Lieutenant Governor returns
Christopher Farnes
senior writer
The first of many visits this school year by government officials to Utah State began Tuesday with Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox. Cox spoke to students and visitors in a two-part speech, firstly to political science majors in the careers in government class and then in an open session to all interested in attending.
Neil Abercrombie, the professor of the careers in government class and director of the institute of government and politics at USU, was in charge of the event. He introduced Cox as the “coolest politician in Utah,” to which Cox responded, “It’s a really low bar.” Cox had an hour of candid discussion with the audience, which was more than 50 people, who were interested in learning more about Utah politics.
This was the second time this year Cox has visited Utah State, which happens to be his alma mater.
“The first hour was just for the students that are enrolled in the class for a more one and one conversation with them,” said Jashon Bishop, who works in the government relations office for Abercrombie. “They can ask questions about how they got into their career and give advice individually to the students. The next hour anyone can listen in the forum format that we had today.”
Cox visited during the 2014 spring semester to speak about the role of social media in politics. This time Cox had no set agenda for his visit and instead took questions from the audience. The topics ranged from the transfer of public lands to Governor Herbert’s Healthy Utah Plan.
“I thought the discussion today was great, the students asked a lot of good questions,” Bishop said. “The lieutenant governor was candid, funny, had a lot of good information and was really articulate. He was able to explain things that can be a bit confusing and made it understandable for everyone.”
The audience was able to get a good view of the state of politics in Utah from Cox’s speech and an insight into Cox’s unique take on politics. He spoke about his philosophy that the reason we are in the bad political state we are in is because of the egos and pride of politicians.
“For example, when I get elected I am no longer Bob, I am Congressman Bob,” Cox said. “I am so important and if I’m not here then the whole thing is just going to fall apart. Since I am such an important and good person it doesn’t matter how I get to this position. I need to assure that I am always Congressman Bob because I can’t go back to my family and my old job, I am too important. All they care about is the next election.”
Part of the discussion was Cox’s response to the question of how to defend moral values as a politician.
“At the end of the day I just believe we need people who don’t care about getting re-elected,” Cox said. “It’s awesome because you can just go out and do and vote and say what you think and if the people don’t like you, then you’re out of there.”
Cox ended the discussion by calling out to the audience to get more involved in politics and spoke of the need for more young people to get involved.
“We need more of you, we need younger people to get involved, you are the lost generation,” Cox said. “The average wage for 20-30 year olds is 20 percent less than it was in 2000. Your generation hasn’t recovered from the recession and I firmly believe that is because your generation is not being heard, so get involved.”
The event was one of many that will be held by the Institute of Government and Politics in the coming months. Abercrombie and his staff are working to bring in a variety of different government officials throughout the school year.
“We try to have a pretty good array of state, local, national people to come here to the university,” Bishop said. “This is the first one that we’ve had this semester, but I hope that as much if not more people will show up for each of them this year.”
The next political speaker set to attend Utah State will be Judge Robert J. Shelby, who is well-known for his decision to legalize gay marriage in Utah and is also a graduate from USU. The event is scheduled to take place two weeks from now, though no dates or times have been announced.
— christopherfarnes@aggiemail.usu.edu