Jon Huntsman Sr. is calling for the resignations of U ofUtah President David Pershing and U Heath Care CEO Dr Vivian Lee.This comes in the wake of the firing of Hunstman Carcer Institute Director Dr Mary beckerle. Huntsman also called out H David Burton chairman of the board of trustees, saying Burton is basically unqualified for his position .Burton is an emeritus GA o f the LDS Church.Interesting to see one powerful Mormon be so direct with another basically calling him an incompetent fool.As a U of U grad I think the way Dr.Beckerle was fired by e mail was a low down dirty chickenshit move on the parts of Persing And Lee.Maybe it is time for better leadership at Utah .

He's a former presiding bishop and was in charge of the entirety of the church's "temporal affairs." Telling that Huntsman would find him unqualified for the board of trustees position.

There's something very secretive about the administrative action. I'd like to know what's really going on. A couple of thoughts...

1. The U's administration can't be so stupid as to not have figured out that they would be pissing off a major donor in making a sudden change to that donor's most ambitious and high profile project.

2. Huntsman, IMO, likes lots of attention for his philanthropy. His giving never follows the Biblical dictum--let your alms be done in secret. He likes the limelight.

3. The U's Board of Trustees was undoubtedly notified of the impending changes. Why are they silent?

4. Huntsman's media ads--threatening greater retaliation--are tacky. Is this the way a business professional conducts business?

5. Why would a major research university, like the U, handle a political hot bomb administrative action via email? Was the email simply a formality to what had already been hashed over?

Thoughts?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 10:57PM by BYU Boner.

I don't know. When I read about how he's giving away over a billion dollars in his lifetime, I was pretty impressed, especially given that he's a Mormon. With what you said about how he's tried to make all that public and all that stuff, it's much less impressive, though. I definitely agree with the philosophy of not publicizing your good works. Despite all this, and barring some controversial aspect of his life that I am not aware of, I still find Huntsman, sr. more impressive than the Mormon church put together. Which is a mild compliment.

I'm also a fan of Huntsman Jr. and his wife. They might be convenient Mormons, but I've never really seen them as a couple that has especially bought into Mormonism too much.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 11:33PM by midwestanon.

You're correct in that he's very generous, but he does like recognition. That's his right. IMO, Jon, jr. is a lot more polished and inclusive. Best wishes!

Hmmm, speaking ill of the lord's annointed. I wonder if this will hurt Huntsman's career.

I thought that this was a very interesting link from the SLT comment section.
http://www.businessinsider.com/patrick-soon-shiong-university-of-utah-donation-gps-cancer-2017-3?utm_source=feedburner&amp%3Butm_medium=referral&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+(Business+Insider)

I think you may be on to something.

So Villager is going to recommend this article to us as "interesting?" Talk about understatement.

Great find.

More generally, this will be fascinating to watch.

Huntsman is a prima donna, reportedly very tough to work for. He loves public attention and he has cultivated close relationships with church leaders.

Here he's taking on the U and, by extension, a lot of senior LDS people and allies. He's basically demanding that the state fire the president of the U and the head of the medical center. If he wins this, he's effectively shown that he is the greatest power in Utah. I'm stunned by the brutality of what he is doing here in full view of the public. It shows a remarkable arrogance.

Which side will the church come down on? I can't see how they would risk offending Huntsman by defending the university. But do they dare endorse Huntsman's effective assertion of power over the state government? The COB would probably prefer to negotiate, or support, a compromise, but Huntsman's ads and extreme statements probably make that impossible. This may well be a no-win situation for the church.

Time to cook some popcorn.

This isn't good for Jon Huntsman, Jr., either. If he's a rising political star, the last thing he wants is to be upstaged by his old man. It makes him look weak. He'll always be known as the politician who's father took down, or failed to take down, a major university and a state government.

Also, this will resurrect memories of how Senior publicized Romney's tax information in order to help Junior. That hit job was done behind the scenes, enabling Junior to continue acting as if he were running the show. But this is public, and it will remind the GOP that Junior brings danger and unpredictability a well as experience and charm.

