Greene joins ticket with Karras

The political rehabilitation of former U.S. Rep. Enid Greene continued Saturday as Republican gubernatorial candidate Nolan Karras picked her to be his lieutenant governor running mate.

The announcement at the Salt Lake County GOP convention drew cheers from Republican loyalists, many of whom no doubt voted for Greene last August when she was elected state party vice chairwoman in the state GOP convention.

While Greene denies any orchestrated plan to move back into office, she has steadfastly become more and more politically involved the past several years.

Greene was praised by several Republicans Saturday, but they said Karras' pick is not without controversy.

Both Karras and Greene admit the media, Democrats and others will rehash Greene's political and personal meltdown in 1996 when she had to quit her 2nd Congressional District seat following a nationally reported scandal involving her ex-husband, Joe Waldholtz.

"I couldn't have picked a better person, a better running mate," said Karras, a former speaker of the Utah House and current chairman of the Board of Regents, which governs Utah's public colleges and universities.

Karras "sought me out," said Greene, 45. She didn't expect to get back into elective politics this year, she said. Greene will take a leave of absence from being the state party's vice chairwoman as long as she and Karras are in the governor's race.

Actually, she and Karras will know their election-season status in two weeks: The May 8 state GOP convention will winnow the field of eight gubernatorial candidates to two. Greene's name will appear on the June 22 state GOP primary ballot only if she and Karras emerge as candidates there.

In an interview after the surprise announcement to the 1,400 GOP county delegates, Greene said if anyone holds grudges or doesn't now understand what happened to her nine years ago, "they just don't want to see the truth."

The media and some people may be concerned now, said Karras, "but when people stop chewing" on the past, "we'll be fine" as a competitive governor/lieutenant ticket.

Several politically savvy Republicans at the convention said Karras' pick was smart — Greene may help him among party stalwarts in the state convention.

But should the Karras/Greene ticket make it out of the convention and into a primary, or out of a primary and into the general election, Greene's history may prove as much a detriment as a plus, several leading Republicans admitted.