House Majority Leadership Team for 2019/20
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah House Majority Caucus elected their leadership team for the upcoming legislative session Thursday night. They are as follows:
“I am humbled and grateful for this opportunity to lead the Utah House,” said Speaker-Elect Brad Wilson. “During this upcoming session, we will continue to tackle big issues and find solutions to pressing concerns. Our work in the Utah Legislature will reflect the values and needs of all Utahns. Together, we will work to keep Utah the leading state for quality of life, prosperity and opportunity."
“It is an honor and privilege to be selected by my colleagues to lead the majority caucus,” said Majority Leader-Elect Francis Gibson. “I’m grateful for the chance to the lead the men and women of our caucus, reach across the aisle and work with the Senate to pass legislation that will better our state.”
Bios for the newly elected majority leadership team are below.
Representative Brad Wilson, Speaker-Elect
Brad Wilson, a Davis County native, represents Kaysville in District 15. He and his wife, Jeni, are the parents of three children.
Rep. Wilson is the CEO of Destination Homes, a residential homebuilder. In 2010, he was elected to the Utah House of Representatives. He served as the assistant majority whip in 2014-16. Currently, he is the majority leader and a member of the Executive Appropriations Committee.
During his time in the Legislature, Rep. Wilson has passed legislation to reform alcohol policy, strengthen the ability for small businesses to grow within the state while generating numerous strategies to improve Utah’s air quality, put protections in place for property owners from frivolous lawsuits and helped ensure victims of crime receive fair and timely restitution and reparation. Additionally, his leadership in moving the state prison to a new location will result in numerous jobs created, which will help stimulate even more economic growth.
Rep. Wilson is a public servant who aims to inspire and rally people to work together to find the best solutions for challenging issues.
He is active in the community. Boards Rep. Wilson has served on include Davis Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Davis Economic Advisory Council, Children’s Aid Society of Utah, National Advisory Council for Weber State University, World Trade Center of Utah, Walker Institute and Utah Capital Investment Corporation. He is also a member of the Utah Chapter of the Young President’s Organization. He was named as one of Utah’s Top 40 Under 40 Business Professionals.
Wilson has a business degree from Weber State University and is a graduate of the College of Financial Planning. In 2015, he was the Weber State University Alumnus of the Year.
Representative Francis Gibson, Majority Leader-Elect
Rep. Francis Gibson has represented District 65 in the Utah House of Representatives since 2009. He has chaired the Education Standing Committee and served on the Education Appropriations Committee, been a member of the Health Care Task Force, House Special Investigative Committee and the Legislative Redistricting Committee. He has served in a leadership position as majority whip for the past four years.
He believes being actively involved in the community where you live, rather it be an elected or voluntary position, is an important part of giving back.
For four years, he was a councilman for Mapleton City. He has served in many volunteer positions from Executive Board for Boy Scouts of America National Parks Council, Children’s Justice Center of Utah County, Utah Sports Commission and coached youth sports in the community and at the high school level.
As Rep. Gibson represents his district, he strives to be humble, dependable and accessible. He believes in addressing difficult matters is vital to improve and maintain Utah’s way of life we all know and love. Some of the most significant issues that he has and continues to tackle include growth, transportation, affordable housing and homelessness.
Rep. Gibson is the CEO and Administrator of the Orem Community Hospital and Spanish Fork Hospital, which is part of the Intermountain Healthcare organization. He has a Bachelor of Science from Brigham Young University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Houston and a Master of Business Administration from Utah State University.
In his spear time, he loves boogie boarding in the ocean, camping and golfing with his family and recently began riding dirt bikes with his sons. He looks forward to the day when he can retire and travel the country in a motorhome, visiting national parks.
Rep. Gibson and his wife, Shiela, have been married 25 years and have four children, three sons, and one daughter.
Representative Mike Schultz, Majority Whip-Elect
A lifelong resident of Hooper, Roy and West Haven, Representative Mike Schultz grew up working on his grandfather’s cattle farm. From that experience, he learned one of life’s greatest lessons--the value of hard work.
With this in mind, and with the help of his parents, at the age of 10 Schultz began his career as an entrepreneur selling worms to fishermen. At 12, he took his first job milking cows at his neighbor’s dairy farm and by the age of 16 he had started a hay hauling business and was sub-contracting with a ward member to roof houses. He earned his general contractor’s license and started building homes when he was 20 years old.
Rep. Schultz owns and operates a number of small business and currently serves as president of Castle Creek Homes, headquartered in Roy, Utah. He also serves on the Board of Directors for First National Bank.
As an employer and small business owner, he believes that the role of government is simply to give its citizens the framework to build their own success and then get out of the way.
He was first elected to represent District 12 in the Utah House in 2014. Serving in the Utah Legislature has been most meaningful to him when it gives him the opportunity to make a positive impact in people’s lives, especially in those areas where government has overstepped its authority.
He and his wife, Melissa, are the proud parents of six children.
When not busy with work or family, he can be found in the great outdoors hunting, fishing, cattle ranching or snowmobiling.
Representative Val Peterson, Majority Assistant Whip-Elect
Representative Val Peterson was first elected to the Utah State Legislature in 2010. As a member of the Utah House of Representatives he has served as chair of House Education and Vice Chair of Rules, Government Operations, Economic Development, Work Force Service and Labor Appropriations.
Rep. Peterson is the Vice President for Finance and Administration at Utah Valley University (UVU). He serves on the UVU Events Center Board, is a board member of Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem and has served on the Provo Airport Board.
