April 26, 2012

"...we have great demands on education, we’ve put $172 million into education of new money. And that takes a lot off the table as far as where do you prioritize your money?"
-Governor Herbert

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Good morning, everybody

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Good morning, Governor.

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Before we start, if I could just remind everybody, we have a great, what I think is a historical event taking place tomorrow, and you all have an opportunity to participate. We are pleased to call it the Rocky Mountain Roundtable. I’ll be joining with four governors in the intermountain west tomorrow at the mansion, talking about things that are germane to the intermountain west, things like public land, and the access that we have to our natural resources, and the challenge we have because of public land.

We will be talking about energy and the ability we have to contribute to energy sustainability for the United States and the role that the intermountain west should play. Talking about endangered species, wolves, sage grouse, those kind of things, water accessibility, and the need we have to have water conservation and develop other water sources. So the hope tomorrow is that we’ll start a dialogue which will help bring governors together.

As some of you know, I’m vice-chairman of the Western Governor’s Association, soon to be the chairman in July, of nineteen states in the west. This is kind of a subset, and we have unique challenges here in the intermountain west, and I hope that we’re going to be able to unite voices to help us maybe frame issues and policy better out of Washington, D.C. for smaller in population states, and we don’t have quite the political muscle.

I think uniting our voices will help us get better outcomes out of Washington, D.C. when it comes to policy affecting the west and the people who live here. So- -

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Are you hoping to have some sort of deliverables, or some sort of policy statement out of this that you can deliver?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I don’t want to presuppose what’s going to happen. This is going to be a free-flowing discussion tomorrow on issues that I think are important, but I’m inviting the other governors to bring issues to the table that they think are important.

I’ve mentioned, you know, the public lands, energy, natural resource, transportation, water, those things which I think are important to Utah, and I think are important to surrounding states also. But they might have some other issues. Immigration might even be a topic of discussion. I know the governor of Colorado thinks that’s something we ought to be talking more about at a state level, and governors ought to be having a stronger voice. So I don’t know what’s going to come out of it. It’s a beginning, it’s a discussion, it’s designed to bring us together and have more of a united voice here in the west on issues that pertain uniquely so to the west .

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Governor, you mentioned immigration just now. What’s your take on the Supreme Court deliberations? It looks like the court might be leaning toward allowing some of the things that are on hold in Utah’s law. And what will happen if the court rules in favor of the Arizona law here in Utah?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, I think if they find in favor of the Arizona law, that’s good news for Utah’s law. Because I think our law’s actually better. I think it has less of a constitutional challenge than the Arizona law. So I think that’s good news for us if they find in favor of Arizona. I think the discussion on immigration needs to continue. Clearly we have frustration at the state level because the federal government has not done what they need to do with immigration, whether it’s securing the borders, whether it’s having a naturalization policy that makes some sense, or dealing with those who are already kind of entrapped inside of our borders. What do we do? And so the hope is that the federal government will take up that responsibility. I think we’ll move forward here in Utah. I expect that we’ll probably have discussion on a stronger e-verify program at the upcoming legislative session. But I’m cautiously optimistic, with what I’ve heard, regarding the Arizona law.

JOSH LOFTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Governor, if the immigration law is upheld, Arizona’s law, would you be open to a stricter enforcement law in Utah? Utah’s current one is not quite as stringent as Arizona.

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I think the law we have on the books has been debated and deliberated very aggressively. I think it’s the law that we feel good about here in Utah, and I have no reason to think that there would be a change.

CHRIS VANOCUR, 4ABC: Governor, please bear with me, I promise this will get to a question.

GOVERNOR HERBERT: It’s only a half an hour program.

CHRIS VANOCUR, 4ABC: I’m going to try to keep it to 20 minutes. Earlier this week, a judge questioned the credibility of one of your UHP troopers, and then threw out one of her DUI arrests. Now, this is believed to be the fourth judge to challenge the credibility of this trooper. Also this trooper has been reprimanded twice, and is currently the subject of an internal UHP review, and finally, the state was also forced to pay $40,000 to settle a lawsuit with a man that this trooper tasered while he was sitting in his car. Let me ask you the same question we’re being asked by viewers, which is, should this trooper still be out on the streets?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, there’s a process in place that needs to be followed, and clearly, as you’ve set up the question, with inappropriate it would seem like to me he ought to be on at least administrative leave while this process takes place. So that there’s not any question whether we have somebody out there that’s acting inappropriately. But I trust the process. We’ve got good processes in place in our state to protect the employee and the employee’s rights, as well as the department and the taxpayers. So I need to let this play out. Employee issues, disciplinary issues, are handled at the division level, not by me, and we have a process in place through our HR department which will give us I think an appropriate outcome.

