Let 'em Holler - A Political Biography of J. Bracken Lee

Economy in Government I

ft Economy in Government I Before the 1949 inauguration the Deseret News began encourag­ing Lee in his economy program, claiming that appropriation requests would exceed anticipated revenues by several million dollars. Expressing confidence that the new governor was "fully aware of the need of economy and a balanced budget," the News suggested that he review department requests with a critical eye. Presumably, the taxpayers would not stand still for huge increases in levies to support a large building program.1 In his budget message to the legislature Lee called for a "sound economy, a businesslike administration, and an efficiency in government." Warning that the state might "wreck itself financially," he insisted that the "legislature and the Governor must have the courage and the ability to say 'No'." He recom­mended the curtailment or elimination of many programs in the hope of establishing a reserve to cushion the state against reces­sion in prices or employment. He criticized the earmarking of funds-the practice of setting aside tax receipts from designated sources and using the money only for a predetermined service to the state. According to Lee, departments of government were known to waste unused earmarked funds for fear that failure to spend would suggest lack of need to the legislature, resulting in future loss of funds.2 Although promises to welfare recipients were not a part of Lee's campaign for governor, his comments about them were not unfriendly. He claimed that certain abuses in the welfare system needed correction and that partisan politics had crept into its administration. He suggested that the aged and needy had been threatened with withdrawal of deserved benefits and that such exploitation was "cruel and inhuman." He wanted a program that would "divorce relief from politics."3 53 J . BRACKEN LEE Supposedly, there was nothing more important than an intel­ligent, efficiently planned highway program. However, Lee rec­ommended that the highway commission be abolished and replaced with an appointive one directed by the governor. Then, aiming his first blow at education, he argued that the law by which colleges obtained their money gave them excessive amounts and should be repealed.4 Dating back to the 1947 legis­lature, Title 79 suggested a budget formula that gave the institu­tions exclusive control of their collections and required the gov­ernor to recommend one lump sum for institutions of higher learning.5 In criticism of Utah's public schools, Lee pointed vaguely to a "tendency" to "depart from basic principles of pub­lic education" by experimenting in new fields. He feared that "these so-called special school plans" might use a greater portion of the tax dollar.6 The new governor's suggestions involved nearly every depart­ment. Noting that the Publicity and Industrial Development Department had requested $1,186,000 for the next biennium, Lee recommended that the entire department be abolished and a much smaller appropriation of $100,000 be administered by the governor. He also suggested reducing the number of com­missioners in departments, retaining a three-member commission only where essential.7 He proposed cutting off all new construc­tion except for the new state prison, which he deemed of "primary importance." With the tax burden already excessive, he recom­mended that no new taxes be imposed. He criticized the state juvenile court system as expensive and inefficient and suggested that it be studied. But Lee was not miserly with state employees. He claimed that it was "false economy to underpay those who serve the State."8 Impressed by a message "refreshingly free from 'pussyfooting' and 'double talk,'" the Salt Lake Tribune called it "admirable,"9 while the Deseret News labeled it "heartening."10 Apparently, the idea of economy was attractive to many Utahns, even though specifics would not be as easily accepted. Lee suggested that the legislature trim $38,000,000 from state department requests of $81,520,000 in order to balance the biennial budget. Receiving 54 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT I the biggest axe was higher education, cut from a request of $10,580,000 to $5,700,000," followed by the Department of Public Instruction, slashed by more than half from a request of $690,796, arousing the ire of Superintendent E. Allen Bateman. Although Bateman hotly denied it, Lee claimed that the depart­ment had a $20,000 carry-over of funds from the previous year.12 The battle lines between Lee and educators were well drawn. President A. Ray Olpin of the University of Utah estimated that the amount budgeted for higher education was approximately the amount required by his institution alone.13 Unperturbed by criticism, Lee slashed the expenditures of every branch of government except welfare, which escaped only because its request was the same as the previous biennium. The juvenile courts and the vocational schools were left out of the budget entirely. While the legislature grappled with the figures, Lee vetoed expensive measures such as a bill to expand Weber Junior College at Ogden to a four-year institution. Blaine Peter­son, Weber County Democratic chairman, sent Lee a cynical telegram prior to the veto, warning, "Veto Weber College bill and kill yourself politically