July 30, 2003

I believe in time that those athletes will meet on different fields. They'll meet on the fields of economics and culture and art. Their relationships will grow and develop and some decade from now a business deal will happen and it will be because someone, first of all, understood the Moscow culture.

Reporters (in order of appearance):

DAN BAMMES, KUER
TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS
PAUL FOY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
CRAIG HISLOP, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO
REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
AMY JOI BRYSON, DESERET MORNING NEWS

Transcript:

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, you've just recently returned from Moscow and the Utah-Moscow Summer Games or Moscow-Utah, to put it properly. Tell us about that experience and what you think that means for the future now. What precedent has been established and what effect will that have ongoing here in Utah.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I would suggest it may have been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had as Governor in that category. Mayor Luzhkov, while he was at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games said, "Michael," that's what he always calls me, "we need to have games." And he proposed that we bring 300 athletes or teams to participate to Moscow and that they would return in February of '04. So we arrived with nearly 500 athletes and parents and we were received in a grand way by the entire city of Moscow. They had banners and billboards and we had a news event and 17 cameras there, live television for two hours everyday, opening ceremonies with some 12,000 people. The events were well planned. It was a great reception. Powerful things came from it personally interpersonally in terms of relationships. But the people of Moscow know who Utah is now. They have known before because of the Olympics, but it's clear that there's a relationship. I believe in time that those athletes will meet on different fields. They'll meet on the fields of economics and culture and art. Their relationships will grow and develop and some decade from now a business deal will happen and it will be because someone, first of all, understood the Moscow culture -- or the Russian culture and become a friendship. These things are like crystals, they grow over time and given, and an opportunity and nurturing they become substantial and will provide economic, cultural and artistic benefit to not just those who have participated, but the entire community.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: Any specific economic benefits that you saw coming out of this, like trade relations?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Not short-term. I mean, I didn't come back with any contracts in my pocket. I did meet with a couple of businesses. The important thing is that when Utah businesses, who go in ways that are not even connected to these games, they'll find benefit. One -- actually, the sponsor of the Utah effort going over was Neways, which is a Utah company going fairly rapidly in Russia, and is a great Utah company. This could not have happened were it not for them and their generosity. I think their position will be improved. There will be lots of others as well.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: There's a little difference in political systems, though, where the Mayor of Moscow in a little more authoritarian way can bring the resources together to put a show like this on. Here in Utah you have to line people up and win their cooperation and support. It's a little more difficult to put the show on.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: We'll do it in our own way. And I think that when the Moscow team comes to Utah they will find themselves greeted in just as grand a style, but in a different way. My guess is that the students or the athletes will stay in Utah homes, for example. That will be a wonderful experience for the homes as well as for the athletes as well as for those who put them up. We'll have opening ceremonies that I think will be dignified and proud. We're going to do a good job on this and I think people from Moscow will know that they have been well received.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Do you intend to be Governor when this happens?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: It's February of '04, yes. (laughter)

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: Let me just ask you once more, and this gives us another chance to ask you why has it taken you so long to decide whether or not to run for a fourth term? A lot of other people are jumping in the race. What are the chances are you might end up working for the Bush campaign instead?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I mentioned actually two years ago as I began looking at the future that I would make a decision in the early fall or late summer of this year. I'm right on schedule with the decision time frame that I laid out. I'm in a deliberative process with my family right now and I anticipate that I will have a decision made on or before Labor Day.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, we have a related question from Craig Hislop at our microwave site in Logan. Craig?

