Hannity backed by guv hopeful

OREM — Sean Hannity is headed to Utah Valley State College — and Utah GOP gubernatorial candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. is paying for it.

On the day tickets sold out for the controversial appearance of filmmaker Michael Moore at the college on Oct. 20, UVSC announced Hannity, a noted conservative radio talk show host heard locally on KSL Newsradio 1160, would speak Oct. 11 as a "balance" to Moore, whose fee to speak is $40,000.

The sellout for Moore's address should gross $30,000 for the college. Hannity's appearance is a potential sellout, too.

Some of Moore's expenses are being paid by donors, and Huntsman campaign spokesman Jason Chaffetz said Huntsman helped arrange Hannity's appearance and will pay his travel costs. The money will come from donations solicited by the campaign specifically to pay for Hannity's travel.

Hannity said he would appear for free — though he had been hoping to go head-to-head in a debate with Moore, the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11," a documentary critical of the Bush administration.

UVSC student government president Jim Bassi said a debate was never considered. Even before controversy started to swirl over Moore's scheduled appearance, student leaders were looking to book a high-profile conservative speaker to counter Moore's liberal views.

"Hopefully, the community will recognize that we have sought to create a balance with our speaker selection and won't hold individual students or the school responsible for the views of any speaker," Bassi said.

"As a student government, we feel we are committed to the success of the student body as well as the institution as a whole."

Mike Mower, a member of UVSC's Board of Trustees who worked with Huntsman to bring Hannity to UVSC, also expressed disappointment at the public outcry over the student government's decision to invite Moore.

"The board of trustees supports the student government decision to bring speakers of their choice to campus," Mower said. "While the speakers do not directly reflect the views of the members of the board of trustees, we appreciate the student effort to bring balance to their speaker series prior to the national election."

Bassi admitted that the college won't always be able to balance its speaker series in such a timely manner. Campus leaders, however, felt students needed to hear from both sides of the political aisle before the Nov. 2 general election, he said.

A campus rally Wednesday to protest Moore's upcoming visit was peppered with both cheers and jeers for Moore.