in Utah. You supply the ammunition. We will do the rest."14 Soon afterward Lee vetoed a bill to appropriate $40,000 to meet a deficit for the Utah Symphony Orchestra.15 Finally, the legislature produced an appropriation of $52,- 256,278, a figure $9,000,000 above the governor's recommended budget, but still representing a trimming of some $29,000,000 from the department requests. To justify its spending, the joint appropriations committee cited evidence from the legisla­tive council and the tax commission that Utah would gain $55,000,000 during the next biennium. Besides, Utah had no bonded indebtedness, with $5,000,000 in reserves and $4,000,- 000 in unexpended building funds. Although it was clear that the state's financial condition was not unhealthy, Lee claimed that the appropriation was "illegal," because it exceeded anticipated revenues; then he methodically eliminated twenty-five items from the budget, totaling $3,843,- 800. In the process, he administered the death knell to the Salt 55 J . BRACKEN LEE Lake Area Vocational School ($500,000); he eliminated the $750,000 appropriation for the Utah Water and Power Board, which built dams and worked to preserve water; he removed the $375,000 requested by the Department of Health for hospital construction; he cut the $328,350 appropriation for the operation of the children's crippling disease hospital out of the budget; he removed $400,000 for airport construction; he vetoed all special funds for education; and he eliminated $400,000 in funds for soil conservation, bovine tuberculosis, and Bang's disease control requested by Utah State Agricultural College, as well as $495,000 for the University of Utah's Stewart Training School. Under Utah law, Lee could not simply reduce individual items; he could either approve of the entire budget or eliminate entire items. More careful in its praise this time, the Tribune said Lee was "conscientious" but warned against a recession caused by "undue pessimism, too narrow a view, holding too tightly to the purse strings."10 The Telegram called Lee's action "commendable," since there would have been no great cushion of excess revenue if the bill had been accepted when it reached his desk; yet it was "difficult to applaud the specific item vetoes because they hit so many worth-while activities."17 Although Lee's niggardly attitude staggered most observers, the state was in the mood for economy. The spirit of his program was accepted, even though he immedi­ately made significant enemies, the number of which would increase as his term wore on. Lee's unfortunate decision to single out education for scorn indicated a profound bias destined to plague his political career. For instance, in a speech to the Utah Junior Chamber of Com­merce, he accused the University of Utah president of allowing a "poorly managed and extravagant maintenance staff," consist­ing of sixty-six workers and twenty-two bosses. As an example of unnecessary waste, the governor said that "when a new pro­fessor comes to the University, he is given an office. If he doesn't like the plumbing on one side, it is moved to the other side. Then when another professor comes, it is moved back."18 President Olpin called the charges groundless and declared that the uni­versity was being operated efficiently and economically. Agitated, 56 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT I Olpin chided Lee for not finding time to visit the campus and for gathering his information secondhand.19 Not satisfied to carp at higher education alone, Lee accused the elementary schools of being substandard. Since the governor had not requested any information from his office regarding the schools, Superintendent Bateman, an idealistic but combative man, countered that such charges could not be considered valid. Lee went on to propose that the state department of education be discontinued.20 Unfortunately, the press failed to provide an effective check against Lee's bias. Any criticism of these important economic decisions remained guarded at best, giving Lee the climate he wanted. For instance, the Tribune bemoaned how hard the economy axe had fallen on education, specifically on the Utah State Agricultural College and the University of Utah, but pre­dicted that they would "find a way to keep going all 'essential' programs by borrowing from basic appropriations. Institutions of this kind can always retrench-like a housewife can get by on a $10 weekly grocery budget," even though "the family may not be happy or healthy as a result."21 The Deseret News provided its own weak commentary in a special editorial on the legislature and the schools, tracing the history of higher education in the Salt Lake Valley. Utah's early promoters of education had "learned that you can't buy learning with money," even though money was admittedly necessary to provide tools for progress. The News did not want a crippled school system, but it conceded that "there is a point at which expansion must be slowed up to accommodate itself to the avail­able resources."22 To prove his efficiency as a businessman-governor, Lee implored the legislature to recognize the need for exhaustive audits of state agencies. Studies had proved, he said, that the state engineering commission paid architect fees for buildings that had never been built and, in one case, never authorized by the legislature. He