Biography

John Valentine: A Steady Hand Leading the Senate

By Greg Jarrard, as written at UtahPolicy.com

Many Utahns wouldn’t recognize the president of the Utah Senate if they bumped into him. He could easily pass for the 50-ish successful attorney that he is and not turn a head.

But, two Utah County teens did recognize him one night not long ago as the lean state senator ordered up a cold, cholesterol-laden dairy treat at a local creamery.

“That’s the guy,” one boy said to his friend as they walked over to Sen. John Valentine and his wife Karen and offered two friendly handshakes.

They weren’t members of the local Young Republicans or two teens concerned about education funding or tax relief. They were just grateful to be alive and wanted to thank the gentleman who lowered them to safety off a rocky ledge above Provo Canyon’s Bridal Veil Falls.

Among his many interests and pursuits, the president of the Utah Senate is also a lieutenant in the Utah County Search and Rescue team. He’s been performing death-defying acts in Utah’s rugged back country since 1980, longer than he’s been shaking hands and kissing babies as a Republican politician.

Senator Valentine admits that late-night calls to grab his gear and head up the canyon are more likely to keep him awake at night than calls from angry constituents. But, it’s a balancing act.

That evening in Provo Canyon, he rappelled down to where the boys were stranded in order to lower them to the ground. They latched on to him like drowning men. And to complicate matters, his ropes were too short to get them to safety. So, he had to have other members of the team above him undo the ropes and drop them down to him. Then, one teen at a time, he lowered them to a ledge a few yards below before joining them to complete the feat one more time before he could return home and dream of balancing a multi-billion dollar state budget.

It seems like an odd pastime for a tax attorney trained as an accountant and economist and who spends two-plus months a year attending to the state’s biggest issues. As he explains it, it all has been a rather accidental journey.

“My foray into politics began on that day many of us refer to as ‘Black Monday.’ It was during a legislative session in 1987 when the Reagan tax breaks and Utah’s tax code collided to create a ‘perfect storm’ that threatened to reduce revenue, leading lawmakers to believe a tax increase was necessary and giving Utahns a double hit,” Valentine explained. “I called my state representative to explain how it wasn’t necessary to raise taxes; we could grow our way out of it. Any shortfall would be temporary, but nobody would listen.”

His frustration led him to file for an open House seat in 1988 when Rep. Craig Peterson filled an empty slot in the Utah Senate. Valentine faced a tough primary but surprised everyone — including himself — and won. Then, in November, he beat a popular Democrat and former Orem High School principal, again unexpectedly. He got the news at 3 a.m. from a Deseret News reporter asking for his comments about his victory. His response: “I won?”

That January, he found himself in the Utah House representing residents of Orem, Lindon and parts of Pleasant Grove.

He served in the lower chamber for 10 years where he filled positions on the judiciary, revenue and taxation, courts and corrections and many other committees. His background and experience put him in high demand as he found himself appointed to many task forces and ad hoc policy groups such as the Access to Health Care task force and the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Business Advisory Task Force. 

Then, in 1998, he moved to the State Senate when Gov. Mike Leavitt appointed him to the seat vacated by Sen. Craig Peterson; Valentine then won the Senate seat outright in 2000, and he’s served there ever since. His fellow Republican senators recognized his abilities and he has moved up in leadership to his present post.  

In those 19 years since Valentine first entered politics, what has changed the most?

“Growth and the complexity of issues,” the Senate president answered. “Everything is more complex, dynamic and harder to understand. It’s all a function of the growth that the state and UtahCounty have undergone in the past quarter century. When I came on the political scene in 1988, Utah Valley State College had just been made a two-year junior college with 9,000 students. Now we’re looking at the school becoming a university with three times that enrollment. Back then, everybody was worried about economic development, how we were going to create enough jobs to keep our young people here — how do we get the economy back on its feet. High-tech and the natural foods industries were still a ways off in the future. Now, the big challenge is dealing with all the growth, building enough roads and getting enough teachers. It’s a different world.”

A much different world. Sen. Valentine helped acquire $8 million in additional funds for UVSC to make the jump to university status. All in all, the Legislature had the happy task this year of divvying up a record $1.7 billion with some $572 million going to education and another $410 million to help build new roads. That’s a good thing, right?

“Not exactly,” Valentine responded. “Sure, it’s better than scrambling around looking for ways to stop the spread of red ink, but it has its own problems.

For example?