MR. HISLOP: Governor, when Nolan Karras, a friend of yours politically and otherwise, made it known that he was going to run for Governor he made a statement that, "I've got to get in the race, the Governor has just waited too long." How do you react to that statement?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I learned a long time ago that if you're going to run for Governor, whether it's your first term or your fourth, you have to be willing to run against anyone and everyone who thinks they have a vision for the state. There's political agendas they want to follow, I respect that, and think that every one of the candidates needs to do what they think is best for them. I'm deliberating right now. I love being Governor. I've enjoyed it enormously. I think there are some great things that are happening and have happened and can happen, but I have an important decision to make for me and for my family, as I know that all of those who are considering running as well have.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: This week we are starting a new school year for students in year-round school and the teachers coming back and finding that they have, among other things, a lot of new requirements for testing and accountability that they need to deal with. But they're also finding that because of funding problems, there's a sixth grade class at Lone Peak Elementary in Sandy that has 37 students in it. And it begs the question, with imposing these new requirements for accountability are we going backwards in public education in Utah where the number of kids in the classroom keeps going up?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I fear we may see some slippage in our class sizes because we have been under such economic stress and we have substantial increases in our number of students who are enrolled. In my last State of the State, I think the State of the State before that and the one before that I spoke of this collision coming between our enrollments and our funding levels. I continue to be concerned about that. And I think as we get into the next legislative session we're just going to have to find that as the highest priority as it was in our last budget.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: On the issue of budget we're still short. Are you hopeful that the economic turnaround is going to come in time that you don't have to worry about I guess $7 million at this point but possibly more in the way of cuts?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: That's a constant worry for me right now. We monitor the cash receipts in the state on a ongoing regular basis. It's a big enterprise and so it's hard to get exactness, but we're month-to-month, week-to-week, we're doing all right. The federal money we got will be of great help and in being able to balance the budget both in '03 and in '04. I'm optimistic we'll balance it, but we could sure use an economic uptick and we're working hard to do all that can be done to prepare for that.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Governor, some economists are saying that the reduction in state spending is actually prolonging the national recession. Do you agree with that and do you think there's anything the State of Utah can do differently to emerge from this recession more quickly?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I do agree with that. I think that it has had a negative impact when you consider the fact that we are operating state government this year on fewer dollars -- not inflated dollars but fewer dollars in real terms than we did four years ago. We have 150,000 more people and 150 million fewer dollars, roughly. So it's a tough equation to make work. I think all of you may have seen the USA Today front page story that ranked all 50 states and indicated that Utah was not just tied for first, we were standing alone as the state they deemed to be best managed and the state they deemed to have handled this difficulty the best. And you can imagine if we're having as much trouble in Utah, and we're the best, how difficult it must be in places like California who was the worst. So while things are tough, we're doing as good a job as I think can be done to get through it. We're all waiting and anticipating and expecting that there will be an economic uptick and that we will be well positioned, and frankly grateful when it happens.

AMY JOI BRYSON, DESERET MORNING NEWS: But Governor, it's all fine and good to hope for an economic uptick, but what if it doesn't happen, and how much longer can these state agencies continue to operate under this kind of strain?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, there's a limit. Where it is we haven't discovered yet. But we're clearly bending at various places. It's happened before, but I feel confident that we're managing it as well as it can be managed. I feel confident the economy will return. If it doesn't, we will have to seek solutions in other ways.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Every interim day at the Legislature it seems like you have half a dozen people thinking that they need a special session to solve their particular problem, and they need it right away before next month. There are a couple of issues that could result in special sessions. One is the Workers Compensation Fund issue which may need to be resolved before November because of regulatory concerns in Idaho, and also the venture capture bill, H.B. 240. Those are two potential candidates for special sessions. Do you see yourself calling one here before the fall?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: There's not a specific plan to do it. I have indicated on both of those issues that I'm open to it. I need to have the advice and consultation of the legislative leadership. While the Governor calls the special session, it's the Legislature who ultimately has to act. And, therefore, if there's not a clear pattern for action or if they have not a desire to meet then there's no value in calling one.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: On the Workers Compensation Fund issue, though, do you see that moving toward a resolution? Some of the legislative leadership has kind of a different viewpoint on it than you.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I'm seeing a special session of the Legislature being less likely than I 10 saw it two or three months ago. I have joined with the other elected constitutional officers of the state indicating that we don't see the value to the system of Worker Compensation among employers or to the state in privatizing at this point.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: So you don't see any need to act before state regulators in Idaho start proceeding against the Workers Compensation Fund?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, it's our belief that the Workers Compensation Fund ought to be focused on its core mission, which is serving Utah employers. We don't want to have something that serves the state so well begin to focus in a way that makes it a regional company or a national company. We think it's a great tool, it's well managed, we ought to keep it focused on its core mission. I believe there are ways to resolve the issues in Idaho and in other states for our employers in Utah who have operations in those other states. I think that ought to be the second priority, but I don't believe we ought to make a priority using our resources to ensure Idaho, for example, or Oregon or California employers. There are other ways for that to happen. We ought not to be putting our own employment and Worker Compensation system at risk.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: I was down in your old hometown of Cedar City recently and we spoke to a number of people talking about the problem of the bark beetles, which I understand to be a crisis for much of the rural part of the state. Is there money available to deal with that? Is this something that the Healthy Forest Initiative would address or where are we headed with that, because that seems important at this point?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: It's a prime example of why I believe the President's position on healthy forests is a good one. The forests are dying and they would be advantaged by being thinned and having some renewal. Frankly, there's an industry, a timber industry that would be advantaged by meeting that need. So I'm hopeful that it will. One cannot help but understand and see that the lack of wisdom, in my mind, in not doing that, just to allow the trees to die without any kind of effort or using the resource just doesn't pass the test of common sense to me.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, we would like to go back to Logan for another question from Craig Hislop.

