Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Orton will serve only one term as governor if he wins this November, and he won't be raising any campaign money during those four years, the former U.S. congressman told the Deseret News editorial board Friday.
"I will run a different kind of campaign . . . and run a different kind of" administration, Orton said.
Before he cannot run for re-election, the 51-year-old must first win election, defeating the well-funded and popular GOP Gov. Mike Leavitt. But Orton doesn't see his one-term policy as a detriment but a positive.
"It is not a limiting" announcement that would make him an instant lame duck "but a liberating one," Orton said.
"I'm a strong advocate of term limits on politicians," he added. "People ought to come in and do what they can do and leave. I would serve one term, not stand for re-election. I wouldn't go out and raise money. If I'm governor I want to make decisions on the basis of one concern: the public interest. Not what's best for my contributors, not what keeps the party happy or will get me re-elected in four years."
Orton said he would even support a Utah constitutional amendment to make governors serve only one term and then "get out."
"You know, if you knew the day you were going to die, you'd work backwards — set out a plan" to make every day count. That's what he wants to do — give himself four years to tackle some tough political problems and then attack them with vigor.
Tops on the list is education. And while Orton wouldn't absolutely rule out some kind of tax increase for education, "I'm not going to walk into office the first day" looking to raise revenue for schoolchildren.
First, said Orton, he'll look at what the education goal for Utah should be. Then he'd develop a plan to reach that goal. "And we'd allocate state resources to reach that goal."
Other state programs would be prioritized below public education. They would get funds also but only in relation to what education needed. At the end of the prioritizing list "we'd likely have (current) programs beyond the resources."
Then he'd go to the Legislature and the people, he said, and ask some tough questions. If the public will wasn't there for those programs, they would be cut. If it was, then what kind of tax increases would residents and lawmakers accept and support for those last-tier priorities?
"The question I have for Gov. Leavitt is: What will you do differently on education that you haven't done in the last eight years? We aren't going up" in educational achievements, "we're going down. Will the next four years (of a Leavitt administration) just mean more of the last eight years on education?"
Leavitt, asked Friday what he thinks of Orton's challenge, said he welcomes the former congressman into the race. Seeking to become only the second governor in Utah history to serve three, four-year terms, Leavitt said he has no problem with Orton's plan to campaign publicly only after Labor Day this September.
"I think it makes a lot of sense, really," said Leavitt. "People aren't focusing" before September and a two-month campaign "will give us plenty of time to put the issues on the table."
However, Leavitt also has 75 percent favorable ratings in recent Deseret News polls and an estimated $1.5 million in his campaign account. He also leads Orton in a December head-to-head poll by 36 percentage points.
Orton said he would challenge Leavitt to 29 two-hour public debates in Utah's county seats. If Leavitt agrees, citizens will get enough information through those debates to make an educated vote, Orton said. No need to spend $1.5 million on a slick campaign, tons on TV advertisements, he added.
"But I don't expect he will agree to such Lincoln-Douglas debates. I think he'll opt to tell the people through a multimillion-dollar ad campaigns what he wants them to hear about his record."
On other issues:
Orton said he supports Utah's death penalty law. But he does worry about cases in other states where DNA testing has shown men on death row were wrongly convicted.
"During my congressional terms I routinely received 100 percent approval ratings by the National Right to Life. My stand on abortion is exactly that of the LDS Church's (to which he belongs). But abortion is one of those hot-button issues people drag out to push people apart. It is a non-issue politically, really, because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled they are legal and (Utah) has controlled them as much as states are allowed."
He opposes Leavitt's and Rep. Jim Hansen's West Desert wilderness proposal. "It is political horse-trading of the worst kind. I've yet to have anyone, environmentalists, the governor or secretary of the Interior tell me what will happen to any West Desert land if we don't do this. Because none of the land will be developed or harmed," he said.
He's against the Legacy Highway in Davis County. "Why pave eight lanes of the swamp out there when after it's finished it will be full (of cars) and we'll just have to find another eight lanes to pave. Commuter rail is the only logical answer — the sooner the better."
And while he received 100 percent approval ratings from the National Rifle Association for his congressional votes on federal gun control, Orton said he supports the guns-out-of-schools citizen initiative that could be on the 2000 Utah ballot.
"I see no reason why a gun, a concealed weapon" should be brought into a school or church, Orton said.
He said soon he will go through Utah's concealed weapon permit process himself. He anticipates he'll find out firsthand that training is "woefully inadequate" and that "significantly more training" should come before a person can get a concealed carry permit.