Gary R. Herbert

Gary Herbert
Governor of Utah
Incumbent
In office
August 11, 2009 - Present
Years in position	4
Party	Republican
Prior offices
Lieutenant Governor of Utah
January 3, 2005 - August 11, 2009
Education
High school	Orem High School
Military service
Service/branch	Utah National Guard
Personal
Birthday	May 7, 1947
Place of birth	American Fork, UT
Profession	Realtor
Religion	Mormon
Websites
Office website

Gary Richard Herbert (born May 7, 1947 in American Fork, Utah) is the current Republican Governor of Utah. He had been serving at Lieutenant Governor of Utah and assumed office on August 11, 2009. when former governor Jon Huntsman left to take a position as U.S. Ambassador to China. Herbert later won a special election in 2010 that was held to determine who would serve out the remainder of Huntsman's term. He is seeking re-election in Utah gubernatorial election, 2012 along with running mate Lieutenant Governor Greg Bell.

Biography

Gary R. Herbert was born in American Fork, Utah to Paul and Carol Peters and was later adopted by his stepfather, Duane Herbert. He grew up in Orem, Utah and after graduating from Orem High School served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern Atlantic States Mission.

He attended, but did not graduate from, Brigham Young University. While studying there, Herbert joined the Utah National Guard, serving for six years and eventually earning the rank of staff sergeant. When his military service was completed, he embarked on a career in real estate, founding Herbert & Associates Realtors, a brokerage firm based in Orem. Herbert and his wife, Jeannette, also founded and ran a child care service in Orem for 23 years.

Political career

Governor of Utah (2009-Present)

Herbert first became Governor of Utah on August 11, 2009 when then-Governor Jon Huntsman stepped down to take a position as U.S. Ambassador to China. He later won a special election in 2010 to fill the remainder of Huntsman's term.

Judicial appointments

As governor, Herbert is responsible for appointing judges to Utah state courts. In Utah, the governor makes a judicial appointment after candidates are recommended by a judicial nominating commission. After the governor appoints a judge, she or he must be confirmed by the Utah State Senate. Judges then stand for retention in the next general election more than three years after appointment. For an up-to-date list of all of Herbert's appointees, see Judgepedia's page on his appointments.

Lieutenant Governor of Utah (2005-2009)

In 2004, Herbert was a candidate for Governor of Utah until one month before the state nominating convention. At that point, he teamed up with Jon Huntsman and ran as his lieutenant governor. The pair defeated incumbent Olene Walker at the Republican convention and went on to win the general election in November.

Utah County Commissioner (1990-2004)

Herbert served as a commissioner of the Utah County Commission.

Campaign finance controversy

Herbert's eligibility to hold the governorship was questioned when former Independent candidate for Utah lieutenant governor Steve Maxfield filed a complaint alleging Herbert broke campaign finance laws in his filings for the 2012 election. Maxfield launched his whistleblowing efforts against Herbert in 2010 when he filed his first petition with the Utah Supreme court vis-a-vis Herbert's funding by political action committees. The state laws about the proper use of political action committees are murky: candidates must conduct all election-related fundraising and expenditure through their campaign committees to address and make transparent any potential conflicts of interest, except contributions from special-interest PACs are also permissible. The inconsistency provides a legal grey area in which candidates can circumvent standard report filing rules when accepting extra cash from a PAC, as Maxfield argues Herbert did in the 2010 special election, and has done this year. After his first petition was rejected, Maxfield pressed the Lt. Governor's office to remove Herbert from the 2012 ballot for repeating the finance report integrity breaches in his 2011 and 2012 filings. On March 20, 2012 Utah's director of elections rejected this complaint as well, and the Lt. Gov Greg Bell said "the candidate filing the governor submitted last week only applies to upcoming disclosures, not those from past elections." Maxfield, who said he considered appealing the newest ruling in district court, maintains that Herbert is "statutorily not qualified because he’s been continuing to use the PAC."

Elections

2012

See also: Utah gubernatorial election, 2012

Hebert and running mate Lt. Gov. Greg Bell will face 5 challengers in the partisan primary election on June 26, 2012.

2010

See also: Utah gubernatorial election, 2010

Utah was not scheduled to hold a gubernatorial election until 2012. However, elected Republican Jon Huntsman gave up the seat to serve as U.S. Ambassador to China in August 2009. Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert assumed the governorship upon Huntsman's departure, and won the seat by special election in 2010.

General

Herbert and running mate Greg Bell won the general election on Novemeber 2, 2010.

Governor, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Gary Herbert	64.1%	412,151
	Democratic	Peter Corroon	31.9%	205,246
	Independent	Farley Anderson	2%	13,038
	Libertarian	W. Andrew McCullough	2%	12,871
	Write-in	Michael W. Heath	0%	1
Total Votes				643,307

Primary

With 70.8% of the vote, acting governor Herbert overtook two fellow Republicans to secure the party's nomination in the 2010 special election primary race for governor.

Governor, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Gary R. Herbert	71.1%	2,386
Daniel Van Oaks Jr.	24.7%	830
Richard Martin	4.2%	141
Total Votes		3,357

Issues

Presidential preference

2012

See also: Endorsements by state officials of presidential candidates in the 2012 election

Gary R. Herbert endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.

Campaign donors

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Gary Herbert's donors each year. Click [show] for more information.

Gary Herbert's Campaign Contributions
	2010 Governor of Utah
Total Raised	$2,572,637
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$2,161,016 (Democrat) $3,836 (Unaffiliated candidate) $2,651 (Libertarian)
Top 5 contributors	Friends of Gary Herbert PAC	$1,250,290
	APX Alarm Security Solutions	$75,000
	Deseret Power	$50,000
	Consol Energy	$45,000
	Utah Zoological Society	$17,055
Individuals	$485,926
Institutions	$818,971
In-state donations	$2,287,482
Out-of-state donations	$285,155

Personal

Herbert served as the president of both the Utah Association of Counties, where he was named as Utah's Outstanding County Commissioner and County Elected Official, and the Utah Association of Realtors. He is the recipient of the National Outstanding Republican County Elected Official of the Year award. He and his wife, Jeanette, have six children and eight grandchildren.

See also

• Governor of Utah
• Lieutenant Governor of Utah
• Lieutenant Governor Gregory Bell

External links

Suggest a link

• Utah Governor Gary Herbert Official state site
• Gary Herbert campaign website
• Biography of Gary Herbert at Project Vote Smart
• LG Herbert's "Leave Your Print" campaign
• LG Herbert's "Be Ready Utah" campaign
• Gary Herbert on Facebook
• Gary Herbert on Twitter
• Gary Herbert on YouTube