7 new to Huntsman Cabinet

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. named seven new members of his Cabinet Wednesday and announced he wants to dismantle the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Huntsman, who made economic development the centerpiece of his campaign, said he wanted to create a new department of community and the arts, and put the state's economic development effort directly under his office.

The number of state employees involved in economic development would shrink under Huntsman's proposal, which still must be approved by lawmakers along with the new appointments. He wasn't ready to say Wednesday just how many jobs would be eliminated.

"Economic development is at the very heart and soul of what I expect to get done. Otherwise, nothing else gets funded," the governor said, promising the new structure would be able to "turn on a dime. It will be extremely responsive to our needs."

In November, Huntsman named Chris Roybal his senior adviser for economic development. Roybal would oversee the state's economic development activities under the new structure, but Huntsman would be involved on a daily basis.

"He wants that right under his thumb," Huntsman's chief of staff, Jason Chaffetz, said.

That won't be the only change in the structure of state government proposed by Huntsman, Chaffetz said. The governor is running those changes by lawmakers and isn't planning to make details public until after the 2005 Legislature convenes Jan. 17.

Huntsman has decided against combining the departments of corrections and public safety, Chaffetz said, but is still looking at making health and human services a single department, just as it is in the federal government.

Deseret Morning News graphic Governor's Cabinet Requires Adobe Acrobat.

Also, Chaffetz said, Huntsman may recommend putting all of the state's information technology employees under a single agency run by a more powerful chief information officer. Almost all of those employees are now scattered throughout state government.

Wednesday's announcement focused on the new faces Huntsman is bringing into state government. He kept 10 members of former Gov. Olene Walker's Cabinet and is keeping two acting department directors on while he continues to search for their replacements.

Two of the holdovers from the Walker administration, Pam Hendrickson of the Tax Commission and Mike Sibbett of the Board of Pardons, serve specific terms and are not yet up for reappointment. If they were to be retained, Huntsman's 19-member Cabinet would have just seven new members.

So for all the talk of change, a number of familiar faces remain.