It's a day of new beginnings for Mike Leavitt, director of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the incoming Gov. Olene Walker.
This morning, Leavitt will resign as governor and Walker will be sworn in as his successor at a ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. at the Utah State Capitol. Afterward, Leavitt will depart to Washington to begin his new duties in the Bush administration.
These events are noteworthy on many levels. Leavitt becomes only the fifth Utahn to hold a Cabinet level position. Others were former Utah Gov. George H. Dern, secretary of war under Franklin D. Roosevelt; Ezra Taft Benson, agriculture secretary under Dwight D. Eisenhower; David Kennedy, treasury secretary under Richard Nixon; and Terrel H. Bell, education secretary under Ronald Reagan.
As Leavitt noted in his farewell address to the state Monday night, Walker, Utah's first female governor, will be sworn in by Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham, the first woman to hold that position. "These two will be blazing the trail for more women in public service," Leavitt said.
As each begins new roles and responsibilities, there is a palpable sense of excitement. In his final address as governor, Leavitt harked back to his childhood experience of riding a stick horse about his family's home in Cedar City, inspired by the fictional Marshal Matt Dillon of "Gunsmoke." Leavitt quoted the opening credits of the famed Western series, "It's a chancy job — and a little lonely." The same could be said of his and Walker's new challenges.
Nonetheless, one gets the strong impression that Leavitt relishes the idea of bringing a taste of Cedar City to his proverbial Dodge City — the Washington Beltway.
Likewise, Leavitt's departure enables a very capable and experienced Walker to emerge from his shadow. She plans to move forward with the same department heads from the Leavitt administration, though Walker's announcement of former Vernal legislator Gayle McKeachnie as her lieutenant governor and the selection of some fresh faces on her administrative staff suggest she will put her own brand on some issues and projects.
On this day of new beginnings and fresh possibilities, we salute Walker, who brings a wealth of government and private-sector experience to the governor's position, and bid a fond farewell to Leavitt, who has served his beloved Utah with distinction and integrity.
Best wishes to them both.