REPORTER: Has this been on your radar screen at all?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Just briefly. You know, again, we have 22,000 employees out there, it’s hard for me to monitor them all. I trust my department heads, my cabinet leaders, my division heads, and I trust the HR department. And again, process is important, we have a good process that will again protect the rights of the employee, protect the rights of the department, and how they administer, and protect the rights of the taxpayer.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: But there’s been a series of black eyes that have been inflicted on the state, not only at UHP, but the department of transportation, their handling of a staff member, and the loss of security, over three quarters of a million personal files associated with the Department of Health. All of these seem to indicate that we’ve got some gaps in the system, perhaps we’re not battening down the hatches as fully as we need to. Are we being as thorough as we need to in Utah in honoring the use of the taxpayer’s dollar?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I believe we’re doing a great job of managing the taxpayer’s dollars, and by all accounts people outside of us that are independent, giving independent analysis, believe we are doing that. But I’m here to tell you, we have 22,000 employees-plus. That’s a lot of people. And we have very few problems with any of them. They’re doing a great job. They’re doing a lot of good work for the people of Utah, doing more with less. In fact our 22,000 employees is the smaller number, you have to go back to the year 2000 to find a smaller number than that, and at the same time we’ve had 600,000 new people call Utah home. So we are very efficient and effective when it comes to delivering services. But problems occur. We deal with challenges each and every day. If you don’t like challenges in life, don’t be governor, I can tell you that. Because there’s issues that come up each and every day that we have to deal with. And we can’t stop problems from occurring, but we can take corrective action to make sure that they don’t occur again, and we make sure that we’re better as we go down the road in managing the taxpayers’ dollars. And I think that’s happening in every instance.

CHRIS VANOCUR, 4ABC: Would you agree with the statement that ultimately the buck stops with you?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Absolutely. It does stop with me. And again, I’m not a micromanager. The buck stops with making sure I’ve got good cabinet members and department heads and division leaders, and that translates out to getting good results out of our employees. Again, 22,000 strong. We’re doing really good work in this state. And I know it’s hard to emphasize how the good things are happening because it’s not quite as big a headline as opposed to when we have, you know, something that’s maybe not quite so good that’s occurring. But I certainly want to emphasize, with all the controversy going on, that we’ve got 22,000 good employees out there doing a great job, each and every day, in behalf of the taxpayers

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, you talk about doing more with less. You just appointed a new head of the state parks division, and they’re doing a lot more with, certainly with less. Their budget has shrunk from about $12 million to about $4 million. Are we starving the state parks, and can they do what they need to do with the resources they have?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: You know, I believe that we can with what we’ve put- - I’ve got about $6 million in the budget to take care of our state parks. Those are parks that we need to maintain and keep viable. I support that. Working with the department of natural resources and our parks people, they believe they can do that. Everybody’s trying to find better ways to do things, more efficient ways to do things, to get better bang for the buck. Again, it’s still a challenging time, in what is the second-fastest growing state in America. And so we have to run just to keep up. And the fact that we have great demands on education, we’ve put $172 million into education of new money. And that takes a lot off the table as far as where do you prioritize your money? And the legislature spends 45 days going through that process of what’s number one, what’s number, you know, 100, in prioritization of money. And we’ve been able to put money in the state parks, which I think will keep them viable. So I’m comfortable with that. Can we do more? Yeah. That’s why emphasize growing the economy. Because that’s how you get more money to put into whatever you prioritize your needs to be.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Are you going to close any state parks?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: No.

