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SALT LAKE CITY — All four Republican candidates for governor on the June primary ballot — Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., former House Speaker Greg Hughes and former Utah GOP Chairman Thomas Wright — along with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Peterson, fielded questions Wednesday about Utah’s future.
During the 1 1⁄2-hour forum held virtually by Envision Utah and streamed live on YouTube, the candidates individually addressed topics raised by KSL’s Doug Wright that included handling growth, developing economic opportunities in rural Utah and dealing with climate change.
“Far too often politicians in our country are only looking forward to the next election and not looking ahead,” Cox said when asked about maintaining the state’s quality of life, calling improving and maintaining infrastructure the key.
He said Utah’s next governor will have to ensure infrastructure stays ahead of growth, warning that Herriman and other communities are already “seeing a diminishing quality of life” because there hasn’t been enough of an investment in an east-west transportation corridor.
Huntsman said both urban and rural communities should expect not “just a recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic, but “a recharge, a rebirth. We have learned so much about life in the last two months. ... I know it’s put great stresses and strains on everybody, but I think we’re coming out of this a lot better and smarter.”
For rural Utah, he said that means recognizing agriculture is as large an economic sector as technology and is “critically important to our future,” especially as food supply chains are challenged. But Huntsman also said there needs to be broadband and other infrastructure put in place to attract technology companies to rural areas.
Hughes said climate change “isn’t as draconian” as some suggest and shouldn’t pit environmental interests against economic development. “That’s going to put a lot of people on the defensive, so I think we talk about these things in the measured way, in a smart way, where we’re rallying people together to find those solutions,” he said.
Ensuring sales of Utah’s natural resources, including “some of the cleanest coal in the world,” also is “good stewardship of our environment,” Hughes said. “I’m not giving up on our natural resources,” he said, adding that overcoming those market barriers “grow the pie economically.”
Wright described good air quality as “vital, not just to our health, but to our economic development and to our standard of living,” and labeled the wintertime inversions “devastating.” But he said educating Utahns, not more regulations, is the answer.
“When Utahns know what to do, they don’t need to be compelled by government with executive orders or with overreach. All they need to do is to be asked, and they’ll step up to the plate,” the businessman said, calling for carpooling and other steps to reduce emissions as well as the construction of more efficient homes.
Peterson said when it comes to improving education, wealthier Utahns need “to chip in a little bit more.” He said the single income tax rate, adopted when Huntsman was governor, “hasn’t really worked out that well” to raise the revenue needed to lift per-pupil spending.
“We just have not successfully invested in our kids,” Peterson, a University of Utah law professor, said, adding that most Utahns support his position on higher taxes for those with larger incomes. But he also said he didn’t want to be too critical and called himself a fiscal conservative.
The candidates hoping to succeed Gov. Gary Herbert, who is not seeking reelection after more than a decade in office, also discussed what the state should be doing to prepare for a future crisis on the scale of the new coronavirus outbreak, such as a massive earthquake.
“We have learned from this really awful and tragic situation,” Wright said, pointing to the ability to work and educate children from home. He also warned it’s clear “the federal government will never be there for us. We cannot rely on them” for protective gear for health care workers and other needs, “We can never make that mistake again.”
Hughes said there could be an “historic shortfall” in state income tax revenues and cautioned against relying on federal funds to help pay for education. “They come with strings attached,” he said. “They start directing what you do from Washington, D.C. I’ve never seen any federal funds that make states rights stronger.”
Huntsman said Utah’s goal going forward should be “nothing less aspirational than Utah as the crossroads of the world, the state that has the best, finest quality of life in the country,” predicting there will be an onslaught of people moving from places “that maybe have not managed through the crisis in ways that people like.”
Cox, who heads the governor’s COVID-19 task force, said “this is a perfect time to streamline government.” He released a new “Resilient Utah” plan Wednesday that includes a call to replenish the state’s nearly $1 billion rainy day funds likely to be drained as lawmakers scramble to deal with the pandemic’s economic impacts.
Peterson, a former consumer protection official in the Obama administration, expressed concern for “people who don’t know where their next paycheck is coming from and don’t know how they’re going to pay rent. I’ve spent a lot of my career focused on trying to make sure ordinary working families can get by.”
The forum was the first public event for all the gubernatorial candidates since Republican and Democratic delegates narrowed the field of candidates on Saturday at virtual state party conventions. Democrats nominated Peterson outright, and he will face the winner of the June 30 GOP primary in the November general election.
Cox, Huntsman and Wright had all qualified for the primary ballot by gathering voter signatures. Republican Party delegates voted to advance Cox and Hughes to the primary, ending the race for Salt Lake County Commissioner Aimee Winder Newton, businessman Jeff Burningham and perennial candidate Jason Christensen,
Another GOP candidate for governor, Jan Garbett, did not compete at convention and sued the state after failing to submit enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. A federal judge has reduced the number of signatures needed and the signatures she was able to collect are in the process of being verified.
Gubernatorial candidates had gathered in person for a debate at the Silicon Slopes tech summit in January, before the COVID-19 outbreak. Questions at Wednesday’s online forum were based on “Your Utah, Your Future,” a plan put together by Envision Utah in 2015 with input from more than 52,000 residents.
