From Deseret News archives:

'An agent of change': Huntsman vows to move Utah forward

Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 10:12 a.m. MST

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Huntsman, who used the team's success as an example of something naysayers predicted would never happen, said he'll celebrate them as national champions in his first declaration, to be issued today.

Although he appeared calm throughout the ceremony, which included the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and prayers by President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Father Michael Kouremetis of the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral and Prophet Elias Church, Huntsman confessed to a sleepless night.

He even recalled having a nightmare in which he "screwed up the swearing-in portion. . . . I flubbed it up and everyone stood up and laughed at me and then they walked out. It was one of those terrible nightmares. I was fretting all night about the swearing-in portion."

Huntsman's father, billionaire philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., said he teared up while watching his son from a balcony above the stage.

"He's an incredibly gifted leader," the elder Huntsman said. "I was very proud of him."

The governor's first official act Monday was to order that flags be flown at half-staff through Friday as requested by President Bush, to honor the victims of the earthquakes and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.

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Huntsman served as U.S. ambassador to Singapore and worked on trade issues for the U.S. government in the region. Officials from the countries affected by the disaster had been invited to the inauguration, but only representatives of the Taiwanese and Chinese governments attended.

Many of those attending Monday's ceremony also will be dressing up Thursday night at a fund-raising banquet Huntsman is giving in the Salt Palace. The $250-a-plate "Inaugural Dinner" was originally planned for the Union Pacific Depot, but so many people responded it had to be moved to a larger location.

Jason Chaffetz, Huntsman's chief of staff, said 600 people are coming, raising around $150,000. Chaffetz said $10,000 of that will go to help south Asia disaster victims, $10,000 will go to Utah public schools and the rest will go toward paying off a $650,000 debt left over from Huntsman's gubernatorial campaign and other "special projects for the governor."

Contributing: Bob Bernick Jr.; E-mail: lisa@desnews.com