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Do you think some of those parks will maybe be privatized? Is that something that you- -

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Privatization of state parks, I think, is on the table. There are some areas that could be looked at to privatize, and I think that’s something that will be explored. Sometimes you have parks, like Edge of the Cedars, which is really probably not a profit center, and we would have to pay somebody to do something, just like we’re paying employees now to do it. It’s a place, a repository of historical artifacts, it has to have a special climate, there’s an expense involved there. That may not be conducive to privatization. Other parks, you know, whether it’s up at Bear Lake, and the launch park up there at Bear Lake Park, to launch the boats, maybe that somebody could take over as a concession, and, in fact, manage that with a contract with a private source. So I think those things are certainly should be looked at. I don’t see a lot of privatization, but it’s something that ought to be on the table.

JOHN DALEY, KSL5: Governor, as you know, an administrative law judge found that UDOT had wrongfully terminated an employee. Should she be compensated for both back pay and legal fees? And did UDOT make a mistake in firing her?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: You know, just a little historical context, which I know you probably all know, we ordered an audit, an independent audit to be done of udot and what had taken place in the bid process on the I-15 core. In that bid process, it came out that there were some areas of recommendation to improve with the UDOT bid process. Those are being tried to be implemented and I think are being implemented now. We also took away their ability for settlement, which they’d had for 26 years. But one of the things that came out in the audit was that there was a leak, and the civil rights manager was named as the source of that leak. So out of the audit’s where this came up. And as the response to the audit UDOT took steps for disciplinary action. That being the case, the hearing officer said they’d over-reacted and ordered the job back. That’s why we have a process. Again, I cannot over-emphasize how important process is, and we have a process I feel comfortable with. It does protect the rights of the employee, and this is a good example of that taking place. It also makes sure that the department is protected, and things are done appropriately so there also, and will give us a good outcome that protects the interests of the taxpayer. That process is under way, and I expect that the process will, in fact, find a resolution that will be acceptable to everybody. Now, I’ll just mention, I’ve directed Jeff Herring, who’s the director of our Human Resource Department, to, in fact, oversee this process to make sure we get to a resolution, here. That the process is followed exactly and precisely. And I believe if that happens we’ll end up having a result that everybody can feel good about.

MAX ROTH, FOX13: Governor, were it not for leaks, it seems like we wouldn’t know about two, you know, extraordinary situations. You know, this situation of this letter that went to Denise Graham suggesting that she do something political before she receive money, that apparently UDOT agrees is due her. And so why, first of all, why is a leak a bad thing in that situation, and second of all, how is John Njord being held accountable after a couple of situations where clearly he seems to have overstepped his authority, or at least not put you into the loop of serious situations?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, leaks, I guess good or bad, depending on I guess the purpose of the leak, when you have confidential discussions, you know, leaks shouldn’t occur, that’s the agreement we make amongst ourselves. That’s to have discussion and throw out ideas, and we agree to keep it confidential. If that doesn’t happen then I think that betrays trust. That being said, that’s why we have a process in place that allows people to have negotiations and discussion, and get to a proper and appropriate result. That’s what should happen. The interjection of politics is not appropriate in this, and we know that people are trying to interject politics, and it shouldn’t be on either side of the political aisle, this to be politicized. This should be decided on the facts, on the policy and the process, and if we do that we’ll get a positive result and the taxpayers will be served well. If we interject politics in it, we may not get the right result and it will be probably a distortion of what should, in fact, be understood.

ROD DECKER, KUTV2: Ms. Graham says that she’s spent $50,000 in legal fees. She’s headed back to the career service review board. They, the legislature’s taken away their ability to award legal fees. Maybe the department acted, after their settlement’s gone, maybe they can’t do it. Is there, can something be done on legal fees short of her going to court and running up another $50,000?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I believe the process will allow that, and the negotiations are ongoing. The process will have to be negotiated out. And that’s what should happen. And extraneous information and politics doesn’t help the situation, and so I would just let the policy process take place, they can negotiate the settlement. I know the hearing officer did not require back wages, but that seems to be on the table, and I think that process will provide a satisfactory result for all parties.

ROD DECKER, KUTV2: In your view, can the department of transportation negotiate legal fees, if that’s what they want to do? Do you believe they have that power?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I believe they will have that ability.