“For one thing, you tend to make commitments to ongoing programs when you have some cash in your hand that might lead to problems in coming years when that cash is gone,” he noted. Still, Valentine was quoted in the media as saying, “There was a lot of good will [in the Legislature] this session due to the surplus.”

“The decisions we made in this session will have a profound effect on the future. When you have that kind of money, you have to be very thoughtful. In lean times, it’s often easier — you ‘just say no.’” 

On the last day of the session, Valentine and his colleagues were mostly just saying “yes” as the body approved $2,971,100 in last-minute spending, including such things as $214,000 for Medicaid long-term home care and $7,300 for the Child Abduction Act.

He reflected on how getting things done in the Senate differ from the House.

“To get support for a bill in the House, you have to find a group of like-minded people, build a dynamic coalition. In the Senate, it’s more face-to-face, more one-on-one,” he explained. In other words, a senator can get more accomplished in the smaller body where there are fewer members, especially one in leadership with nearly 20 years in service.

Majority Whip Sen. Dan Eastman (R-Bountiful) noted that Valentine’s effectiveness is due in large part to “his ability to see the big picture of any issue, how it will play out down the road. He steps up to the tasks before him and gets the work done by building consensus; he is liked and respected by members on both sides of the aisle,” Sen. Eastman said. “When he makes a promise, he sticks by it. People trust him.”

Valentine was re-elected Majority Whip in 2002 and was then recognized by his peers across the country when he was elected to the Executive Board of the National Conference of State Legislatures. He has also been active with the Council of State Governments-West where he has also had several committee assignments. In 2004, he was elected president of the Utah Senate and elected to the Executive Board of the National Senate President’s Forum. And last November, he was re-elected to his post in the Utah Senate.

Sen. Eastman suggested that one reason Valentine’s colleagues continue to elect him to leadership is because he considers everyone who could possibly be effected by the implementation of new policy or the passage of a new bill.

“And, when he sets his mind to something, he gets it done, ” Eastman said. “Two examples are the elevation of status of Utah Valley State College to become a university. If it weren’t for John’s efforts, it wouldn’t have happened. Another is the extension of the quarter-cent sales tax for transportation, particularly the transit tax in Utah County. Now the commuter rail line will extend south through the county, again because of his leadership. He got it on the ballot and was a driving force behind it.”

In his family life, Valentine has a son who has followed in his footsteps and is a practicing attorney; another is finishing up a residency as a medical doctor; another son is studying bio-technology while his fourth son is serving an LDS mission. His oldest daughter is a stay-at-home mom while his youngest is finishing high school.

Despite all of those responsibilities, when his Search and Rescue pager goes off, Valentine jumps in his 4X4, all loaded up with medical gear, rock climbing and swift-water rescue and heads off to the hills.

“The rescue works allows me to do something totally different from work at the firm or negotiations on Capitol Hill. It’s totally physical — it’s demanding. And it’s good to know we’re saving lives,” Valentine said.

His love of the outdoors also spills over into public policy work. He was instrumental in helping implement a public-private partnership to acquire an interest in Rock Canyon just east of Brigham Young University and preserve the key gateway to a pristine part of the Wasatch Range for future generations. He was also an early advocate in establishing the Range Creek preserve in Carbon County near the Book Cliffs, as well as funding archeological research at the Wilcox Ranch in the same area. Valentine was also instrumental during the session in obtaining funding for the LeRay McAllister Land and Water fund that will help preserve open space and wildlife habitat.

For a lot of Republican legislative leaders in Utah, it may not be easy “being green,” but for Sen. Valentine, it’s all part of a day’s work. Besides being trained as an economist and a tax attorney, an elected representative of the people and Search and Rescue officer, he is also an optimist. While others may see storm clouds, he sees a bright future for Utah.

“Yes, surpluses can’t continue at billion-dollar levels, and we can assume that housing growth in Utah will follow national trends and slow down some. Nevertheless, the near-term outlook for Utah is still good with less inflationary pressure as a slow-down occurs in job growth.”

It’s good to know that if Utah does find itself staring down at an economic chasm or facing a tax or spending avalanche, that there is someone on a ridge above with a keen eye and a strong grip to lend a hand.

If experience tells us anything, John Valentine will probably have faced a similar situation before and somehow found a way to safety. His constituents are counting on it.

Greg Jarrard is a veteran ad man, writer and publisher best known for running paid ad campaigns for Republican candidates. He is now in the publishing business, running a small-press publisher serving the natural foods industry. His recent book, "A Jack Mormon's Travel Guide," is available at Deseret Book. He resides in South Jordan where he digs weeds and claims it is a garden.