Huntsman brings out 'big stick'

For those who thought Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was just a good-looking rich guy trying to get along, welcome to the 2006 legislative version of the state's chief executive — more junkyard dog than diplomat.

With three working days left in the 2006 Legislature, Huntsman has promised to veto half a dozen bills, hold some recalcitrant legislators' pet spending bills unless they come around on removing the sales tax from food, threatened to call lawmakers back into a special tax-cutting session in an election year, and publicly blamed the Senate for a budget "impasse."

Famed Republican President Theodore Roosevelt liked to say a powerful executive should speak softly and carry a big stick.

Huntsman couldn't be following Roosevelt's words any more closely.

In an interview with the Deseret Morning News, Huntsman targeted several more "bills on my veto list" as he jumped up from his chair in his private office and rummaged through some notes.

"It's on the veto list, yeah," Huntsman said, suggesting after a quick scan that another bill is on the list, too. The governor smiled as his deputy chief of staff and main legislative liaison, Mike Mower, made a face at the mention of yet another veto.

"He doesn't like it when I use that word," Huntsman explained.

Mower looked even more uncomfortable as his boss told newspaper reporters about the hack job he's going to do on some difficult legislator's pet project — before the legislator even knows what's going on.

Huntsman isn't shy, either, about committing to getting the final 2.75 percent of state sales tax on food removed. Does he plan on bringing the issue back to the 2007 Legislature?

"I do," Huntsman said. "And I think (House Speaker) Greg Curtis does."

The governor then went so far as to put lawmakers running for re-election on notice that they'd better agree to support him on the removal of sales tax off food if they expect his help on the campaign trail.

"I'm going to be doing a lot of campaigning this fall," he said. "If candidates want some help during the campaign cycle, this is likely an issue I'm going to talk about. If they share my interests, I'm going to be more than happy to get out and work for them."

The clear message is that Republican legislators who oppose removing the rest of the food tax can look elsewhere for a popular politician to speak on their behalf.