wishes, is that what I'm hearing? You think this is a If you were to say to people, I urge you to vote, then you urge them to vote to keep vouchers?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I campaigned on vouchers, I signed the legislation. Why? Because I think it's something, like Carson Smith, the legislation that I signed right after I took office, dealing with autistic kids, giving autistic, the parents of autistic kids choice. I think in the end this is likely to affect 1 percent of our school population. So we have 97 percent of our kids who go to public schools, as mine do, by the way. Even with a voucher in place I don't think you have more than 1 percent of the kids who would opt for a school choice option, which would take public education population down to 96 or maybe 95 percent of our student population, which is an overwhelming majority, obviously. In most states it's probably 88 to 89 percent because they have a large parochial school system in their state. So for me this isn't the end of the world, as many who have fought this battle for 10 and 12 years, make it out to be. Again, I've only been involved for a couple of years. But I guess I look at it with a fresh set of eye balls and a little more pragmatically. I'm not as caught up emotionally in the debate that has gone on for 12 years. I campaigned on it, I thought it would be a good addition to the options that, particularly kids who are in a disadvantaged position have, to find an educational opportunity that best matches their abilities to learn in the classroom.

DAN BAMMES, KUER-FM 90.1: Governor, the legislature's public utilities technology committee was hearing ideas last week about possibly prohibiting open access wireless computer networks in the state of Utah. There are some people who see them as an open channel to pornography available to kids. There are others, there's one consultant who I spoke to, who says that it would mean wireless networking would be dead in Utah if such a proposal were to pass prohibiting open wireless access, and he said it would hurt Utah's economy. Have you thought about this issue, and do you have a view on the subject?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I haven't thought much about it other than to say wireless is important for economic development. Wiring our state, in the sense that we're preparing for a more globalized environment in which all can compete on the Internet, whether it's direct wiring or whether it's wireless, will obviously need to be part of our economic environment so we can be a competitive state.

DAN BAMMES, KUER-FM 90.1: Do you see this as potentially hurting the state's reputation for being friendly to business?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, first of all we have to get to the end point, and I don't think we've arrived I don't think a decision's been made on this. It's been discussed, but we haven't reached an end point, at which time I'd be happy to offer an opinion on whether it's good or bad for economic development.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NEWS: Governor, you just, you've been in Canada this week. Anything substantive come from that?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Yes, we had ten very good companies representing life sciences here in the state, for which we are well known. We visited Toronto, which is the third largest life sciences center in North America. Of particular interest to me, not only networking and finding connections for the companies that were with us, all of whom I think had a very successful couple of days, was investigating at the university of Toronto the MARS program, M A R S, which is akin to our U star program. They're both very analogous in the sense that we're trying to take nascent intellectual property and move it into the marketplace as quickly as possible, to begin to commercialize and seed our industries of tomorrow, many of which will be tied to higher education. They're a few years ahead of us, and they've built the infrastructure, they fill it with incubator, so called, companies who are tied directly to the intellectual property coming out of the health sciences complex at university of Toronto. It's a little glimpse at where we're going, and so for us, and I had Jack Britain with me from the university, who is kind of the innovation czar on campus, Ganesh Patell, who was chair of U star, it was a very insightful opportunity to begin to see where U star will likely be if it's done right, and to form some collaborative links with another program that is like minded in the sense that they're trying to identify and create their industries of tomorrow.

ROD DECKER, KUTV 2 NEWS: Back to the Internet question. Utah has a lawsuit, I guess, pending, and another lawsuit in the offing maybe. The one is over a kid's register on pornography, or inappropriate stuff for kids, and the second one is, I guess there was a law passed in the last session which you signed saying that it limits the advertising, the ability to put up, you click on something and it limits their ability to put up additional advertising. I don't fully understand it. But Google's threatening to sue. Are we somehow, are we being Luddites here? Are we not, are we somehow fighting progress? Do you support the Utah position on both those other, on the kid's registry and on the limits on ads?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Let me just say on the latter, first of all, it's hard to say that we're Luddites when we are the hottest economy in the United States. And I don't say that with a bit of hyperbole. Just look at the lists that are being put out there when they look at our unemployment versus job growth, and the extent to which our economy is booming. So we're hardly Luddites in the area of economic development. On the second, which really gets to the heart and soul of creating a new registry for intellectual property, for key words, that would be done exclusively for our state. This is one of those things where you think it's a good idea, you don't quite know, and then it passes, and the debate continues, and you have to keep an open mind in terms of whether it's good or bad for the state. Now, for other jurisdictions that have done this kind of thing they have not a .com at the end but they have a .UK or a .Canada, to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. We don't have a .Utah, we're kind of all in this together as a country. So there could be some legal challenges, in fact I fully anticipate there could be some legal challenges. So I, for one, and I know some legislators are listening very, very carefully to what the Internet providers, the search engines, so called, are saying about this. And what it would mean in terms of the new construct that would be required for them to deliver content here in Utah. That's an issue, and it's an issue that will continue to be debated. An issue also, who is going to be the repository for the trademarks and the registering, and do you go outside, privatize it? Do you keep it within the Department of Commerce where it now sits and where I think it probably will for a while? These are issues that will be debated for the next little while. There might be a change in six months, I don't know. But I think we need to be open minded and fast enough on our feet to be able to recognize something that, in retrospect, might not have been in Utah's economic development interest. But this discussion will continue.

JOHN DALEY – KSL 5: Governor, at the energy summit just earlier this month you made the comment that dealing with climate change is imperative, I think was the word that you used. What are you prepared to do, or your administration, to do to try to address that?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, I've been seriously looking at caps, which I think will have to be part of our future. I know that not everybody agrees with that. But I've had discussions with, of all people, Governor Schwarzenegger, and others, about where we need to be in terms of policy makers. Industry isn't necessarily going to like the idea of caps, but somebody has to set the mark going forward. If we're going to reduce the carbon emissions, hundreds of billions of pounds of which need to be taken out of our system over the next 30 to 50 years. That debate must begin, and it must begin soon. And if it doesn't start with governors, I don't think it's going to be part of our landscape at all, because it ain't coming from Washington, that's for darn sure. So if governors don't press the envelope a little bit on caps, maybe even a cap and trade approach, I think we're going to continue just talking, and that, to me, is an unacceptable outcome. So this is something that I'm seriously looking at. We now emit about 70 million metric tons of carbon, half of which is sequestered just by forestation. But that number is growing, and it's growing a little bit more than the national average, probably consistent with our economic growth. But there are automobiles, and there is coal, and these are the biggest contributors, and they must be addressed.

KEN VERDOIA - KUED 7: Governor, on that note we are out of time. Thank you so much for joining us this month on the Governor's Monthly News Conference. Good evening.

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