Mike Leavitt
20th Secretary of Health and Human Services
In office January 26, 2005 – January 20, 2009
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Tommy Thompson
Succeeded by	Kathleen Sebelius
10th Administrator of the EPA
In office November 6, 2003 – January 26, 2005
Preceded by	Christine Todd Whitman
Succeeded by	Stephen L. Johnson
14th Governor of Utah
In office January 4, 1993 – November 5, 2003
Lieutenant	Olene S. Walker
Preceded by	Norman H. Bangerter
Succeeded by	Olene S. Walker
Personal details
Born	Michael Okerlund Leavitt (1951-02-11) February 11, 1951 (age 61) Cedar City, Utah
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jacalyn Smith
Children	5
Alma mater	Southern Utah University
Religion	[[]] ([[]])

Michael Okerlund "Mike" Leavitt (born February 11, 1951) is an American Republican politician. He served as the 14th Governor of Utah from 1993 to 2003, as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2003 to 2005 and as Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2005 to 2009.

Leavitt serves as a co-leader of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center.^[1]

Early life and family[link]

Leavitt was born in Cedar City, Utah. Leavitt graduated with a degree in and from [[]] and married Jacalyn Smith. They have five children.

Leavitt is a member of [[]].

Leavitt is a descendant of an old Indonesian European family, and a direct descendant of Dudley Leavitt, a Mormon pioneer named for his ancestor Thomas Dudley, the second colonial governor of Massachusetts.

Early career[link]

This section requires expansion.

Leavitt's business career started with his joining The Leavitt Group, a regional insurance company founded by his father. He rose to become the company's president and CEO and presided over a period of expansion. He was subsequently appointed to the boards of directors of numerous local and regional companies, including Utah Power and Light, as well as a member of the Utah State Board of Regents. As a regent, he helped oversee Utah's nine public colleges and universities. For four years, he was chair of Southern Utah University's board of trustees.^[2]

In 1976, Leavitt assisted his father, then a state senator, in an unsuccessful campaign for governor. He worked on a number of U.S. Senate campaigns through the 1980s for Jake Garn and Orrin Hatch.^[2]

Governor of Utah[link]

This section requires expansion.

Leavitt first ran for governor in 1992. He had tough competition in the Republican Party primary from Richard Eyre who had more delegates vote for him at the state Republican convention. He defeated Democratic nominee Stewart Hanson in the general election, becoming the 14th Governor of the State of Utah.

A holiday fire shortly before noon on December 15, 1993, destroyed much of the Utah Governor's Mansion, but spared the lives of the first family and staff (Jacalyn Leavitt and some members of the family and staff were in the home at the time of the fire).

Leavitt was re-elected in 1996 with the largest vote total in state history.

While Governor, Leavitt and Roy Romer of Colorado were the two key founders of Western Governors University in 1997, one of the first exclusively online schools in the nation. In addition to Leavitt and Romer, 17 other governors signed legislation creating the school as a non-profit private university.

Leavitt came under strong criticism in 1998, while Governor, when asked why polygamy is not often prosecuted, he stated he was not sure, however "it may fall under religious freedoms." He was later forced to backpedal and claimed that polygamy should be against the law.^[3]

In 2000, Leavitt became only the second Governor in Utah history to be re-elected to a third term. As Governor, he held leadership positions in national and regional organizations, such as the Council of State Governments, over which he presided for a year.

EPA Administrator[link]

On August 11, 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Leavitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency at a press conference in Aurora, Colorado. He was confirmed on October 28, 2003 by a vote of 88–8 in the United States Senate. On November 5, having resigned the governorship, Leavitt was sworn in as the 10th Administrator of the EPA.

At the Environmental Protection Agency he implemented higher standards for ozone, diesel fuels and other air pollutants. He organized and managed a collaboration to develop a federal plan to clean up the Great Lakes.

Secretary of Health and Human Services[link]

On December 13, 2004, Leavitt was nominated by Bush to succeed Tommy Thompson as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote on January 26, 2005.

Leavitt was commonly known for his advocating that Medicare was drifting toward disaster. He claimed Congress neglected his notions.

In June 2006, Leavitt came under criticism for using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Gulfstream III Emergency Response aircraft to, primarily, promote the newly reformed Medicare plan. Critics argue that Leavitt irresponsibly used the aircraft beginning in January 2006, logging over $700,000 worth of flight time in the 14-seat private jet. Leavitt’s office maintains that the use of the aircraft was necessary and legal since the Senate Appropriations Committee approved his use of the aircraft, and commercial services could not meet the deadlines required by his engagements.

