Huntsman presses unity, cares for common folk

While reading the John Florez commentary, "Governor needs to treat working people with respect" (March 28), it occurred to me that we Americans seem to have become an incredibly negative country. There seems to be little respect for government, for our elected officials and for each other. Perhaps it's our media, both written and electronic, which create these easily-labeled and defined images.

In reading the article, I find an attempt to portray the governor of our state as insensitive and disdainful of common folk. Like the other Salt Lake newspaper, this article also suggests that the governor's background has made him some sort of a corporate board ogre, who doesn't understand democratic government — as if corporations and governments are antagonistic entities. Interestingly, both corporate America and political America have long recognized that success is measured in how well institutions pay attention to their stakeholders. Corporate models have been used in public service and in government for decades now.

What is perhaps more troubling to me is that the article very explicitly brings into question the integrity, the understanding of minority community needs and the commitment of several individuals appointed by the governor. Florez states that the purpose of these people is solely to bask in the power of the office and to prevent effective delivery of service to our minority community by acting as gatekeepers.

I know the director of the Department of Community and Culture and the staff. These people epitomize the best in public service. They are knowledgeable about the Hispanic community and the other minority communities from which they hail. The indictment of the governor and his appointees flies in the face of the fact that the governor has appointed to his Cabinet a Hispanic, and that her department, the Department of Community and Culture, is staffed by a number of minorities. Rather than preventing access to the governor, since the office of ethnic affairs was launched on March 3, 2005, it has already held six public meetings throughout the state to provide a forum for the Hispanic community to express their concerns and learn about the impact of the new driver's license law.

On Friday, March 18, I had the opportunity to join many other members of the Latino/Hispanic community in a meeting with the governor. Great care had been given to get a cross-section. The Chicano/Mexican-American group was the largest group represented. Politically, more Democrats were present — including two Hispanic state representatives. The care exercised in inviting diverse representatives, in my view, is not an example of an uncaring governor, but rather of one who shows understanding.