CRAIG HISLOP, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO: Governor, I think it was ten years ago the state budget, 18 percent of it was set aside for higher education, I think now the figure is 16 percent, and yet we've got a couple of universities doing good research work that is regarded as economic engines for this state. What can be done to strengthen appropriations for the two research institutions in the State of Utah?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Craig, let me at least question, I'm not sure I can be authoritative on the figure you used. Several years ago I set as an objective not allowing the percentage of our resource in higher ed to diminish, and at least for several years we've been able to maintain at least what we were doing before in terms of effort. As you're aware, I have also indicated that I would not support and have not supported dramatic cuts to higher education. We have held them essentially harmless during most of the budget cuts that we have made over the last two years. But there's more demand being placed on higher education. I can't say today that in the next budget session that I'm hopeful to direct substantial new resources to higher ed. I can't be optimistic about that until the economy returns. I do know, however, that we'll make it a funding priority, it's requiring the institutions to reprioritize, to use class space better, to use distance education better, to find the programs that are clearly priorities and funding those above those that aren't. I'm pleased to say that even during this difficult time we've seen a 35 percent increase in the number of students who are studying engineering and computer science and science. I'm pleased that we're able to increase the number of teachers that are being trained in those areas. All of those are focusing on priorities. So I can only tell you that we're all struggling through a difficult time and we're making higher education a priority. And as the USA Today survey indicated, we're doing it about as well as anyone in the country; in fact better than anyone in the country, and if we're having this much trouble I guess we can be grateful that we're not in other states.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, some rural school districts are particularly concerned about the fiscal impact of charter schools. Carbon County and Grand County are two examples where a district is small enough that a single charter school can make a really significant impact on their disposable revenue. What can be done to protect those schools from the impact of losing this revenue, or is that necessary?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, I support charter schools. I support them in urban, I support them anywhere they can be economically done. I'm not unaware nor insensitive to the needs or to the impact that they have, but one of the values of charter school is that it does create a set of choices for parents and for students. It does put pressure sometimes on schools, and I don't think that's an easy thing, but it's a good thing for people to feel the sense of market force that that brings. In some small towns that can be a problem, but it's saying something about the market, about what people are thinking and feeling. And I'm not one inclined to interfere with that market. Now, the school board will have to make that decision, the State School Board. They do a good job with it. We have an increasing number of charter schools, there's waiting lists. That must tell you something. These are public schools, they're public schools that have to operate with, in every case now, with less money than we give other public schools. So again, I'm very optimistic about the value that charter schools are bringing to our school system and over time we will see not only a growth in the number of charter schools but we'll see improvement in the public schools.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: Interior Secretary Gale Norton was here just recently discussing water again. What's your take on what she sees in the way of water for Utah's future? Are we in pretty good shape relative to the question of the west.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, we're at a fifth year drought and we're all feeling the impact of that. It's hardly normal, but it's beginning to feel more and more like normal because it's going on so long. There's no question that water in the west will become an increasingly difficult problem. As populations grow in areas in Nevada and California, the demands on the upper Colorado River will be more and more envied, and the water we have will be more and more envied and so we'll have to be protecting it in every way we possibly can. We have some long-term plans that I think will be a means by which we can use our allocation more effectively. I've long been in support of being able to market the water that we currently aren't using, but not selling it, and I think that there are ways in which we can contribute to the solutions downstream but at the same maintain what we have particularly of needs for in Southern Utah and along the Wasatch Front.

PAUL FOY, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Governor, last January I think your advisors and other economists suggested that the economy was going to turn around right about now in the middle of the summer. So where do we stand, do you think? How long -- you just told us you think the economy will return. How long now do you think it will take before it really picks up?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: We've been optimistic that we would begin to see positive numbers, and in some respects we are seeing an economy that is entirely positioned for recovery. Everything is pointing the right direction; productivity, interest rates, all of the inventories. Every indicator that you would look at to lead recovery is in place. Now, that historically means that they will occur, and I believe it will. We have budgeted on the fact that we would start to see a moderate recovery, and if we're right this will all work out well. If we're wrong, we'll likely have to come back and readjust again and figure out what to do. Again, I'll point out the fact that by every measure Utah has handled this better than any state in America independent of our own assessments. And so I'm pleased about that, but recognize that doesn't mean we're out of the woods and it doesn't mean that we're doing it easily.

