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FAREWELL ADDRESS
Governor Michael O. Leavitt

November 3, 2003

Good evening. This room and I go way back. In the early 1960s, my father was elected to the State Legislature. It became a family tradition that my brothers and I would take turns traveling to Salt Lake City to spend time with him during the legislative session. It was an education for us, and companionship for him.

A 12-year-old can only endure so much floor debate, so I would explore the state Capitol like it was a castle. The Gold Room, where we gather tonight, held particular interest for me. It was grand and ornate -- always roped off so no one entered. And I always wondered why.

When I was elected governor, we changed that. It is now a place of history, celebration and great endeavors. A gathering in the Gold Room usually means a momentous occasion. Tonight it’s a transition – and also a farewell.

On October 28th, the Senate confirmed the president’s nomination of me as administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a position I will assume November sixth.

Consequently, on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., I will conclude my service as governor. The responsibility to lead our state will be assumed by Lt. Governor Olene S. Walker.

I have known Olene Walker a long time. From the day she agreed to be my running mate more than 11 years ago through the present time, we have been a team.

Olene brings to the table years of legislative service, vast experience in the education field and unceasing commitment. Her wisdom and leadership have bettered the lives of Utahns and made a lasting contribution to this state.

She has given the job of lieutenant governor high energy and elevated importance. Our second-in-command will be commander-in-chief, and she is prepared for the job.

Let me also acknowledge the historical milestone that is upon us. Governor Walker is the first woman governor of Utah. She will be sworn in by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Christine Durham. They will blaze the trail for more women in public service.

Many times you have heard me express three personal goals for my service as governor: to leave Utah better than I found it; to plant seeds for the next generation; and to give it all I have. I am satisfied that all three have been accomplished.

Ours is a young state. I have been governor for approximately ten percent of its history. During our time together, Utah’s population has grown by a half million.

We’ve seen boom times and lean times, and ushered in the information age -- the defining activity of the last quarter-century.

We experienced a succession of events that closed out the 20th century and opened the new millennium in ways both unforgettable and indelible: the state centennial; September 11th; and, of course, our unforgettable Winter Olympics.

Thank you does not suffice, but I’m at a loss for what does. The human soul has capacity to feel things that cannot be adequately expressed in words. It is my great hope that, by that power, you can know the depth of gratitude I feel.

I have been far from alone in my endeavors. There are so many individuals whose service and devotion I wish you could know, but I am again constrained by the inadequacy of time and words.

Jackie, my partner in service.

She has made it all possible by keeping our family stable and nurtured while giving immeasurably of her time and devotion to her state work and mine.

My gratitude belongs to family, staff and cabinet; the thousands who have served on boards and commissions; my colleagues in the various departments of state government; and all of those who believed in our cause and in me.

Most of all, I must thank the citizens of this state for allowing me to serve and for receiving my leadership in such an affirming way.

Over the past eleven years our state has become a better place to live, work and raise a family, and I leave knowing plans are in place for an even brighter future.

The next era of the state’s history begins with schools that have been improved; highways rebuilt; safer communities. Our air is cleaner; our water more pure; and our land better cared for.

Utah’s welfare system no longer maintains people; we help them find self-reliance. Utah children are better protected.

I find it satisfying that there are 300,000 more people receiving a paycheck in Utah than when we started; and a smaller portion of all paychecks go to pay for state government. I’m sure that is one of the reasons that we have been declared the best managed state in America five times during the last ten years.

We’ve changed the way government operates, moving services online and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People are renewing their driver’s license, registering a business, filing for a tax refund without standing in line. Five years from now it will seem like this is the way government has always worked.

On Wednesday, when Governor Walker opens her desk drawer she will find three keys I have left behind. I leave them behind to symbolize three keys to Utah’s continued prosperity in the next quarter century.

The first key symbolizes a quality workforce.

Much of the United States and the industrialized world will soon be contending with a shrinking workforce. Because Utah has more children than any other state, our workforce will expand when others contract – twice the national average to be exact.

If we have a quality, well-prepared workforce, we will prosper. If we offer only numbers, we will falter. The next century is about innovation and brainpower, and the skills of a state’s workforce will determine its ability to compete and succeed.

Our state will soon implement a requirement that every high school student demonstrate competency to graduate. There is natural resistance to change and it will require more effort. But is it worth the effort? Emphatically, yes!

The greatest challenge of the next decade will be funding public and higher education adequately. This year we will experience the first arrivals in a ten-year wave of an additional 145,000 students in our schools.

We receive them already investing 40 percent less than the national average. If our solution is to simply pour more water in the soup, we destine future generations to the economic malnutrition inadequate preparation brings.

In a representative democracy, finding solutions to such problems usually isn’t possible until the problem fully ripens. In the next five years this one will ripen, when it does masses of these students are going to be packing our classrooms, parents will be pounding the table with discontent, teachers will feel desperate and students will be underserved. The consequences of inaction will rearrange the political landscape.

