What a difference a couple of weeks can make.
In late November, Gov. Mike Leavitt was drawing fire from leaders of Utah's Hispanic community. Chief among the complaints voiced by the Hispanic Advisory Council and other groups was the contention that the governor simply wasn't listening to them.Specific concerns included Leavitt's allowing four months to pass without naming a new director of the Office of Hispanic Affairs, his appointment of a Caucasian woman over "better qualified" Hispanics to be the state's representative to Mexico on NAFTA affairs, and a perceived insensitivity by the governor's staff to the Hispanic community.
Both sides deserve to be congratulated for the dramatic improvement in relations.
On Nov. 29, Leavitt met with leaders of numerous Hispanic groups. Although the governor was roundly criticized at the session, getting feelings out in the open was a positive step.
This week, in an amicable meeting between Leavitt and members of the Hispanic community, the Hispanic Advisory Council was expanded from seven to 11 members, with a 12th member yet to be named.
The appointments added more Central and Latin American representation to the panel, once dominated by Mexican-Americans. More important, the appointees had the panel's blessing.
Chairwoman Lisa Hurtado Armstrong, who had been one of Leavitt's most vocal critics, praised the action: "The governor is listening to us."
With Utah's Hispanic population growing rapidly - it reached 85,000 in the 1990 Census, about 5 percent of the state's total population - open communication between state government and Hispanic community organizations is vital.
This doesn't mean, of course, that there won't be disagreement from time to time.
But the two sides deserve praise for the recent effort to improve relations by doing something that almost always produces excellent results: They listened to each other.