January 22, 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune, Brokeback' brouhaha poses a challenge for state promoters, by Paul Rolly,

January 22, 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune, Brokeback' brouhaha poses a challenge for state promoters, by Paul Rolly, 

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s optimistic budget proposals based largely on a possible $1 billion surplus will rely also on an aggressive recruiting campaign to lure new businesses into Utah to expand the tax base.

And that's where Larry Miller comes in.

Much has been said about Miller's last-minute deletion of the gay-cowboy drama "Brokeback Mountain" from one of his movie complexes. Supporters applaud his courage for standing up for the moral values of Utah and detractors call him a bigot.

But what might not be widely known here is the exposure Miller's decision has had on the Internet outside Utah and the possible hit it will have on the state's image as Huntsman's economic development soldiers try to sell Utah to corporate relocators.

Arianna Huffington's widely read blog, for example, contained a litany of responses from readers blasting not only Miller, but the state of Utah for being backward and rigid. Some contributors to the blog spoke of Utah's hypocrisy for its supposed tolerance of polygamy and its intolerance for gays.

Whether that is fair or not, perception often becomes reality, and the international publicity could pose another challenge for state promoters to bring in new businesses and expand Utah's tax base.

Compounding the problem is Sen. Chris Buttars' bill making its way through the legislative session, and sure to trigger nationwide publicity, that would require science teachers to downplay the importance of evolution as an accepted scientific theory.

Whether fair or not, news stories about that argument can't help but contribute to the perception of some that Utahns are a bunch of narrow-minded yahoos.

A recent survey commissioned by Real Estate Professionals for Economic Growth (RE-PEG) found that a number of corporate executives around the country view Utah as a backwater populated by quirky people.

Over several months, the group questioned executives from companies who have relocated or expanded to Utah and those who have omitted the Beehive State from its plans entirely.

"There were not a lot of companies who wanted to talk about the real reason they didn't come to Utah. But the perceived problems were very predictable," RE-PEG president Bill Martin told Salt Lake Tribune reporter Rebecca Walsh last month.

Among the reasons given for not coming to Utah was the perception that Utahns are cliquish and clannish.

It's not the first time that publicity over certain issues pushed by legislators or community leaders has triggered concern about attracting new business or tourism.

Several years ago, the Legislature couldn't stop wringing its hands over the proposal to join the rest of the country and designate an official state holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

After days of oftentimes silly debate (one legislator wanted to call it Utah People Day) the Legislature finally settled on Human Rights Day. The discussions invited national attention, much of it negative and even brought threats that the National Basketball Association might not want to let Salt Lake City host its all-star game and festivities.

Former Gov. Mike Leavitt launched an ambitious campaign to bring high-tech firms from California's Silicon Valley into Utah and was moderately successful despite worries that the Legislature's highly publicized reluctance to pass a meaningful hate crimes bill protecting gay people would taint the state's image in northern California.

Leavitt's effort persuaded Wilson Sonsini, one of the biggest technology firms in Silicon Valley, to open a Utah office. It also landed Cadence Design Systems and Seibel Systems, both highly respected software design firms.

But subsequent surveys of the employees who relocated to Utah found the ones with families adjusted well, while the single employees did not. The issues for singles included a lack of nightlife, lack of diversity and difficulties in adjusting to the culture.

To be fair, RE-PEG's survey found that once business leaders visit the state, they like it. It's the getting them to Utah in the first place that often is the tough part.

Chris Roybal, Huntsman's senior adviser for economic development, was upbeat about the state's prospects of attracting new business. He said in a Tribune story last month that in his travels to recruit new businesses to Utah, he has found that Utah is on the economic development map and that the state is on most companies' short list for locations in the western United States.

But that was before the flap over "Brokeback Mountain" and the legislative session over the next six weeks that some already have dubbed the 21st century version of the "Monkey Trial."