The economic consequences will be felt much longer than any political fallout. Investing early will mean the difference between continued prosperity and a generation of struggle.

Rarely do legislative bodies feel empowered to take action this bold on their own. This is a need of such seriousness that public buy-in at the ballot may be needed; not to decide the details but to validate the public will.

The second key is a reminder to embrace the changing demographics of Utah.

History is replete with examples of societies that failed when a gulf of economic and cultural division slowly crept in.

When I became governor the ethnic minority population was 9%. A decade later as I leave, it is 16%. Within 25 years it will be 22%.

Every Utahn has a stake in making certain that we remain a united community. We need to embrace this change and view it as a strength and an opportunity.

Other changes will come from the combination of growing populations and expanding life spans.

One event I will dearly miss is the centenarian brunch. Jackie and I invite every Utahn 100-years-old or more to the Governor’s Mansion every spring. This year, 138 people were invited.

That same day, a little girl was born in a Utah hospital. She will have a 50 percent chance one hundred years from now of attending the centenarian brunch. That means rather than 138 invitations, the governor will send 10,000.

The state’s obligation for long-term care should be placed on the planning horizon of those who lead this state for the next decade.

The third key is simply this: Move toward balance.

Balance between the needs of the environment and the needs of humanity. Balance between the resource needs of this generation and the next.

We get one shot to get it right.

In 40 years the population of this state will double. It is going to happen, and the pressures on the environment will intensify accordingly.

We want resource-rich lands to provide livelihoods. But we also want our breathtaking landscapes preserved.

And more than anything else, we all can agree on the need for clean air, and continuous supplies of pure water.

I am going to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental protection needs to be more than just an agency. It needs to be an ethic.

Conservation should be a value we teach our children in our schools, churches and families. With a conservation ethic, new technology and results-oriented regulation, we can dramatically increase the speed of our environmental progress, without compromising our economic competitiveness.

Utah will need more investment in water, and that money should come from ratepayers not taxpayers. Our energy needs can likewise be met, but it will require a balance in fuels and new technology.

We have worked for nearly 30 years to resolve the dispute over ownership of roads crossing federal lands. The agreement reached last spring provides a solution by creating an open administrative process to determine the ownership of each road. It will take investment of time and money, plus a spirit of collaboration. But until it’s done, the future of rural Utah will be hampered.

Utah needs a wilderness bill in Congress. The land needs to be protected; natural resource and outdoor recreation economies need certainty; and our communities need the edification.

Despite numerous attempts, I have not succeeded on this one. But the issue will ripen, and resolution will come. There are millions of acres of Utah wilderness to be found in the productive middle -- none at either extreme.

Balance is not splitting the difference. It is the collective wisdom that results when the best ideas have competed fairly and there is a process for making decisions. Balance is the solution, and it is in our grasp.

You’ve heard what is most on my mind. Now I’d like to express what is in my heart.

It’s a composite really of people and places: The tiny handshakes of 1st graders and the salutes of military heroes. The impact of a great teacher. The economic multiplier created by a single employer. The stability contributed to society by just one devoted family.

I will never forget the sight of a torch-lit Salt Lake skyline and our incomparable western sunsets.

I’ll remember the faces, the hopes and the character of Utah’s people -- the friendliness and generosity and their enormous drive, ability, spirit and capacity for achievement.

Utah’s character mirrors the larger profile of America, and I intend to tap that reservoir of greatness in all the national endeavors that lie ahead.

Beyond that, I have realistic expectations, optimism and my mother’s wisdom on my side.

My mother has a gift for finding the right words for just the right setting. On the eve of my first inaugural, she sent me a note recalling my fascination for the show “Gunsmoke” when I was four-years-old and television was new to our town.

There was a line U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon always delivered at the opening of the show that particularly hooked me and required repeating – over and over – as I galloped a stick horse through our house: “It’s a chancy job – and a little lonely.”

Washington is a little like Dodge City, but it’s about to get a taste of Cedar City.

That’s where it all began for me, my values in life and the principles that guide me to this day.

I’ll conclude with the most basic of those – for perspective in what lies ahead … and for old time’s sake.

You may recall, in 1992 I introduced myself to the public with a story. A farmer down the road from my grandfather always had more land than he could afford and a new John Deere tractor.

I would say, “Grandpa, how can he do that?” And he would say, “Mike, if you stick with what is real and right, we’ll be farming long after he’s been repossessed.” Sure enough. A few years later the John Deere tractor was gone and we were still farming.

Real and right. It’s what we teach our children. It’s the way I’ve tried to govern this state, and it is my fondest wish for America.

Thank you. Good night. God bless each one of you. God bless Utah. And God bless America.