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Leavitt's looking for leads

Governor uses Games to sell Utah advantages

By Bob Bernick Jr.
Deseret News political editor

      Gov. Mike Leavitt is trolling.
      Not with a hook and line. But with a smile, a handshake.
      He is using bait, however — a chance to see the palatial Governor's Mansion, have breakfast with him and make some contacts.
      Leavitt hopes the fishing will land a few good news stories about the state across the nation and world; even better, some business investments for Utah. And if Leavitt, himself, gets some recognition, his name and face known around the country, well, so be it.
      Starting Tuesday and running through the rest of the Games, Leavitt alternates each morning with meetings, one day with national and international journalists and the other with businessmen and businesswomen.
      Monday at lunchtime, Leavitt went to the Salt Palace's Utah Media Center for national and international media, his aides out in front of him, scouting out newspaper writers and editors who were sitting in their organization's designated areas, to see who the Utah governor wanted to meet.
      At each stop, a reporter or two would ask Leavitt questions about the Games, Utah, Mormons and the like.
      "Why is everyone here so nice?" a New York Times editor asked.
      "I'm glad to hear that," Leavitt said to another such questioner later. "I guess it's just part of our culture. I don't take note of it" anymore.
      He remembers the name of the Washington Post reporter who covers Florida for the paper. She's pleased he recalls her. Both the Times and Post journalists get invitations to the governor's house Tuesday morning.
      Natalie Gochnour, Leavitt's spokeswoman, says the governor's media contacts "are a continuation of his welcoming journalists, asking how we're doing, and being accessible" to them. "He's doing the same thing he did in Nagano (site of the 1998 Winter Olympics) when he visited the media there," she said.
      Monday night, Leavitt was at the Delta Center (called the ice skating arena for the Games because no corporate names can be on official venues). Again with a staffer out front, letting people know Leavitt is coming, the governor visits the luxury suites that ring the hall, talking to some of the wealthiest and well-connected people attending the Games.
      Most of the suites house official SLOC sponsors, such as Verizon Wireless and Coke — their executives and high-power guests enjoying some of the best seats around. (Leavitt met former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield at the Coke suite over the weekend.)
      As the early rounds of the ice-skating pairs perform below, Leavitt shakes hands, greets visitors and finds a few old friends (Montana's Gov. Judy Martz, hearing Leavitt is around, seeks him out to thank him personally for helping arrange the carrying of the Olympic torch in her state. She was a speedskater on the U.S. team years before).
      For a time, Leavitt's a celebrity himself.
      One woman in the Cross Media suite calls her husband in Williamsburg, Va., gets him on the line and hands the phone to Leavitt to talk to him. "Hi, who's this?" the governor asks.
      Dozens want their picture taken with Leavitt, often by a professional photographer hired by Leavitt to follow him around all day, every day, during the Games.
      But while Leavitt tells one woman, "I'm having the time of my life. I'm loving all of this," he's also working.
      He exchanges greetings and cards with the chairman of Wyndham Hotels in one suite, meets three venture capitalists in others. They are invited to one of his breakfasts.
      Leavitt chief of staff Rich McKeown stays behind in each suite for a moment or two, firming up breakfast invitations, getting business cards and cellphone numbers.
      "If you can't make it Wednesday, we'll do it again. When are you leaving?" Leavitt asks a few times.
      He only hits about a dozen suites Monday at the Delta Center, only seven media offices in the Salt Palace.
      But that's OK. There are two weeks of the Games, after all.
      "Every day, if we have an hour or two when he isn't scheduled for something, we come down here (to the media center and Delta Center) and make some contacts, welcome people," McKeown says. If longer blocks of time are found, Leavitt will drive to surrounding venues to watch events and meet people, as well.
      "We're lining things up," says McKeown — more meetings, more eggs and toast, more people learning about Utah, its business climate, its people and its governor.
      In fact, Leavitt and his immediate staff have had "face cards" printed up for the Games. Those are baseball-like cards with their faces printed on the front, vital statistics, like phone numbers and e-mail addresses, on the back.
      The mingling is the nuts-and-bolts work of Leavitt's 1,000-day plan — selling Utah after the Games, building on the good will, beautiful landscapes, nose-to-the-grindstone workforce that Leavitt believes will make the state prosperous. If only people learn the truth about Utah.
      It just so happens that 1,000 days is about what is left in Leavitt's third, four-year term.
      "So," says a friend of U.S. alpine skier Eric Schlopy's parents — the couple standing near Leavitt in a Delta suite, pleased to meet him — "What are you going to do after Games, after your term is up?"
      A reporter moves closer, this is an answer to be heard.
      "I'm going to replace John Stockton as point guard for the Jazz," says Leavitt. Laughs all around. A few more "face cards" passed out. And the governor moves on to cast his line again.

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com