Herbert leadership style is an unknown commodity

While Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is considered by many to be a moderate, progressive Republican, current Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, who is soon to be governor, is believed to be more conservative in his views, including hot-button issues like civil rights and the environment.

That has left people on both sides of the political spectrum, including activists and elected officials, wondering what direction a Herbert administration could take the state.

Chief among those is the climate-change debate, which Huntsman was considered progressive on, even within the national GOP. Part of that agenda was membership in the Western Climate Initiative, a collaboration of seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces that was formed in 2007 to mitigate the issue of climate change. A core component of the WCI is a market-based cap-and-trade system.

Whether the state's new chief executive continues that trend is questionable, said Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake.

"I don't know that Herbert necessarily has that much of an environmental track record to look at and compare," McCoy said. "My guess is that a Herbert administration would not be as progressive as a Huntsman administration was on environmental issues."

McCoy said that Herbert's ties to the Utah County GOP would give him the impression that Herbert might lean a bit further right on issues.

"I have a gut feeling that Herbert isn't going to … plow the rough ground that Huntsman was on the climate-change issue," he said. "Maybe a Gov. Herbert would surprise me — and it would be a pleasant surprise."

Though he said it is too early to tell how Herbert would approach the climate-change issue, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who is also president of the pro-business Utah Taxpayers Association, said he believes Herbert understands the idea that the state needs "a tax climate that is conducive to economic expansion."

Another distinct difference between Huntsman and fellow Republicans, including Herbert, was allowing civil unions. McCoy said be believes Herbert would be "much further to the right" on the matter than Gov. Huntsman was, but he remains cautiously optimistic.

"I'm hopeful that a Gov. Herbert would maintain the same kind of open door that Gov. Huntsman maintained … and replicate the open mind that Gov. Huntsman clearly had when it came to a whole host of issues."

The executive director of Equality Utah, the state's largest civil-rights organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, told the Deseret News that he too is hopeful that his group will be able to create a positive working relationship with the new governor similar to the one they have with the outgoing administration.

"Although we've had no real working relationship with (Herbert) at this point, we don't really have a gauge to determine what that may be like," Mike Thompson said.

E-MAIL: jlee@desnews.com