Introduction Lynn Ward was the assistant director in the Division of Finance, and Charlie Johnson was Governor Bangerter’s budget director the last year and a half of his term. After the 1992 election, there were some rumors floating around that Charlie was going to be GOPB director and chief of staff. Lynn thought that sounded crazy, as those both very heavy duty jobs. Lynn knew Charlie just from being in meetings with him. After the election, around Christmas time, GOPB director was one of the final positions that was named, and the rumor about Charlie persisted. Charlie called Lynn asked if she would meet with him. He asked Lynn two questions: Did she like supervising people, to which she responded, “No,” and the other was whether she felt she could manage a lot of detail, to which she responded, “I am good at that.” Lynn called her boss, Gordon Crabtree, Division of Finance director and said, “Why is Charlie calling me?” Gordon gave Lynn the news, so when Charlie asked Lynn to meet Mike Leavitt, she was prepared. The first thing Mike Leavitt said to Lynn was “sit down and tell me about yourself.” She started telling the Governor about (more…)
