From Deseret News archives:
Panel won't protest firing of Ball
On Monday, about 70 people jammed a small hearing room to sound off over Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s firing of Ball, who had served in the position for eight years.
Ball, who has been likened to a "pit bull" by Huntsman's transition team, was fired March 9 without a cited cause and told he had 20 minutes to leave the building.
Public comments Monday took on a cheerleading tone — those supporting Ball vs. others vouching for Leslie Reberg, Huntsman's pick as the committee's director.
Yet if consumer advocates and Ball had hoped their impassioned pleas would somehow sway the six-member committee to sue the governor, they were wrong. In a 5-1 vote, the committee passed a motion not to contest the firing by court action.
"In our view," the motion stated, "a court challenge — even if successful — would be, at best, a very temporary victory."
The committee, in a unanimous vote, also promised to "work cooperatively with the governor's office to find a suitable replacement."
Dee Jay Hammon, the committee's chairman, said the motion should not be construed as an endorsement of Reberg.
"It's just simply saying that she is a candidate for the job," Hammon said. "Officially, we have nothing from the governor right now. We can't even act on it."
Hammon said the committee's needs would best be served by Huntsman widening the number of candidates for the director's position.
Tammy Kikuchi, spokeswoman for the governor, said Reberg remained the governor's top choice and "the only candidate he is offering right now."
"When it comes down to it," Kikuchi said, "it is the governor's decision for naming the new executive director."
Other committee members, like Betsy Wolf, the only dissenting vote, said Utah statute is unclear whether the director could be removed by the governor without the committee's consent.
"My preference would have been to take legal action to resolve that issue," Wolf said. "I think it's an open legal question."
Supporters of Reberg also filled the meeting, many saying she has been maligned by media accounts portraying her as a lobbyist for US WEST.
"I've been disappointed in a lot of the personal attacks on Ms. Reberg," said Lonnie Johnson of Sandy. "We seem to ignore her 16 years' employment for Salt Lake County government. . . . Leslie proved herself as an exceptional manager while supervising a little over 2,000 employees and handling a $200 million budget for community services, which was her last position for Salt Lake County."
However, Ball's supporters urged the governor to leave the committee alone.
