This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, now a leader in the movement to end gridlock and dysfunction in Washington, had a couple of interesting guests on his No Labels radio program Saturday: Newt Gingrich and Mike Lee.
Huntsman focused on how they work across party lines to get things done.
Gingrich did a good deal of that while House speaker in the 1990s (passing welfare reform, tax cuts and deficit reduction). Lee has more recently tried to stress his work with Democrats to try to curtail government surveillance of citizens and reform the federal minimum-mandatory sentencing schemes.
But the No Labels radio program on Sirius XM glossed over the two men's reputation as among the chief purveyors of polarization in Washington and architects of separate government shutdowns.
Political scientists Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein in a widely quoted 2012 book pointed to Gingrich as a key figure in unleashing the Frankenstein of political demonization that "destroyed whatever comity existed across party lines," drove moderates out of Congress and gave birth to the no-compromise tea-party movement.
Huntsman called Gingrich "probably the most important political mind of my generation," and an inspiration to many.
A recent Brigham Young University analysis tagged Lee as the most conservative and most extreme senator (furthest from party colleagues) in the Capitol.
Huntsman — who had been approached about challenging Lee but declined and recently signed on as his re-election campaign co-chairman — called the senator "one of the most promising, talented people in that body." And he signed off by urging Lee to "keep up the good work."
— Dan Harrie