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Could you address the second part of max’s question, about how John Njord is being held accountable, given the missteps, I guess, at the department?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: John Njord is an extraordinary individual, probably one of the best in America when it comes to construction of roads. He’s done a great job. We have 200 projects in the state right now under construction. The I-15 corridor is a great example of one of the largest, if not the largest construction project in the nation that’s coming in on budget and under time. The project will be one of the great examples of construction in America. He has 1600 employees. He’s only having a problem with one of them. So again, I’m not going to presuppose the process, let the process play out and make evaluations at the appropriate time. But John Njord knows how to build roads, he’s done a great job on behalf of the taxpayers here in Utah.

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: He has your confidence going forward?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: He has my confidence, he’s a great builder of roads.

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Without reservation at all?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: He’s one of the best in America when it comes to road construction. We are getting- - This billion-dollar I-15 construction is the largest construction project for the least amount of cost, and again, I happen to live in Utah County so I go through that congestion all the time. And they’re going to be doing it a year and a half shorter time than other bids, there’s minimal inconvenience, there’s not been any displacement of task out into the communities. The design they’ve got is going to be an excellent one that will serve us for a generation to come. So again, when you look at the work product, he’s produced very well.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: But governor, you yourself said you had concerns about politics being interjected into this process. It’s John Njord that interjected them in this case. Have you talked to him about this? Have you addressed that issue with him? You say he has your confidence going forward but you raised the issue yourself.

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I talked with him yesterday. And he, in fact, made a mistake in interjecting politics. He wanted to depoliticize it, was his intent, and all he did was politicize it more. So that’s wrong. I don’t defend the indefensible, Here, but it’s being politicized by others. I know it and you know it. And we know that it’s a political year, and politics are a part of the environment we live in. If somebody jay walks and crosses against the light on South Temple, I expect Jim Dabakis will call a press conference and want to know how come I didn’t prevent that, what am I going to do to prevent it in the future? That’s the atmosphere we have this year, in a political year. I know it, and you know it.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Well has Njord been disciplined for this in any way? Has there been any kind of action taken against him?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: The process will go forward and we’ll evaluate things in the future, and decide what needs to take place, if anything. He already knows my displeasure. Again, keep in mind, if they’re having confidential discussion, that when my staff person found out that they’d put this on the table, we immediately said, “Hey, this is not appropriate.” And he withdrew it. That was withdrawn. Again, the mistake had already been made but it was taken off the table and didn’t surface until later it was politicized.

JOHN DALEY, KSL5: At the heart of this whole Graham case is, in part, the discussion she had with an employee, the road builder, who contacted her and wanted to know, there was a lot of word on the street about who had won. It was Wadsworth, someone with Wadsworth that had contacted her. Did anybody from Wadsworth ever contact your office at that time and ask about, you know, what happened with that contract?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: No. Again, that’s part of why we have a process, that’s why we called for an independent audit. You can all read the independent audit and see what the recommendations they made. I think they’re good ones as far as confidentiality and subjectivity on the bid process. We need to tighten it up. It’s a design-build project, which is different than a low-bid project. The audit, I think, gave us a good pathway forward. We’ve made some corrections there, I think we’ll make it better in the future. Again, the facts of what’s taken place with Denise Graham will play out through this process, and we need to let it play out. And based on the facts and the information we have, we’ll get a good outcome. We’ll get a positive result and everybody should feel satisfactory about, and I expect that’s going to take place.

JOHN DALEY, KSL5: And your office never went, circled back to UDOT and said, “Hey, take another look at this”? After the original, when there were rumors about who had won and who hadn’t won?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: We’ve let the process go forward. I called for the independent audit, that’s been done. Those recommendations are there. They’re public record. And we move forward. We changed the process, by executive order, for settlement. So that there could be no settlement without review of the executive branch and the legislative branch and the legislature in the upcoming session codified that. It had been on the books for 26 years, giving them independence, the UDOT department, on settlements. Again, probably wasn’t a big deal until we started getting these bigger road projects where the settlements are much larger. So that’s all been, I think, corrected, and I believe in a better way. And so I feel very comfortable of the process we have going forward today, which serves the taxpayers, as well.

