Reader comments
Open road for Leavitt

I'm sure most Utahns wish former Gov. Leavitt well in any new federal assignment that will help the U.S. Government improve its policies and procedures as Utah has done. We applaud anyone who can help the federal government come more into line with its intended role as defined by the Constitution and our inspired Founding Fathers.

Sadly, Governor Leavitt did script out his last two national jobs when, as Governor, he made too many decisions based not on what was best for Utah, but on what he thought would make him sail more easily through Senate confirmation hearings. As Governor he was guided too much by what he thought would pad his way to a cabinet job. Not enough statesmanship and too much "what's in it for me-ship." Now the sounding brass and tinkling symbals are fading away Mr. Leavitt. You're left to either selling whole life insurance policies or reviving old fish hatcheries. What goes around whirls around.

Great comment comparing the cost of a knee replacement to buying a car.

I agree with the post from 5:50 AM.

Let's not romanticize Governor Leavitt too much. Nice guy, very pandering as Governor. When he left Utah no one was sad he left, minus a few old guard Democrats on Capitol hill. Mainstream Democrats, moderate and conservative Republicans were pretty happy to have him move on. He pandered everything.

Everything was a sales job. I hear that legislators took bets on how many props he would use to give his State of the State speeches. He was Utah's first opinion poll politician.

In my opinion he is very smart but not a statesman. He punted the political football when it was tough. Remember how the Highway Patrolman endorsed the Democrat, after the election Leavitt fired the leaders of the Highway Patrol and elevated some way over their paygrade? To include the head of his personal bodyguard took over the entire Drivers License Division. It was in the Deseret News if anyone wanted to look back.

Please Mike, for the sake of kind politics. Stay in the private sector. Go write a book about Katrina or the Bush Administration behind the scenese. All the best in DC!

I certainly wish Mr. Leavitt well in any federal job, but let't not have him back in Utah. He'll miss the personal jet that cost taxpayers millions. We don't have any fish hatcheries for him to ruin, poor judicial appointments to be made, no more Olympic scandal cash cow. What's left for him?

What a ridiculous comment you just made. This is a good man who has done a good job and represented Utah well both here and in Washington.

What are you talking about? This guy did a great job for our state and left us in phenomenal shape. Get a life and quit seeking to bring down those who sacrifice much to serve the public. Politics is a hard game, and if it were not for quality people like Mike Leavitt, Jim Matheson and Bob Bennett, this country's government would be much more corrupt than it already is. So, stop lobbing cheap shots from the cheap seats unless you're willing to get your hands dirty and do something about that which you obviously are quick to complain. Also, you need to learn to spell (cymbals), punctuate (use a comma in your 2nd to last sentence) and be more charitable.

Mike, tell the truth about Bush and we will vote for you in the future. To try to cover up the worst administration in a century in America will cost you your political future.

An administrator, you are. A leader, we will wait to see ... how much truth you can share with the peons and masses.

Your favorite serf.

Mike Leavitt did Utah a terrible disservice when he made a deal with then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton to ban any further consideration of wilderness designation on BLM public lands. Has he learned anything about considering diverse points of view during his years in Washington? We'll see.

Good Job? Heck-of-a-job, Mikey.
The only thing he did well in Washington is back out of everything he fought for as governor of Utah. For instance, as Gov he wanted more money for CHIP. In Washington, he said more money for CHIP would be a step toward socialized medicine. The guy is a dweeb. Everyone is calling him a good guy. Good guys don't go to Washington. They fight people in Washington from their own communities and try and make the world a better place. They don't fight to keep uninsured children uninsured. What's so good about that?

As I recall, Leavitt parrotted the Bush Administration in resisting giving Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices. This meant that HHS (thus the taxpayers) paid upwards of 10 times as much as the VA paid for prescriptions. This was a result of the Billy Tauzin legislation passed in the waaning days of the last Republican Congress. Bush and Leavitt have resisted efforts to fix this taxpayer rip-off ever since then. I've met Leavitt, Cheney and others in the Adiministration, and while they are likeable, this should not be confused with public policy that is destructive to this country in favor of a few corporate interests. I'm betting Leavitt will be amply rewarded after he leaves office.

Leavitt was an ineffective wishy-washy governor. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, he has been nothing but a political hack. Good riddance.

Leavitt was a Bush loyalist and will be rewarded in his post-Bush life with a job in some nameless think tank or lobby firm and will make 10 times more money to promote anything conservatives want.

Leavitt is as corrupt as any corrupt politician out there.

People have a tendency to criticize that which they don't understand and those who make decisions based on information that the rest of us don't have take the brunt of that critisism. Mike Leavitt is brighter, more experienced, more knowledgeable, hard-working, and willing to serve than any of the commenters on this board. He is honorable and sincere. He is not one to make decisions based on what will further his own career. That doesn't mean he hasn't made mistakes, but who hasn't? If he tells us his experience working with Pres. Bush and it isn't what you critics want to hear you will say he is just covering up the truth to promote his own career. You think you know it all, but you have nothing to back it up. Mike Leavitt does.

The major problem America endures now is the sad event of there being too many Leavitt like bland politicians in office. Unfortunately these type of people are much better at getting their jobs than what they are at doing the job.

Stenar -- do you think you're doing a public service in doing ad hominem attacks on Mike Leavitt by assering that he's as "corrupt" as any politician out there without citing any proof or specific examples? It's easy to take pot shots from behind the anonymity of this forum. You may not agree with Mike Leavitt's personal political philosophy, or specific actions he may have taken as Governor, EPA Administrator, and HHS Secretary, but talk about those, and not some sophomoric and classless comment like yours. You denigrate this forum. I certainly disagreed with some of his actions as Governor, particularly when he sidled up to environmental groups on lands issues... but not for one second would I subscribe to any notion that he is in any sense "corrupt." He's probably one of the least corrupted or corruptible cabinet officials in decades.

nowhere. Just leave us alone.

Why doesn't Mike run for governor again and run the little biker child out of town.

Mike leavitt is very ethical. People are iggnorant. He serviced Utah greatly. America is a better place for him.