The Big Gears of Legacy

Volumes two, three, and four of this history cover the period during which I served as the governor of Utah. Volume II, titled Real and Right, recounts details of how I approached the job. Volume IV, In Service as a Family, captures what the experience of our service was like for our family. This volume, A Sacred Trust, focuses on eight matters which I believe have had a special and enduring impact. I call these topics “big gears of change.” The phrase “big gears of change” is drawn from a metaphor I originated that depicts activities that produce cascading consequences. Here’s the back story:

The Utah Governor’s Residence is located at 603 East South Temple Street in Salt Lake City. When our family took up residency there, a large, complex, grandfather clock stood in the Grand Hallway on the main floor. Soon after we moved in, a repairman came to fix the clock. He took the time to explain to our daughter, Anne Marie, how a labyrinth of gears ranging from small ones the size of a dime to large ones the breadth of a bike sprocket moved the hands of the clock.

“See if you can move the little gears with your fingers,” the repairman said.

“They are all stuck together. I can’t move them,” Anne Marie reported.

“Move the big gear,” he advised. “See what happens.”

Anne Marie grabbed the largest of the gears with both hands and turned it back and forth. “Look, all the little gears spin too,” she shouted excitedly.

Public service had acquainted me with the complexities of society and the difficulty of breaking through the gridlock formed by various political and financial interests. I came to realize this parable of the big gear as profoundly important. I learned to concentrate on finding big gear activities, actions that create leveraged action on many fronts, rather than focus on small activities.

This volume focuses on eight big gears. On each of these matters, I invested significant portions of my time and political capital to bring change. I chose these eight topics because each had an impact that has radiated for more than twenty-five years. We succeeded in most but failed at a few. The eight big gears discussed here are:

The Olympics

In chapter 18 I convey my perspective and experiences in undertaking the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. The 2002 Olympics changed Utah’s place in the world.

Federalism

Chapter 19 deals with my efforts to reinvigorate federalism in the United States. My initial aim was a rebalancing of how states and the federal government share influence. We succeeded in a historic change in how programs aimed at assisting families in economic hardship are administered in the United States.

Highway Building

Chapter 20 tells the story of how the biggest highway construction project in Utah’s history protected our state’s quality of life and reshaped how highways are built across the United States. It also illustrates how we used the momentum of this project to deal with the challenges of accelerating growth in Utah’s population.

Western Governors University

My perspective and insight on the formation and history of Western Governors University is contained in chapter 21. Now more than twenty-five years since its founding, WGU is a success story beyond what I had capacity to envision.

Sale Tax Collection on E-commerce

Chapter 22 contains the rather arcane history of sales tax collection on internet sales. It recounts a rather painful period of my service history as I led efforts standing in the way of technology giants and political powers in my own party as they tried to permanently create an unfair and unlevel playing field in sales tax collection.

A Technology Capital

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Utah and the rest of the world experienced the widespread adoption of the computer, internet, and digitization. We aspired for Utah to become a beachhead of technology leadership. Chapter 24 recounts an orchestrated effort to educate more engineers to attract technology jobs in Utah. This effort, and its subsequent success, is credited as the underpinning of Utah’s current economy.

Public Lands

Chapter 25 tells the story of my successes and failures in working to resolve conflicts between the federal government, state government and local governments over public land uses. A primary focus is the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, and the subsequent state-federal land swap of school trust lands within the monument—one of the largest land transactions in U.S. history. It also will include my perspective on long-running fights over wilderness designations and rural roads.

Public Education

Introducing charter schools, technology, and competency measurement into Utah public schools are the big gears discussed in Chapter 26. It also recounts the creation of the Utah College of Applied Technology.

The final chapter of this volume recounts the circumstances surrounding my resignation as governor in order to join the Cabinet of President George W. Bush. This brought an end to one era of service and the beginning of another.