Thirteen cell phones. A shuttle bus. Four dinner tables pushed together to make one. A recipe for making 96 rolls in a single batch.
Rep. Holly Richardson, R-Pleasant Grove, does everything big.
A registered nurse, practicing midwife and mother of 24 children — four biological and 20 adopted — Richardson has dedicated her life to family. Now, the newest member of the Utah Legislature has taken her unique perspective to the state Capitol.
Already known in some circles for her political blog, "Holly on the Hill," Richardson and her husband, Greg, have attracted new attention since she was selected to take Rep. Craig Frank's seat in District 57 after it was determined in late January that he would have to leave his post. (Frank ran for re-election in the district without realizing he'd moved out of the boundaries.)
The Richardsons are hard to miss — 19 of the 20 living children showed up to the Capitol to watch mom be sworn in, all of them wearing coordinating pink and black outfits. But not all of the attention has been positive. Some have wondered aloud if a mother with 13 children still at home should be spending so much time out of the house. Others have made snide remarks about taking on so many children in the first place.
The criticism is nothing new to Richardson and her husband, and she is determined to become a better parent through this experience.
"I think we all have a responsibility to be the best we can as parents, and part of that for me is showing my kids that I'm politically active," Richardson said. "I don't apologize to anyone for being involved in politics, because I can tell you that I bring a different perspective from most everyone else up here."
This desire to bring a different perspective is why Holly threw her name in the ring to replace Frank, a family friend of the Richardsons she never would have opposed in an election. When he stepped down, she saw the opportunity she'd been waiting for to take to the Hill as a lawmaker.
Family issues are Richardson's focus; in fact, family issues lured her into politics in the first place, 10 years ago. Richardson and a group of fellow midwives came to the session in 2001 to fight to change the licensure requirements for midwives after one was arrested for practicing medicine without a license in 2000. For three years Holly would make her way up to the Capitol with other midwives to lobby to change the laws. In 2003, they were successful, and a licensure act for midwives was passed.
"Before this experience, I had never wanted to get involved in politics. I had always thought it was a dirty business. I mean, I voted, but that was about it," Richardson explained, "But after being at the Capitol, and being involved in trying to change a law, I realized how much I liked politics."
After 2003, Richardson continued to be a fixture on the Hill, following legislation she cared about, and keeping her ears open for any legislation she thought might affect midwives in any way.
In 2005, Richardson didn't have any bills she was following during the session, so, out of boredom, she decided to start a political blog. Frank coined the name "Holly on the Hill" for her. The conservative-leaning blog discussed local and national legislation, profiled different politicians and candidates, in both local and national elections. Richardson took her blog seriously, even attending a political bloggers conference in Washington, D.C., to get ideas for Holly on the Hill. Richardson plans to return to her blogging after the session ends.
"When the session is over, I'm going back home to my computer," she said, "after I get done with my laundry, that is," she added, chuckling.
Doing the laundry for a household of 15 people is no small task — in fact getting anything done in a household of 15 takes some juggling. Richards is proud of her husband and children for willingly taking on more responsibilities at home while she spends her days at the Capitol during the six-and-a-half-week session.
"My husband has been awesome," Richardson said, "he's so good about helping out. He signs all the forms that need to be signed for the kids, it's great." A software programmer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Greg has some flexibility in his job that allows him to be at home a little more often during these six weeks. He doesn't mind making sacrifices so his wife can perform her legislative duties, but he said it isn't so unusual."Yes, she's been very busy for the past few weeks, but Holly's the type of person who's going to find something to keep her busy even while the session isn't going on," Greg Richardson said. "And here we're picking up a little more of the slack, I'm helping kids with homework more then ever, but things have gone pretty smoothly."
Every member of the Richardson family truly is picking up the slack. With 13 kids aged 6 to 18 living at home, there's plenty to do.
"My teenagers rotate cooking one night a week, my older son drives the kids to dance and practices, everyone gets themselves dressed in the morning. They know they can always get a hold of me," said Richardson, who is accomplished at text messaging, "and things run pretty smoothly. I do wish the cleaning fairy would visit more often, however."
The Richardson family is used to a hectic lifestyle. For the children, who come from eight different countries on six different continents, chaos is the name of the game. The Richardsons have to "octuple" most recipes in order to make them work for the family.
"People always ask us, 'how do you cook for that many people?' " Richardson said. "I tell them, 'it's simple.' We use really big pots."
Not everything is handled so easily. The Richardson's youngest daughter, Angelia, 3, passed away in her sleep just days after Richardson took office. Angelia was born without most of her brain, and died from related complications.
"It hasn't been easy," Richardson said. "I've kind of pushed it toward the back of my mind. I know when I get home and there's no baby, that's when I'll really understand she's gone."
But this is not the first time the Richardsons have dealt with the death of a child. Of their 24 children, 20 are living. Richardson and her husband have had several children, biological and adopted, who have dealt with disabilities, but this has never deterred them from wanting to add their family.
"Love doesn't divide, it multiplies," Richardson said. "I love all of my kids, and I remember all of their birthdays." The decision to adopt so many children was made out of love and compassion, she said, not because they ever received any money.
"This was something we decided to do as a family. We received no government subsidies to help pay for adoptions, we receive no government money now."
And to those who would criticize Richardson? She's prepared to take them head on.
"On my blog the other day someone posted, 'You should go back home to your babies.' You know what I say to that? 'I'm good, thanks.' I know I'm not normal, I'm unique. But there is room for all points of views up here, especially moms. We need more moms here on the Hill. We have too many lawyers up here. You don't have to study law to represent a point of view."
And represent is what Richardson plans to do. Along with family issues, Richardson is fiscally conservative, and wants to reduce the reach of government in the everyday lives of her constituents. She plans to be accessible to her constituents by holding town-hall meetings and constantly updating her Facebook and Twitter accounts.
"I want my constituents to know how I'm voting, and why I'm casting my vote one way or another," she said.
Watching Richardson maneuver around the Capitol, you'd never know that this session is her debut as a legislator. Seeing they way she casually schmoozes with lobbyists, confidently interacts with other legislators, the upright way she carries herself would make it easy to mistake her for a seasoned politician.
"Sorry about that," she says as she finishes a hushed conversation with a lobbyist outside the House chamber, "But you know how it is, it's all about the yakkin'.' "
Her family is proud she added politician to her list of careers.
"Holly is a good politician because she's very good at coming up with logic-based arguments," Greg Richardson said. "She never loses her cool. She realizes that there's always some point of common ground between two parties. And she loves helping people."
e-mail: khenriod@desnews.com