AMY JOI BRYSON, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Governor, speaking of numbers and hot spots, what about fires? It seems like every news report you hear or read, half the state is on fire. I know that's an exaggeration, but what kind of contingency has the State of Utah planned for in terms of setting money aside to fight what may be even larger fires as the season comes ahead in a few months?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: We have a basic fire plan, and then if the plan is exceeded because of a bad fire year we have to go back and fund what we -- what occurred in the next year. We typically use what's known as a supplemental appropriation because we have no way of knowing year to year how much expense we will have in fire. The good news is we have not had the fires to date that we anticipated we might. We have lots of fires here and there, but they're 50 acre, 10 acre, 100 acre. We haven't had any of the 30, 40,000 acre, 50, 60,000 acre fires that, frankly, we're vulnerable to. We've had some moisture at the right moments. We've just been lucky. Or blessed maybe is a better term.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, if funding education is difficult, funding corrections is, you know, tougher. Utah's prison population grew from 3.4 percent in 2002, it's ahead of neighboring states who grew about 3 percent. And as you look down the road, how much of a concern is that to you and is that something the state can keep up with if corrections grows at that rate?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Let me say that I think the Department of Corrections have been virtual magicians in their ability to manage the prison population. They've done a great job in managing difficult circumstances and continued reduced budgets. It's a balancing. It's balancing between community safety and taxation. Thus far we've done a good job of being able to manage it and we've had good management. Mike Chabrias and his team at the Department of Corrections have done a great job. Where do we go from here? It's really quarter to quarter, in some cases month to month about how we manage these populations. Again, if we have an economic recovery and uptick, slight increased populations won't be a problem. If we don't, one thing we do know is that crime just gets worse. That's one of the interesting aspects in government. Back in my days as a business person when times got tough we cut back. We cut back because we had fewer customers. In government, when times get tough you get more customers, you get more people who commit crime, you get more people who go back to college, you get more people who are out of work and hence need public assistance. So there's a very difficult role -- there's a very difficult problem, but this is government's role, is to be there at times when there needs to be some flex in society to keep it operating. And I think we're doing a very good job and that the Department of Corrections may be among the best examples.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Sooner or later between corrections, higher education, public education, is there going to be enough pressure to force a tax increase?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I don't see it happening at this point. I think we're managing well, I'm grateful for that.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: What about the budget line? Are you happy with where CHIP is at this point? Children's Health Insurance is a stellar program. Are you happy that they can mostly get everybody signed up?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: May I suggest that's one area where I think other states can look at us and say that might be part of the difference in why we're so well managed right now because we opted to form our own CHIP program as opposed to simply putting everybody into Medicaid. And we did it in a way that did not require us to treat it as what's known as an entitlement. When we ran out of money we were able to say, we're going to have to draw more on charitable care because we're out of money, we can't enroll money. Well, we've been able to manage that system and we've been able to use that plus our primary healthcare network to literally increase the number of children that have been covered. I'm very pleased with that. And given the fact that we've been in these extraordinarily difficult financial times, I think the people of our state should be very proud of what's happened in the Health Department and among our hospital providers. One of the things that people don't know 21 is that the hospitals have stepped up with $10 million of charitable care for our primary care health network. That's literally hundreds, I think it's safe to say thousands of people have received benefit as a result of that.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Well, Representative Mascaro wrote an opinion piece in the Sunday Tribune suggesting if not a head tax, at least a voluntary contribution. He would like to see the state moving toward a direction where people with children in the system pay a larger share of the cost. Is that a possible direction that you would be receptive to?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: He proposed that at the last legislative session. It's among a number of different alternatives. If we ever get to the point in this state where the people believe and talk to their legislators that there's a need for more taxation, there will be lots of ideas and plans as to how to do it. We're not at that point yet.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: To wrap things up, what do you like best to eat in Russia? The food got some complaints. What did you like?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I was treated very well and had more Russian food put in front of me than I ever should have eaten. I did, by the way, drive by McDonald's and noticed there were long lines, and not all of them Utah athletes.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Okay. And managed somehow to get away without the Vodka which lubricates every social transaction.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: We didn't do much for the Vodka industry in Russia.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Did you have a lot of contact with the young people while you were there as well?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I did. These are great -- their athletes were extraordinary in the way they constructed themselves. They made us very proud and the state was well represented. The truth is the athletes did quite well. Our volleyball teams acquited themselves reasonably well, didn't win. The basketball team, the men's, in particular, should have won. They did win, in my mind, but it was just a controversial call. Our baseball team -- our girls soccer team, they were spectacular.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Thank you very much, Governor.

 

Return to home page