Demos appoint King to lead them

Published: Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 12:14 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Utah House Democrats have elected a King to lead them, but not that kind of king.

With House Minority Leader Ralph Becker elected Salt Lake City mayor a week ago, Rep. Brad King, D-Price, current minority whip, was picked late Monday by House Democrats to be their new minority leader.

King, a vice president at the College of Eastern Utah in Price, first was elected to the House in 1996 and has been in House minority leadership in one position or another for years.

Becker has yet to resign his seat but is expected to do that sometime soon. He takes his mayoral office the first of the year.

In a slight shift to the left, the 20 House Democrats will have Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, as the minority whip, replacing King. Litvack had been the caucus manager. One of the more articulate progressives in the House, Litvack made a name for himself when he convinced enough House Republicans to pass his hate-crime bill several years ago, only to have the measure called back and killed later.

The Democratic caucus members kept Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, as assistant minority whip, and they picked Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake, to replace Litvack as caucus manager. Riesen, a former local TV anchorman, now a pitchman for a furniture store, was the voice behind several Democratic radio and TV ads the past several years, including Becker's mayoral ads.

Story continues below

King is considered a moderate-to-conservative Democrat. He is the only House Democrat elected outside the Wasatch Front.

Becker in recent years has criticized House Republicans more than King has done, but that may be because Becker was the leader, and King was looked to to take more accommodating stands with the two-thirds, and powerful, House majority.


E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

previousnext

Latest comments

Yes, times were different back then when we had real heroes.. like General...

We should somehow trade boozer and Ak and resign millsap

He was such a nice guy. He was easy to love and he loved easily. Is it really...

It's the reality, but NBA players are immensely overpaid.However, Millsap is...

None of these players are really "worth" it. If you have to pay it though...

In a public place the rules have to be the same for all people, but that is...

Dear Serious, I'm an "out-of state observer" too, but must in this case I...

the same after he got his knee hurt. Millsap is just as prone to injury as...

Convicted by the media. I hope not. Let's not call out the lynch mobs yet. ...

Utah makes most of its money on tourism, so you aren't helping any.

Advertisements