Leavitt, aides making mark on D.C.

LaVarr Webb: Who'd a ever thunk that a bunch of Utahns would be running the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?

Well, they are, led by EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, who left the relatively friendly confines of Utah to step into the buzz saw of a high-profile presidential Cabinet post during a turbulent election year.

By all accounts, the five Utahns who followed Leavitt to Washington are having a great time, excited to be in the thick of Washington politics and enjoying the energy of the nation's capital.

I caught up on the exploits of the Utah Six in a recent chat with Charlie Johnson, who is serving as interim EPA chief financial officer while awaiting a U.S. Senate confirmation vote (a confirmation being held up at the moment by Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., who is angry at the EPA). Johnson, who was Leavitt's first chief of staff and former chair of the State Board of Regents, was in Utah to be honored as administrator of the year by the BYU Institute of Public Management, a distinction well-deserved by a terrific guy.

Johnson said Leavitt is thriving as EPA administrator, has won over the EPA's professional staff, is keeping the White House happy and is juggling the intense political pressures as well as is possible.

As CFO, Johnson runs the finances of the $8 billion, 17,000-employee agency, but more importantly, he matches the finances with the agency's goals, coordinating a lot of the agency's strategic planning and results-oriented action plans.

Rich McKeown, another former Leavitt chief of staff, is senior counselor to the administrator. He has a flexible job, running Leavitt's special projects, pushing his top priorities, and executing the agency's long-range alert system, which is supposed to keep Leavitt apprised of what crucial issues are looming. McKeown was responsible for rolling out Leavitt's 500-day plan.

Natalie Gochnour, Leavitt's spokesperson when he was governor, is assistant administrator for the Office of Public Affairs. She runs the agency's PR operation, is in the middle of "messaging," but is not the agency spokesperson.

Alayne Peterson is still running Leavitt's schedule, like she did in Utah, except now she has a staff. Leavitt's schedule as EPA administrator is more complicated than it was as governor.

Allyson Bell, who raised money and managed events for Leavitt in Utah, is now director of advance. She makes sure Leavitt's travel and myriad events he attends go smoothly.