New Utah Governor supports beneficiary legislation for unmarried household members

A story published today in the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Utah's governor-elect appears to be more moderate than many of the voters who elected him.
    Jon Huntsman Jr. won the governor's race with 57 percent of the vote. More than 80 percent of GOP voters cast ballots for the Republican candidate. And of voters who consider themselves conservative, more than three out of four voted for Huntsman.
    Those numbers could present an ideological minefield for Utah's new chief executive as he tries to satisfy those who put him in office.
    With moderate public statements in favor of the failed open space initiative, promises to push legislation to guarantee legal rights for unmarried people with shared financial interests and plans to soften the hard edge of Utah's liquor regulations, Huntsman faces a potential political problem.
    Huntsman rejects the idea that he is beholden to a particular group of voters. "I don't think we're easily pigeonholed in any political corner," he says.
    Still, the Utah Colleges Exit Poll shows that among voters who characterize themselves as conservative, 77 percent cast ballots for Huntsman, along with 38 percent of self-described moderates and 13 percent of liberals. In contrast, 61 percent of those who picked the moderate label and 86 percent of liberals cast ballots for Democrat Scott Matheson Jr. Just 22 percent of conservative Utahns voted for Matheson.
    That ideological split is a direct reflection of the partisan vote breakdown, says Kelly Patterson, director of Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Huntsman, Patterson says, was effective running as a moderate, but also bringing conservative Republicans home   to vote. "People like to identify themselves as conservative," he says.
    Huntsman managed that feat by initially appealing to conservative Republican convention delegates and then moderating his tone for the general election. One of the more middle-of-the-road candidates in a field of nine, Huntsman talked about reforming the Division of Child and Family Services, implementing a system of tuition tax credits, introducing tax cuts for businesses and eliminating the sales tax on food before the May convention.
    After he emerged from the convention, those topics were muted, as the candidate focused his comments on economic development strategies and suggested the Carson Smith Scholarship Fund that Gov. Olene Walker vetoed could be a test case for tuition tax credits.
    Huntsman and   his campaign advisers insist that their ideological bent didn't change over the course of the campaign.
    Salt Lake County Councilman and Huntsman legal adviser Russell Skousen says at first, the candidate was simply answering the questions of conservative delegates about gun rights and DCFS. But, "the common thread through all of it was economic revitalization," Skousen said at the Hinckley Institute of Politics this week.
    Whether or not Huntsman's message changed, conservative voters will expect something in return for their support.
    Education Excellence Utah Director Royce Van Tassell, a tuition tax credits proponent, acknowledges school choice advocates will be frustrated if Huntsman does not go further than the Carson Smith bill.
    "Jon Huntsman campaigned on his support for school choice. And the strong support he got at the polls   is a reflection of his support for tax credits," Van Tassell says. "Supporters of school choice who helped him get elected will be disappointed if we don't seen him follow through on campaign promises."
    But Amendment 3 supporter Monte Stewart says he believes "true conservatives" will support Huntsman's idea for legislation granting beneficiary status to roommates, family members and gay couples who live together and have shared finances, so long as the legislation is "proper."
    "Social justice requires that if there are people in those situations that the legislation apply to them across the board based on dependency or co-residency," Stewart says. "The basis of the legislation is relationships of dependency or residence and not sexually based relationships."
    Whatever   the expectations, Huntsman says he will represent a broad political spectrum. He says he has made no promises to appease conservatives.
    "They voted for me. They knew what they were getting," he says. "They will see I'm a pretty fair-minded person."