Scott Matheson selects Hale as gubernatorial running mate

State Sen. Karen Hale is Democrat Scott Matheson Jr.'s lieutenant governor running mate.

Matheson, unopposed in his party in seeking the governor's seat once held by his late father, Scott M. Matheson, made the announcement Wednesday afternoon.

He admitted he decided to name Hale before Saturday's state Democratic convention, where she must be confirmed by delegates, because local media will be paying more attention Saturday to the highly contested races in the state Republican convention.

It's time for his campaign to be a little more visible, Matheson said from his Sugar House campaign headquarters.

Hale, 45, brings six years experience in the Utah Senate, where she is liked and, like all the minority Democrats, tolerated by the majority Republicans. She was also her party's lieutenant governor candidate in 2000, when former U.S. Rep. Bill Orton headed the Democratic gubernatorial ticket.

The Salt Lake City resident was rumored to be on the edge of resigning her Senate seat three years ago when a teenage daughter was killed in an ATV accident. She said Wednesday that the loss is "a hard challenge, with me every day." But, she added, she's actually working harder in her public service because of it.

"I've come to believe (that public service) is the best way to honor her life," Hale said.

Hale is a native Utahn. She and husband Jon are the parents of five children. She graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and at one time was the publisher and editor of Parent Express, a news magazine for Utah families, a news release said.

Both Matheson and Hale said their campaign over the next seven months will be education, education, education.

"We've discussed education, support for students and teachers, for six years," said Hale, who sits on the Senate Education Committee. "Enough talk. It's time to do something."

But when questioned, Matheson said he does not support a tax hike for education, nor does he support tuition tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools. "Through education — from kindergarten to continuing adult education — you drive economic development," he said, adding that tax growth from economic development helps fund education.

In addition to her Senate education assignment, Hale co-founded the Coalition for Quality Public Education in 1998, a nonpartisan group of legislators, educators, parents and business and community leaders advocating funding Utah's public education system.