During his time in the legislature, Peterson has and continues to work a number of issues including education funding, air quality, transportation funding, public lands, prison relocation and public lands legislation.
Prior to running for office, Peterson served his country for 32 years. He served in the National Guard for 30 years and as the Land Component Commander for the State of Utah. He retired as a Brigadier General. Throughout his military career, his areas of responsibility consisted of the Army National Guard MACOMS, military intelligence, engineers, aviation, artillery, special forces, medical services and commanded at the Company, Battalion and Brigade level.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, a master degree in Mass Communications from Brigham Young University (BYU), a master degree in Strategic Studies from United States Army War College and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from BYU.
Peterson, originally from Idaho, lives in Orem with his wife, Ann. They are parents of three children. The Peterson family enjoys boating, water skiing, hiking, skiing and golfing together.
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WHAT: Secretary Perdue will visit Clemson University and attend a luncheon with Commissioner Weathers, President Clements, and Clemson University agriculture students and leadership. Following, Secretary Perdue will hold a media availability.
WHEN: TODAY, Friday, November 9th beginning at 12:00pm ET
WHERE: Clemson University, Hendrix Center, 720 McMillan Road, Clemson, SC 29631
WHAT: Secretary Perdue will tour the T. Ed Garrison Arena and LaMaster Dairy Center with Clemson agriculture students and leadership. Following, Secretary Perdue will hold a media availability.
WHEN: TODAY, Friday, November 9th beginning at 1:40pm ET
WHERE: Clemson University, T. Ed Garrison Arena, 1101 West Queen Street, Pendleton, SC 29670
*NOTE: Tour begins at the T. Ed Garrison Arena and ends at the LaMaster Dairy Center, 800 Old Stone Church Road, Clemson, SC 29634
WHAT: Secretary Perdue will visit Nickles Farm and hold a town hall with Commissioner Weathers, agriculture leaders, and stakeholders. Following, Secretary Perdue will hold a media availability.
WHEN: TODAY, Friday, November 9th beginning at 3:20pm ET
WHERE: Nickles Farm, 199 Nickles Road, Seneca, SC 29678
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Activists Looking Beyond Midterm Elections
By Rob Okun
669 words
Since Donald Trump’s selection as president two years ago, a growing movement of citizens has been fighting back at what it sees as a dangerous march toward fascism US style. And, despite the election of some progressive candidates in the midterm elections, it would be a mistake to count on them alone to interrupt the erosion of an already tattered democracy in a largely corporate controlled society.
Still, the diverse community of activists, old and young—a veritable rainbow coalition—is already a force, both as potential allies to the newly elected progressives and as a check on them to follow through on their campaign promises.
Like many born after World War II and before the moon landing in 1969, my activism began in the 1960s, volunteering for Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign and as an anti-Vietnam war protestor. Ever since, I have been a part of a range of campaigns and causes, in recent years focusing on challenging men’s violence against women and working to transform masculinity. Today’s activists, from Black Lives Matter to 350.org, for example, count at their core women—many active well before the Women’s March—who have long been leading the way in a feminist wave revitalizing activism today.
In campaigning in the midterms, activists saw a simultaneous truth: in addition to the energy and enthusiasm many felt in working to help the Democrats take back the House of Representatives, they also recognized that electoral politics alone cannot fix a broken system. Those outraged by the white supremacist misogynist temporarily residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue felt that working to flip the house was a struggle worth engaging in.
For my part, I spent the final week of Texas senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke’s bid to unseat Ted Cruz, “block walking” the streets in a mix of neighborhoods across Dallas. Thousands were doing the same across the state, including those I walked with, from one of my daughters to a history professor from Kentucky, to a Mexican American X-ray technician. Our shared experience created a powerful bond which has only strengthened my conviction that activists double down to advance grassroots movements.
I talked—and listened—to voters, many of them exercising their franchise for the first time in years. I heard how marginalized they feel and how—for a moment, anyway—Beto’s candidacy interrupted their despair. Was it an illusion that the charismatic progressive 46-old Congress member from El Paso could transform conservative Christian Texas? Could he lift up the spirits of the disenfranchised, including Mexican-Americans and non-citizen Mexican and Central American residents, fearful of an administration relentlessly threatening them? He certainly tried. His message was inclusive; he recognized the diversity in the state’s 30 million citizens, and he spoke to voters’ better angels—standing up for families, for teachers, for communities of color, for gays, lesbians and transgender Texans. Beto became the embodiment of hope for progressives from coast to coast. If hope is a muscle, Beto showed Texas what it looked like when it was exercised.
Yes, Ted Cruz is still the state’s junior senator. But as a Texas native told me in a Dallas coffee shop the day after the election, that a Democrat came as close as Beto came to unseating Cruz is proof the state is changing. (And the results of many races statewide backed up his contention.)
On my last day of canvassing, I knocked on the door of a 75-year-old African American man with a trimmed white beard. He closely resembled the late actor and activist Ossie Davis. He appreciated my being there but told me he thought it was time for the younger generation to step up. “We’ve done our walking,” he said, noting my white hair and beard. “It’s their time now.” I nodded, but added, “It’s still our time, too. We can’t stop now.” As I headed down his front walk, he called to me. I turned to him standing in his doorway. “I’m not gonna say good luck,” he said. We’re gonna need more than luck.”
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Rob Okun, rob@voicemalemagazine.org, is syndicated by PeaceVoice, edits Voice Malemagazine, and is author of VOICE MALE - The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men's Movement.