JESSICA GALE, KCPW: Sorry, governor. We’re looking at an interesting race between Senator Hatch and Dan Liljenquist. Do you support Orrin Hatch?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: You know, some of my friends support Orrin Hatch, and some of my friends support Dan Liljenquist. And I support my friends. I think they’re both good people. I’ve known Senator Hatch for a long time, and he’s served our state extremely well. He’s the personification of a workaholic. Dan Liljenquist, I worked with when he was in the state senate on Medicaid reform and pension reform. We did some great things with his work in the state senate, helping our financial stability here on those two issues in the state of Utah. Better than probably most any state in America. And I think they’ve defined the issue well. It is about seniority. And whether you think seniority is an important thing for the state of Utah, and what it can do to help protect Utah’s interests and help us lead the way versus a new set of eyes and ears on a very talented guy. But I think they’re both very capable people, and it’s going to be a tough decision for the people in Utah.

REPORTER: Do you think seniority is important?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I think seniority is important because that’s how the game is played. You know, seniority does count. And whether you like it or not, some would like to change the idea of seniority, but in the senate particularly, seniority does count, and so it’s certainly something that ought to be considered.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: You came out of the republican convention avoiding a primary. Are you breathing a little easier now that perhaps the right wing of the Republican party isn’t quite as big a factor now in your race for re-election?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, it’s nice to have that behind me. Clearly the ability to avoid a primary allows me to concentrate on governing, number one, which is what I do most of my waking hours, and so that’s really where I prefer to have my focus, rather than on campaigning. But it allows me to kind of refocus, now, on the November campaign as opposed to a primary. So that gives me a luxury that I appreciate, and so I’m relieved to have it past me and move on to governing and November.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Governor, you got endorsed in a surprise way by Tea Party organizer David Kirkham at the convention. Many people think that may have been what put you over the top and allowed to avoid a primary. I know you and Kirkham are going to meet shortly. Is there going to be a role for him in your administration going forward?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: You know, there’s no plans for a role for David Kirkham. I guess we could open up a division of international sports cars or something like that. But there’s no plan for that. It’s not anything that was ever discussed. I was surprised with the endorsement. I’ve mentioned before we became friends on the campaign trail. I think both of us have a renewed respect and appreciation for what we stood for and where we were coming from. I think there was some misunderstanding before that. And I think David, as I told me, is that if it’s not going to be me as governor—David Kirkham speaking—that I think you’re the best guy for the job and that’s where he came down. I admire his courage in that regard, that’s probably not without some political capital being spent on his part with some of his Tea Party folks. But again, he’s a good, smart businessman, he’s done a lot of good things in creating economic opportunity here in the state of Utah, and he’s certainly got something to offer. So he’s not asked for anything, I’m not offering anything. I don’t know where we’d put him. But I certainly believe he should stay involved in politics.

CHRIS VANOCUR, 4ABC: If you win in November, will that be your four years and then you’re gone?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: You know, I’ve had that asked to me before, and I think it really jumps the gun, Chris, on deciding what you’re going to do that far out in advance. I still have to win in November, and that’s not going to be any walk-through. Peter Cooke’s a long-time friend of mine. I’ve worked with him in the military, and he’s a substantive candidate. So I don’t take him lightly at all. And so I’ve got to concentrate on, one, governing, and then running the elections here this fall, in November, and winning, then I can think about what the future will bring. But I cannot even conceive of thinking about it until 2015 whether you’d want to go on or say this is enough. I’ve got to take first things first and take it one day at a time.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor we’re at that delightfully awkward time where we don’t have enough time to engage in another substantive question, but enough time to fill at the end. And so I offer you this consideration. The Utah Jazz surprised many people by working their way into the playoffs this year. What do you think their prospects are for this first round of the playoffs?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: You know, I’m already excited the fact that they got to the playoffs. I told Greg Miller just the other day that they far exceeded my expectations, they’ve been a fun team to watch, they’ve been in every game. No blowouts and they’ve beat some really good teams. So I’m cautiously optimistic that they’re going to win some games in this first round.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: I will excuse myself now because I’ll receive the censure from my colleagues for taking you the sports direction, but that’s all the time we have for this issue of the news conference. A reminder that transcripts are available on line. Join us at KUED.org. Thank you.

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