Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday that the U.S. House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump reminds him of his experience playing baseball.
When either team would make an error, Herbert said, he and his teammates would yell, “Put a tent on that circus,” from the dugout.
“This is serious and we should be treating this as a serious issue,” Herbert said. "There are certainly questions. There is a process outlined in our Constitution to answer these questions. Impeachment? The Senate trial? Let that roll out."
Herbert’s comments came during his monthly televised news conference at KUED. He said the impeachment process has been marred by a lack of decorum and hyperpartisanship by Democrats and Republicans.
As examples, he cited California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s paraphrasing of Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president, and Wednesday’s disruptive sit-in on closed testimony by congressional Republicans, several of whom already sit on the relevant committees engaged in the inquiry proceedings.
“It’s disappointing on many levels to see what’s taking place,” Herbert said.
Tax reform
Herbert said he supports expanding the sales taxes applied to service-based transactions in the state, as well as offering an income tax cut to Utahns, two planks in a series of recommendations by the chairmen of a legislative task force on tax reform.
But he qualified his position on a proposed constitutional amendment that would end the requirement that income tax revenue be spent on public education, saying he’d back that change only if an alternative school funding source is created in its place.
“I would support it if they find buy-in from the educational stakeholders," Herbert said, “and they can show there’s going to be a sustainable revenue stream for education.”
On Tuesday, task force leaders said there are ongoing negotiations with the education community on funding alternatives, but no specifics were offered.
Educators have traditionally opposed efforts to lift the income tax restriction, arguing that diverting those funds to other government programs would shrink the investment in Utah schools, which for years has ranked last in the nation for per-student funding.
The task force’s final meeting is scheduled Nov. 21, and House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, has said he’d like a tax cut in place before year’s end. That leaves December as the most likely time for a special legislative session.
Herbert said he’s open to calling such a session if consensus can be achieved.
“If there’s going to be an income tax cut and tax cuts generally," he said, “it would be nice to have that effective Jan. 1 of next year."
Conversion therapy
In June, Herbert called for the creation of new rules prohibiting state-licensed therapists from submitting underage patients to so-called “conversion therapy,” the widely discredited practice of trying to alter a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
After a proposed rule was released for public comment, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued an opposing statement that criticized the rule as overly broad and called for the matter to return to the Legislature, which tried and failed to act on the issue earlier this year.
Latter-day Saint doctrine teaches that it is sinful to engage in sexual activity outside of a heterosexual marriage, and a top church leader recently defined gender as a person’s “biological sex at birth" and stated during the faith’s General Conference that binary gender is “essential."
Herbert said the church had raised legitimate questions that he believes can and should be worked out before a final rule is adopted.
“I don’t know of anybody by the way — if there is, it’s certainly a minority — that does not oppose conversion therapy,” he said. “We’re really kind of all together on that.”
Herbert said all public comments, including those from the Latter-day Saint faith, add to the considerations for a final draft.
“It’s very appropriate for any faith-based organization, church leaders, any citizen out there, anybody that has concerns, to weigh in,” he said. “Their comments are just as important as any other comment but not more important than other comments."
The church released the public comment it submitted to regulators, but the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing has refused to make broadly available to the public the other 2,456 comments submitted — or even to reveal the breakdown of how many favored the rule and how many opposed it.
In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, LDS Church lobbyist Marty Stephens said the faith opposes conversion therapy but is concerned with the specific prohibitions included in the draft licensing rule.
“We don’t subscribe to the ‘pray away the gay’ or the words that they use there, but prayer and other religious methods of dealing with and coping with life’s challenges ought to be able to be a part of counseling if the client wants that to be," Stephens said. “The way this is drafted, you do not have the capacity to counsel to specific religious beliefs that the client may want to come in and adhere to.”
Homelessness
The state’s transition to a new homeless services model, including the opening of three new resource centers, has faced a number of challenges, including significant delays in the opening of the third shelter and a shortage of beds for individuals seeking shelter.
Herbert said there are always growing pains during a transition, but he was confident of the availability of overflow facilities to mitigate demand for the time being.
“This is a work in progress," the governor said. “I’m very optimistic this is going to all work out well, that we’re going to have enough beds and that we have adequate bed space outside of these resource centers to accommodate any overflow needs.”
Huntsman vs. Cox
Herbert previously served as Utah’s lieutenant governor under then-Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has recently returned to the state after resigning his post as U.S. ambassador to Russia.
Huntsman is expected to announce his candidacy for Utah governor in the coming weeks, but Herbert said his support will remain with his current lieutenant, Spencer Cox.
“I’ve already said that I would support Spencer [Cox],” Herbert said. “I didn’t know about Ambassador Huntsman maybe considering this, but I’m not going to pull back my support there.”
Other declared candidates for next year’s gubernatorial race include Republicans Jeff Burningham and Aimee Winder Newton and Democrat Zachary Moses. Several other candidates are expected to announce their candidacies in the coming weeks.
Herbert said he has the greatest respect for Huntsman, whom he described as the supreme diplomat.
“If I was president, I would make him the secretary of state in a heartbeat,” Herbert said. “He understands foreign affairs and diplomacy probably as well as anybody in our country.”
Tribune reporter Bethany Rodgers contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: Jon Huntsman is the brother of Paul Huntsman, the owner and publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune.
