Finding the top 20

Published: Monday, May 14, 2001 3:10 p.m. MDT
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Following models used by other U.S. news media during the past 30 years, the Deseret News 10 months ago set out to identify the 20 most powerful people in the state and explore how they affect the day-to-day lives of 2.2 million Utahns.

The newspaper used internal sources to produce a list of 30 individuals — all of them Utah residents — who the paper believes understand how the business, political, educational, religious and cultural power levers are pulled in the state.

Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr., who has covered government and politics in Utah for more than 20 years, and special writer Lucinda Dillon, who has covered the governor's office and Legislature, under the direction of assistant managing editor Wendy Ogata, then wrote out a seven-issue questionnaire given to each of the 30 people who agreed to answer the questions under a guarantee of anonymity.

The newspaper promised the respondents confidentiality so they could candidly name those who they believe are the most influential in the state, those who work best behind the scenes to wield power, those known for being effective deal-makers, those who are considered deal-breakers, and so on.

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After the 30 insiders returned their questionnaires, the newspaper compiled those results to identify and rank the three most influential and powerful people.

Those individuals will be profiled extensively as part of the Power Players series.

The remaining seven individuals rounding out the top 10 were also interviewed for shorter pieces. Those seven were not ranked by the 30 insiders, just listed in the top 10.

Finally, the newspaper compiled a list of the top 20 people who were most often named as the most influential and powerful in the state. The second-tier 10 are also named.

To get a feel for how the general public sees influential people, the newspaper asked its pollster, Dan Jones & Associates, to conduct a scientific public opinion survey asking 607 Utahns who they believe wield the most influence and power in Utah.

Interestingly, the top people the 30 Deseret News sources picked also came out largely ahead in the public survey, although a couple of them exchanged places in the rankings.

By and large, the reporters found people willing to talk about influential people around them — an indication that the men and women listed in this series of reports are respected, not feared.

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