From Deseret News archives:
Huntsman aide to resign
Chaffetz is planning a return to private sector
Huntsman said Neil Ashdown, the current deputy chief of staff, will replace Chaffetz.
Chaffetz is perhaps the first casualty of an administration that had little experience in state government when Huntsman took office last January.
Chaffetz, 38, said he may restart a sales and marketing firm Maxtera that he'd operated previously with his brother, or he may take a management position in private business.
Rumors of Chaffetz's departure started last week after Chaffetz interviewed with several top firms. Chaffetz said he decided to talk about it publicly this week.
There was no specific occurrence or incident that caused him to leave, Chaffetz said, except that he wants to earn more money and spend more time with his young family he has three children.
"As we all know, being chief of staff is a 365-day-a-year job," he said.
Chaffetz also took a bad spill from a ladder earlier this year, and rehabilitation on his injured heel is painful and lengthy, he said.
Huntsman spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi said: "From my understanding, both the governor and (Chaffetz) thought it was time for a change."
"The chief of staff always takes the first political bullet in any situation," said Roger Tew, a longtime state observer who has worked in the legislative and executive branches of state government and is now a lobbyist.
Other state watchers said there had been grumbling by some department heads that Chaffetz was excessively restricting access to Huntsman. Several department heads had reportedly gone to Huntsman and asked that they be allowed to report through Ashdown instead of Chaffetz.
But the job of chief of staff is always a tough one, with turnover coming every several years, several observers said.
"They can come and go fairly quickly," said LaVarr Webb, a top aide to former Gov. Mike Leavitt, now a lobbyist and political commentator who co-writes a column for the Deseret Morning News. "Jason is a good guy, a capable young man, although he was relatively inexperienced in state government and even politics."
Historically, new governors pick old hands as their first chiefs of staff to help guide them through the shoals.
Comments
- Fire damages Taylorsville home 3:25 p.m.
- Concert to benefit Ugandan children 3:22 p.m.
- Senate committee approves Voros 3:21 p.m.
- Mya tops fellow celebs 3:16 p.m.
- Stocks zigzag after rally 2:53 p.m.
- Placebo power behind cures 2:49 p.m.
- 'Suspect just shopping screenplay' 2:49 p.m.
- '08 loss 'learning experience' for TCU 2:47 p.m.
- AMA: repeal 'don't ask,don't tell' 2:46 p.m.
- Jackson's executors approved 2:43 p.m.
- Utah group finds homes for orphans
- Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
- Jazz blow big lead, hang on
- Senators want food tax restored
- Y. tight ends talented tandem
- Utes get extra motivation
- Alta's Ohai is Ms. Soccer 2009
- BYU soccer incident still popular
- Lobo land like home for BYU lineman
- Price injured; Miles has cast removed
- House passes health care bill
245 - TCU showdown has big implications
185 - Lobo suspended
184 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
155 - Senators want food tax restored
137 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
131 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
119 - No 'backlash' for pioneers, gays analogy
104 - RSL rallies to advance
103 - Utes pound winless Lobos
89
Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants nationwide will honor...
Meghan McCain, the daughter of former presidential candidate John...
what an awesome game, really the only one that we can reasonably win. The...
interesting | 1:56 p.m It's more than the "Tear down this wall"...
I guess I would call myself an American mutt. Born in American with a mix of...
Warm, cold, tepid, nothing you can do about it anyway. Short of eliminating...
Re: Not about the money. Other good reasons to want TCU to win 1. I...
It's embarrassing when you're 8-1 and ranked #16 ... and your fans have...
Isn't it somewhere by Scipio?
What fascinates me is the contrast between the tone taken by the DN writers...
interesting | 1:56 p.m. If your posting contains mis-representations it...
Yeah if Utah beats TCU then they would certainly lose enough skill and to...




You can be the first to comment on this story.