[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7990-S7991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO GARY HERBERT

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I stand today to honor my friend Gary 
Herbert, Governor of the State of Utah for the last 12 years, who, 
after a long career in public service, is now embarking on a really 
well-deserved, hard-earned retirement.
  He served the State of Utah and has done so with great enthusiasm and 
dedication and spirit, and I am grateful to have worked alongside him 
throughout his tenure serving our great State.
  Gary Herbert was born in American Fork, UT, and grew up in Orem. He 
served a 2-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints on the east coast and later attended Brigham Young University, 
my alma mater.
  He first began his public service in college, serving in the Utah 
Army National Guard for 6 years and eventually becoming a staff 
sergeant. After his time in the National Guard, he set up a real estate 
firm and was very successful, eventually becoming the president of the 
Utah Association of Realtors. He also served as president of the Utah 
Association of Counties, by the way.
  Starting in 1990, he served as a commissioner on the Utah County 
Commission. He served there for 14 years, and it was at that point that 
he began his statewide service within Utah. You see, in 2004, when Jon 
Huntsman ran for the Governor's seat, Gary became his running mate, 
running alongside Huntsman as his Lieutenant Governor, with the pair 
going on to win the race in November.
  It was then that I first got to know Gary Herbert personally, when I 
was hired to be Governor Huntsman's general counsel. One of my first 
memories of Gary Herbert--which, to me, seems like it was just the day 
before yesterday--occurred when we all began moving into the Governor's 
office suite, just the day before Herbert and Huntsman were sworn into 
office.
  Gary came in and provided us all with a warm welcome, but he didn't 
stop at the welcome. He offered really sound and heartfelt advice about 
the importance of staying grounded as we were entering the political 
fray. He explained that long after our service and the Huntsman-Herbert 
administration expired, we want to be able to look back and be pleased 
about the relationships that we had formed with each other, but 
especially the relationships

[[Page S7991]]

that we had maintained with our families, our children, and God.
  I soon learned that Governor Herbert, in addition to being wise and 
in addition to being a skilled and valuable statesman, was also a 
formidable athlete. Right after he and Governor Huntsman were sworn in, 
the staff got together as a team several times in the Governor's 
mansion, where we soon discovered there was a ping-pong table in the 
basement. I then learned the hard way that Governor Herbert's athletic 
skills, including his ping-pong skills, are off the charts.
  While severing Governor Huntsman, I always found Gary to be friendly, 
approachable, and always willing to tackle every single assignment with 
eagerness and poise. Whenever Governor Huntsman's schedule became 
chaotic or changed unexpectedly, which happens in any Governor's office 
or any Senator's office, for that matter, particularly at certain times 
of the year, Lieutenant Governor Herbert would routinely be dispatched 
to speak on Huntsman's behalf, often sending him to remote corners of 
the State and often at really inconvenient times.
  He never once complained. And he was not only willing, but he was 
always eager and happy. He felt fortunate for the opportunity to help. 
That is the kind of enthusiasm that the people of the State of Utah 
have benefitted from for so long as a result of Gary Herbert's service. 
You see, he has never lost that--not during his entire time as 
Lieutenant Governor and not during his entire time as Governor. You can 
tell that he is exactly where he wants to be and that he feels 
privileged and he has been blessed to be able to serve the people of 
Utah.
  Likewise, whenever there was an issue that needed to be addressed by 
the Governor, even within the office or around the capitol compound, 
but where the Governor was unable to meet with the particular group in 
question, Gary was always assigned to the case. He would meet with, as 
he described it, all the different stakeholders. He would get together 
the legislators, county commissioners, citizens from this or that part 
of the State, lobbyists, lawyers who may have been involved, in 
addition to other members of Governor Huntsman's administration. He 
would bring them all in together, and he would wade through all the 
intricate and often pedestrian details of the matter. You see, he 
wanted to get to the bottom of the issue. He wanted to understand it. 
What is more, he had the skill of figuring out the best path forward 
for all parties involved and for making everyone feel heard and 
understood. If ever, whenever, there was a way to achieve a win-win, 
Gary found it, and he brought people to it, and they were always 
grateful as a result.

  The same traits that I saw in him as Lieutenant Governor would go on 
to make him an effective and beloved Governor himself. In office now as 
Governor since 2009, Gary Herbert is currently the Nation's longest 
serving Governor, and our State has seen exciting achievement and 
tremendous prosperity with Governor Herbert at the helm.
  In the last 8 years, Utah has seen continued, steady growth in our 
economy, with improvements in our GDP, number of jobs, and unemployment 
rate. We have seen the boom of Silicon Slopes. We celebrated the 
sesquicentennial of the driving of the Golden Spike, when it was an 
honor to stand alongside Governor and Mrs. Herbert at that celebratory 
reenactment.
  On that particular occasion, Governor Herbert and his wife Jeanette 
showed their characteristic enthusiasm by arriving in their finest 1869 
apparel just to commemorate the moment, and it made all the difference. 
It made it all feel much more authentic.
  So, too, was it an honor to join Gary when President Trump came to 
Utah to announce his decision to shrink the Bears Ears National 
Monument, when we could all stand together and celebrate the fact that 
someone in Washington had heard our concerns within the State and saw 
fit to redraw the boundaries in a manner more compatible with local 
interests and concerns.
  Through his enthusiasm and his zeal, Gary Herbert has championed our 
State and the things that we stand for. He has done so very 
consistently and very enthusiastically. He can rattle off figures and 
metrics about Utah at the drop of a hat. I am convinced this man can do 
it in his sleep and do so infectiously and persuasively. And he is a 
compelling spokesman for our State's values.
  His spirit has helped Utah to attract talent and investment not only 
from throughout the United States but from throughout the world and to 
make it the good place that it is to live.
  Not only that, but Gary has been an instrumental partner in 
supporting initiatives that reflect and strengthen the values of our 
State. To champion the reclamation of our lands, he signed into law the 
Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act. He also signed into law innovative 
criminal justice reforms in Utah. He was at the cutting edge of that 
movement, making a far-reaching impact across our State and that ended 
up having impacts elsewhere.
  In fact, his work in Utah in criminal justice reform helped pave the 
way for the work that Congress and President Trump were able to achieve 
at the Federal level through the passage of the First Step Act.
  He has been a strong supporter of Utah's family culture and was 
helpful in the Senate's work promoting the child tax credit during our 
tax reform discussions just 3 years ago.
  On a more personal note, Gary Herbert also had the wisdom to put my 
brother Tom on the Utah Supreme Court. In so doing, he has been a 
champion for textualism, the notion that judges are there to interpret 
the law based on what the law says, rather than on the basis of what it 
might have said.
  For all of his public achievements, Gary is perhaps most proud and 
always most conscious of and most aware of and most concerned about his 
own role as a husband, as a father, and as a grandfather. Gary and his 
wife Jeanette have 6 children together, as well as 16 grandchildren, 
and he is known to encourage them to ``follow in his footsteps and 
marry up.''
  In a myriad of ways, Governor Herbert has been a champion and a 
spokesman for all that is good about our State. It has been an honor to 
serve the people of Utah with him, and I wish Governor Herbert and his 
wife Jeanette all the best as they embark on the next chapter of their 
lives together.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Scott of Florida). The majority leader.


            Unanimous Consent Agreement--Executive Calendar

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask 
unanimous consent that with respect to the Soskin nomination, the 
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the 
President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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