The heat's on Leavitt

Industry loves Gov. Mike Leavitt. Always has.

And time and again, industry has opened up its collective pocketbook for the governor, now slated to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

If confirmed as the nation's top environmental cop, Leavitt would find himself policing many of the same companies who contributed generously to his campaigns.

In fact, over the past six years for which campaign records are available at the State Elections Office (1997 to 2002), Leavitt raised more than a half million dollars from companies that are regulated to a greater or lesser degree by the EPA, or regulated under authority granted by the EPA to the state.

That amounts to about one out of every eight campaign dollars.

Leavitt declined to comment Tuesday pending the outcome of Senate confirmation, his spokeswoman Natalie Gochnour said.

"The governor is still governor until the Senate acts to confirm, and until then he doesn't want to speak about EPA issues," she said. "There's campaign rules that we comply with, and full disclosure is something the governor has always done and it's important."

Utah has some of the most liberal campaign cash laws in the nation. Leavitt and any other candidate for state office can take as much money as desired from any entity, be it a person or company.

Taking money is part of the political game, and Leavitt has a long history of taking money from anyone. Leavitt's Western Republican PAC even accepted $10,000 from Enron just as the scandal-ridden company was going under, leaving investors holding the bag. While some other officeholders and political parties gave their Enron contributions back, Leavitt kept his.

Utah industries say they are excited Leavitt will head the EPA, primarily because of his ability to problem-solve through coalitions and consensus. But they also admit they aren't sure what to expect.

"I can't tell you what it means to our industry. I can't tell you because there is no history," said Don Olsen, spokesman for Utah-based Huntsman Chemical, one of the largest chemical companies in the world and the second-highest contributor to Leavitt's campaign with $83,500.

Leavitt and Jon Huntsman Sr. are fast friends, something that isn't likely to change with the new EPA appointment. But could it skew Leavitt's judgment on the litany of environmental issues facing chemical companies?