Who wants a senator or a president who isn't even the dominant figure in his own family?

I'll melt the butter!

There's probably a big scandal brewing, but I don't see the church being part of it. The fight will be over who controls the U--it's Board of Trustees and State Board of Regents OR the Huntsman clan. The church can claim it doesn't get involved in governmental issues (snicker!)

I wonder how much of the scandal were going to see. It's convenient that Paul Huntsman now owns the SL Trib. Ironically after reading Villager's article we can see the newspaper ad costs (at least for the Trib) recycling back to the Huntsman family. Yeah, I know, it's peanuts compared to their wealth, but it's an interesting cycle. No wonder so few people control the vast amount of American wealth!

My very first thoughts on the story were that something BIG was amiss with the Institute. I speculated it involved money and/or fraud. Tax evasion could be a big part of what's going on, too. I wonder if we'll ever know--given the lack of rigorous media reporting in Utah and the culture of hush money associated with the very wealthy.

I did noticed that the news has hit US News and World Report--Something's rotten in the State of Deseret. Let's hope the national media and Federal tax overseers latch on to this. HDB's Boner



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2017 03:16AM by BYU Boner.

Then again, we could ask the prophet to put Joseph's rock into a U Hat and tell us, through divine revelation, what really happened!

I'm not sure, Boner, that the church can stand aside.

The church is the main force in Utah; it indirectly controls the government and, through the government, the university. The president of the U is a former presiding bishop--he controlled the church's finances. My guess is that the senior people at the U frequently meet, and discuss general issues, with church leaders.

Can the church really stand by and watch as Huntsman humiliates the university and the state? While he calls the former presiding bishop incompetent and demands his removal? My view is that if he succeeds in doing that, he looks more powerful than the church.

If Huntsman wins, the church looks weaker both to Utahns and to the world. When people think of Salt Lake city, at least for a while, they'll think of Huntsman.

This is, obviously, irrespective of whether there is a scandal.

The U's President, David Pershing, is not a former Presiding Bishop. Pershing may not be LDS. He was an internal candidate from the U, and had strong backing from the state's power circles.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765563040/Elder-M-Russell-Ballard-introduces-new-University-of-Utah-present-David-W-Pershing-to-LDS-students.html

H. David Burton, who is on the Board of Trustees, was the former Presding Bishop. Huntsman is taking shots at the trustees, too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2017 02:35PM by BYU Boner.

Thanks for that correction, Boner.

I think the rest of my argument remains sound both with regard to the church and relative to Jon, Jr. It'll be interesting to see how things play out.

Lot's Wife, you're one of the folks here I greatly respect. I'm hoping that you're entirely correct in that the church gets pulled into this! I'm told mojitoes go very well with hot buttered popcorn. Here's to you!

You da bomb, Boner.

I guess I think the church is hurt even if it avoids the fray. Up until now, it was the big dog in Utah. If it turns out there are two big dogs, well, the church doesn't look as powerful as it did.

I would say that the Utah Government indirectly controls the church, and not the other way around.

I wonder how much huntsman spoke with SPence Eccles before his demands .Is he so arrogant to go this alone or are he and Eccles generally not happy with Pershing and Lee and are using this situation to try to oust them.Dr.Lee is good at propaganda with UHC but she wants HCI s MONEY Dr Lee is an empire builder and it's her UHC Empire and she wants a suck up as HCI Director.

Huntsman Sr already took his falling out of favor shot at the Stupid Secret Handshake Social Club /MORmON church, saying that MORmON tithing is membership dues NOT genuine charity, a statement that LDS inc PR central certainly did NOT approve of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .....and most MORmONS are so damn stupid that they did not even notice.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewcave/2014/06/23/giving-to-your-church-doesnt-count-jon-huntsman-snr-and-twitters-biz-stone-on-new-philanthropy/#f2035cb3e11d

There is a bitter bitter feud going on between the Huntsman political camp who feels they were stabbed in the back by LDS inc and LDS Inc Chosen and FAILED pres candidate you know who.