Huntsman named about 100 volunteers to review state government, looking for both "talent" and waste. Teams will report back next month.
"I'm prepared to deal with whoever comes out of the election," Huntsman said Tuesday before Greg Curtis was elected House speaker and John Valentine was picked as Senate president. "I'll work with all comers." For the first time in 12 years, Utah government is about to be shaken up.
Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. has put together a group of about 100 volunteers - business leaders, politicians and a radio personality - to peek into every corner of Capitol Hill.
Huntsman even called his Democratic challenger, Scott Matheson Jr. - a "friend and colleague" - to include him in the process, but a specific role for Matheson has not yet been defined.
For the next month, 18 transition teams will evaluate personnel, priorities and efficiencies in each state department.
"Our intent here is simply to improve the function of government," Huntsman said. "There are lots of great people in state government. This is an exercise in identifying efficiencies in state government that will serve us well for the next 20 years. That's not to take anything away from the good work that [state employees] are doing."
Although the transition marks the end of the Leavitt-Walker era of state government, Huntsman has borrowed liberally from former Gov. Mike Leavitt's transition team model. Gov. Olene Walker retained all of Leavitt's appointees during her year in office.
"This is a chance to really dig deeply within state government simply because it hasn't been done since 1992," he said.
On Dec. 20, transition executive director Greg Hopkins will present Huntsman with an "executive summary" of recommendations - who stays and who goes, what services state government should provide and which departments need a makeover. At some point, some of the 570 appointed employees may be asked to resign and Huntsman will begin replacing them.
Throughout his campaign, Huntsman approached the governor's job as a businessman. He said Tuesday his customers are Utah residents.
"We want to look at the whole gamut of what we can do better so government will serve the people better," said Hopkins, an aide to Republican Sen. Bob Bennett.
Transition team volunteers - "from every walk of life" and political persuasion, Huntsman says - include the governor-elect's campaign donors and one-time political foes. Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller and former Sen. Jake Garn are honorary co-chairs of the transition advisory committee. Republican Salt Lake County mayoral candidate Ellis Ivory and Democrat Darcy Pignanelli, chief of staff to Murray Mayor Dan Snarr, will lead the team looking at the Administrative Services Department and State Human Resources office. Utah House speaker and gubernatorial candidate Marty Stephens is charged with looking for "best practices." JetBlue CEO and Founder Dave Neeleman and Overstock.com's Patrick Byrne will review state economic development. Gastronomy restaurant-chain owner Tom Guinney, a Huntsman campaign donor, and former KALL radio host Tom Barberi - whose mantra was "legalize adulthood in Utah" - will work on the team reviewing the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.
"That ought to tell you we're doing this in a pretty open-minded way," Huntsman said.
Utahns who want to apply for jobs or suggest ideas can log on to http://huntsmanteam.com.