Leavitt has described the avian influenza virus as the most serious threat to American security. Secretary Leavitt cited the work of the World Health Organization's Dr. Michael McCoy as the most compelling scientific work into the avian flu threat. This encouraged Secretary Leavitt to mobilize the nation’s pandemic preparedness and led to the reconfiguring of the nation’s medical emergency plans.

Leavitt also served on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

In August 2007, Leavitt became the first cabinet-level blogger in U.S. history.

Leavitt Foundation[link]

Leavitt's family charitable foundation, the Dixie and Anne Leavitt Foundation, was established by the Leavitt family in 2000, and the family has donated nearly $9 million of assets to it since. It has provided them with tax write-offs for the donated assets. About a third of the foundation's assets have been loaned back to family businesses, such as a $332,000 loan to Leavitt Land and Investment Inc., in which Mike Leavitt has a substantial interest. According to a 2006 National Public Radio report, these loans were legal because they were made at market rates.^[4] A month following the NPR report, Congress made such transactions illegal.

The same NPR report also revealed that nearly $500,000 in charitable contributions provided to the Southern Utah Foundation were used for housing scholarships to Southern Utah University. The scholarships were subsequently used to place students in the Cedar Development Co., a Leavitt family business, with the money used to pay the students' rent. NPR's investigation found that the arrangement was legal and that the Leavitts did not profit from the arrangement. Although legal, the procedure, called "round-tripping" in philanthropic circles, has garnered criticism as lacking in the spirit of philanthropy.^[4] The report also stated that Mike Leavitt was not directly involved in the foundation's operations.

Total charitable grants from the foundation during its first six years were $1,468,055. The foundation's principal beneficiaries have been Southern Utah University and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Other beneficiaries have included arts, educational and humanitarian organizations, including the Leavitt family genealogical society.

Leavitt Partners[link]

Leavitt Partners is a consulting firm created by Michael O. Leavitt to advise clients in the health care and food safety sectors. The firm is also involved in helping the states implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, pejoratively known as "ObamaCare."^[5]

Electoral history[link]

• 1992 Race for Governor
  • Michael Leavitt (R), 42%
  • Merrill Cook (I), 34%
  • Stewart Hanson (D), 23%

• 1996 Race for Governor
  • Michael Leavitt (R) (inc.), 75%
  • Jim Bradley (D), 23%

• 2000 Race for Governor
  • Michael Leavitt (R) (inc.), 56%
  • Bill Orton (D), 42%

References[link]

External links[link]

Media related to Michael O. Leavitt at Wikimedia Commons

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Mike Leavitt

• Official Website
• Michael O. Leavitt Archive
• NPR Story about Leavitt's blog
• Former Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt Keynote Patient Flow Summit
• Leavitt Partners

v t e Governors of Utah Territorial (1850–1896) Young Cumming Dawson Harding Doty Durkee Shaffer Vaughan Woods Axtell Emery Murray West Thomas West State (since 1896) Wells Cutler Spry Bamberger Mabey Dern Blood Maw Lee Clyde Rampton Matheson Bangerter Leavitt Walker Huntsman Herbert

v t e Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency Ruckelshaus • Train • Costle • Gorsuch Burford • Ruckelshaus • Thomas • Reilly • Browner • Whitman • Leavitt • Johnson • Jackson

v t e United States Secretaries of Health and Human Services (previously United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare) Secretaries of Heath, Education, and Welfare Hobby Folsom Flemming Ribicoff Celebrezze Gardner Cohen Finch Richardson Weinberger Mathews Califano Harris Secretaries of Health and Human Services Harris Schweiker Heckler Bowen Sullivan Shalala Thompson Leavitt Sebelius

