Shari Holweg, a Provo City councilwoman, was a surprise pick to be Democrat Jim Bradley's lieutenant-governor running mate. Mainly because no one knew she was a Democrat.
A hidden secret, Holweg says, smiling. The 42-year-old mother of two boys is well-known in Utah County, where she has run several high-profile city races. She's also known to political insiders as a strong supporter of, and worker in, three of Merrill Cook's political campaigns.Holweg finds herself now in a different position, a member of a political party with responsibilities to an organization - even if it is the Utah Democrat Party - that hasn't been known for its rigid ideology.
Admittedly, Bradley was looking for someone a bit different to be his running mate. And Holweg says she fits that bill.
"I've always been an independent-kind of person. And I think I fit better in the Democratic Party than any other."
The other side of that coin is, as Holweg says, she's made a few "political enemies" in Utah County, and most of those seem to be Republicans, especially Provo City Mayor George Stewart.
Howleg says she's always kind of gone her own way, raised that way by a Republican father who worked in management of the Geneva plant owned by U.S. Steel and a Democrat mom, a doctor's assistant.
Howleg attended the old Brigham Young High School run by the LDS Church in downtown Provo until it closed in 1968. She then went to public high school, specializing in debate and oratory.
After high school she went to the University of Utah. But a badly broken leg, hurt in a skiing accident, brought her home and into bed. As she recuperated she decided to take "just one semester" at Brigham Young University. There she met Tim Howleg, who had followed his steady girlfriend from California to BYU.
One look at the limping Shari Gardiner, however, changed his plans. The pair were married, she dropped out of college and children followed some years later. Tim now owns and operates a car repair garage in downtown Provo.
Shari has gone through several jobs, all, in hindsight, leading her to run for public office.
Holweg first got a job working in the Provo city electric utility department in customer service and billing. Later she walked city neighborhoods reading electric meters for two-and-a-half years. "(You) get in good shape, walking all day."
Then Holweg took a stint as secretary to the city art board, where she arranged for art shows in the electric department's headquarters. When she went back to regular work in the department's billing office she began questioning how city money was being spent.
Some problems between city workers and management then led Holweg to get involved in union organizing. But, once again, her independence sprung up. "I could have gone to work for (the organizing union, the) American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. But union (leaders) were more interested in fighting for higher pay or benefits, and many of us (workers) were just interested in getting a fairer deal over grievances and such."
Her budget questioning and unionizing led Holweg to run for mayor against Joe Jenkins in 1985. She came in third but decided not to give up. She ran a write-in campaign - rarely successful efforts - and got 16 percent of the vote, a very respectable showing.
By 1991 she had quit the city, going to work at the state mental hospital. She decided to run again, this time for the citywide council seat. She took on the incumbent, ran a tough campaign and beat him by 187 votes.
In 1993 she ran for mayor again. Outspent $16,000 to Stewart's $40,000 she lost. A 1995 council re-election effort found another tough race; this time she won by only 136 votes.
In the spring of 1991 Holweg met Merrill Cook at a Utah Public Employees Association meeting in Salt Lake City. They hit it off. "I knew of him, of course. But we'd never met." A dinner between the Cooks and Holwegs several nights later saw Merrill and Shari talking politics all night long as their spouses looked on, "a bit bored."
Holweg liked Cook's independence and causes. She volunteered for his 1992 gubernatorial and 1994 2nd Congressional District race. Holweg managed Cook's 1996 congressional race through the May state convention.
But, again, independence got in the way. "Merrill was then (one of two) Republicans in the race. Now I (as manager) had to deal with the partisanship of the race, which I didn't like at all." She had quit the campaign for a week when Bradley call.
"He still thought I was running Merrill's campaign and asked how would I like to try something very different. I had no idea what he meant." At first, Howleg didn't want to be Bradley's running mate. She spent four days thinking it over before accepting. She had been independent so long she didn't know if she could fit into a party structure. But she had tried last fall to talk Cook into running against Leavitt this year as an independent. "Leavitt needs to be held accountable for a lot of things." The chance to run against Leavitt in 1996, after all, appealed to Holweg.
But Holweg also wondered how clearly identifying with the Democrat Party would harm her politically in conservative Provo. (She remembered very well former Provo Mayor Jim Ferguson. Few knew Ferguson was a Democrat until he became gubernatorial candidate Kem Gardner's running mate in 1984. After losing that race, Ferguson was voted out of the mayoralship his next election.)
It turns out, she says, she's been warmly welcomed in Democratic ranks, a good thing since the first Democratic meeting she ever attended was the May state convention where she was nominated as a candidate. Talk about a quick rise through party ranks.
"I'm here because of Jim, what he believes in. He's kind of a maverick, too, and I like that."
By the way, who does Holweg back in the 2nd Congressional District, her party's nominee Ross Anderson or Cook? "I could get in real trouble here. Better say no comment."