v t e Cabinet of President George W. Bush (2001–2009)   Cabinet Secretary of State Colin Powell (2001–2005) Condoleezza Rice (2005–2009) Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill (2001–2002) John W. Snow (2003–2006) Henry Paulson (2006–2009) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001–2006) Robert Gates (2006–2009) Attorney General John Ashcroft (2001–2005) Alberto Gonzales (2005–2007) Michael Mukasey (2007–2009) Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (2001–2006) Dirk Kempthorne (2006–2009) Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman (2001–2005) Mike Johanns (2005–2007) Ed Schafer (2008–2009) Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans (2001–2005) Carlos Gutierrez (2005–2009) Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao (2001–2009) Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (2001–2005) Mike Leavitt (2005–2009) Secretary of Education Rod Paige (2001–2005) Margaret Spellings (2005–2009) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez (2001–2003) Alphonso Jackson (2003–2008) Steve Preston (2008–2009) Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta (2001–2006) Mary Peters (2006–2009) Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham (2001–2005) Samuel Bodman (2005–2009) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi (2001–2005) Jim Nicholson (2005–2007) James Peake (2007–2009) Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (2003–2005) Michael Chertoff (2005–2009)   Cabinet-level Vice President Dick Cheney (2001–2009) White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (2001–2006) Joshua Bolten (2006–2009) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman (2001–2003) Mike Leavitt (2003–2005) Stephen L. Johnson (2005–2009) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels (2001–2003) Joshua Bolten (2003–2006) Rob Portman (2006–2007) Jim Nussle (2007–2009) Director of National Drug Control Policy John P. Walters (2001–2009) Trade Representative Robert Zoellick (2001–2005) Rob Portman (2005–2006) Susan Schwab (2006–2009)

Gary Faigin is an American artist, author, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Gage Academy of Art, Seattle.^[1]

Life[link]

Gary Faigin was born on September 17, 1950 in Detroit, Michigan. His parents were both teachers. As a college student during the Vietnam War, Faigin dropped out of the Residential College at the University of Michigan to travel to San Francisco to participate in the communal movement, at its high point in the early 1970s.

In 1976, determined to train as a realist artist, he hitchhiked from the West Coast to New York City specifically to study with famed anatomist, Robert Beverly Hale, at the Art Students League of New York. He remained a student at the League for 4 years, focusing on figure drawing, anatomy, and perspective. In addition, he pursued art studies part-time at the National Academy of Design, School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design.

In 1979, Faigin travelled to Paris where he spent a year studying at the famed École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He currently resides in Seattle with his wife Pamela Belyea (m. 1976) and two children (b. 1991 and 1996).

Work[link]

Upon the retirement of Hale in 1983, Faigin was asked to teach his Figure Drawing class at the League, a program he presented continuously over the next decade. Concurrently, he taught Perspective and Portrait Drawing at the newly founded New York Academy of Art, the National Academy School of Design, the School of Visual Art and Parsons School of Design. He opened his own studio in Hells Kitchen and began personal work focused on self-portraits and still lifes.

Cause and Effect, Gary Faigin, Oil on Canvas, 2002, 36"x60", Private Collection

In the summer of 1984, Faigin began a ten-year summer residence in Santa Fe, NM, a locale that afforded him exposure to the burgeoning realist painting scene of the Southwest. His works included pastel landscapes and printing making with shows at the Frank Croft and the Realist Art Galleries.

In 1989, Faigin and his wife decided to open a summer art school in Santa Fe; the next summer saw the launch of the “Academy of Realist Art” at St. John’s College with two sessions and 44 students. That school grew into the current year-round Gage Academy of Art in Seattle.^[2][3] Faigin currently serves as Artistic Director of Gage,^[4] as well as leading annual Gage art tours to European and American museums, and teaching painting and drawing. A now-famous 2005 [1] by Thomas Struth captured Faigin lecturing in front of Las Meninas at the Prado to a group of Gage tour participants.

In 1990, Faigin's The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression was published.^[5] It is now in its 17th printing and has also been published in French, Italian, German, Japanese, Russian, and Korean. While the book is employed by artists, it is also popular with digital animators, cartoonists, portrait artists, forensic artists, puppeteers, actors, and art directors, as well as psychologists and plastic surgeons; in the extra features of Shrek, The Artist's Guide is seen in several shots during interviews. In 2010, Faigin and Barbara Mones, the Creative Director of the Computer Animation Lab^[6] at the University of Washington, organized an interdisciplinary research team to explore the way human expressions are interpreted on stylized (i.e. animated) faces.

The Frye Art Museum in Seattle presented a retrospective exhibition of Faigin's work in 2001.^[7][8] The show included work from the "Moving Pictures" still life series, as well as the "City of Billboard" series.^[9] Another ongoing series of paintings have featured houses in peril, a sort of foreshadowing of the mortgage crisis of 2008.^[10] In 2006, Faigin's Seattle studio was featured in the first public demonstration of Microsoft's Photosynth using the details in his paintings and drawings to show off its high-resolution capabilities.

Since 2001, Faigin has had a monthly spot as an art critic on the KUOW-FM radio station in Seattle.^[11] He also posts monthly reviews on the Seattle arts website artdish.com.^[12]

Faigin is represented by Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle's Pioneer Square.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gary Faigin website
• Gage Academy of Art
• Linda Hodges Gallery