claimed that the state was obligated for $584,000 in such fees and had paid out $284,280 for projects never passing the "drawing board stage." In a similar vein, Truman Curtis, state purchasing agent, reported that the state 57 J . BRACKEN LEE had been overcharged for automobile tires and tire work in the amount of $10,000.23 Lee then revamped the system under which state employees used state vehicles by instituting a motor pool and charging each department six cents a mile for auto use, which Finance Commissioner P. H. Mulcahy claimed resulted in a profit to provide for future automobile replacement. Lee also trimmed travel expenses from approximately $262,000 to $221,- 000 in a four-month period. Finally, he reduced the payroll of the governor's staff by $1,000 per month and realized a $29,000 per month savings in various departmental payrolls.24 PUBLIC REACTION TO LEE'S ECONOMY DRIVE A popular joke told locally reveals much about public reaction to Lee's economy drive: Lee was dreaming that he was dead and attending his own funeral. In the middle of the pro­ceedings, he sat up in his coffin and asked, "Who are these six guys following me?" "They're pallbearers," someone replied. "Well," Lee responded, "fire three of them and let's get on with it."25 In 1950 the national periodicals discovered the highly quot­able Lee and analyzed him through several articles that focused primarily on his economy drive. Time claimed that Washington bureaucrats had been troubled because Utah was not spending enough money or taking full advantage of federal grants. "The trouble turned out to be sinewy, easy-smiling J. (for Joseph) Bracken Lee. . . ." To a young federal budget man who called on him, Lee reportedly said, "It's too bad you never lived in a free country." When the young man got redfaced and claimed he did live in a free country, Lee said, "Well, I remember when the paycheck I got was my own and I could spend it as I liked. Can you spend yours as you like?" A few minutes later, the governor showed the "bewildered budget man the door." Lee also liked to deemphasize patronage and supposedly hired only the competent: "I'm fed up with most politicians anyway, and that goes for Republicans as well as Democrats." Time claimed 58 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT I that his "trail was littered with the bones of sacred cows." Although a veteran himself, Lee had refused state funds to hire more help for veterans' affairs. In his view veterans who returned uninjured should be grateful for having had the privilege of serv­ing their country. Nor did he favor support for farmers, claiming that "the price of freedom is the same to you as it is to everyone else-a little hardship when times are adverse."20 On his educational economies, Time quoted Lee as saying, "If it's necessary to close every school in the U.S. for a year to save the government, close them." Elated by the millions of dollars saved in budget cuts, he was said to be grieved that he had no such control over the national government: "I sometimes think that I am more afraid of the spenders in Washington than I am of the Russians." Time noted that he had two more years of his term, and despite politicians' and newsmen's doubts, "he thinks his kind of small businessmen's government will get him re-elected. If it does, after he has alienated just about every pressure group in the state, politicians will be flocking to Salt Lake for lessons." If he were to lose, the magazine opined, "he knows that at least his methods work in the real estate business back in Price."27 An article by Joe Morris in the Saturday Evening Post, entitled "The Stubbornest Man in Utah," suggested that Lee's favorite question was "How much?" and his favorite answer was "No!" "Thus has Governor J. Bracken Lee made thrifty Mor­mons happy, patronage-conscious politicos furious, and Utah an experiment in economy." Even though he pictured Lee as a political eccentric, the author seemed to offer an endorsement of his administration. He told the story of some visitors to Lee's office who proposed two designs for floats to be sponsored by Utah for the inauguration of President Truman. When Lee was told the cost ($5,000 for one and $3,500 for the second), he offered a resounding "no" that was to become as "well known in Utah as Gromyko's 'niets' in the United Nations." Lee was thought by his critics to be practicing "government by impulse" -a false economy that would prove more costly in the long run. One Democrat told Morris about the typical Mormon faith in 59 J. BRACKEN LEE thrift and concluded that the governor had made the most of it, but "in practice he's saving peanuts."28 Morris characterized Lee as a "good-looking man with neat, rimless glasses shielding his blue eyes, graying hair that is cropped close to his head every fifth day, a deceptively mild manner and an almost gaudy necktie in contrast to his conservative business suit." Supposedly, he bore a close resemblance to President Truman "from a certain angle" but was unlike him in other ways, except that "Lee is a man who loves a fight and never knows when he's licked."29 An even more favorable article appeared in the American Magazine, titled "Lone Wolf of Utah," by Don Eddy, who called Lee "pretty remarkable" in his attempt to "restore financial sta­bility to government through plain, old fashioned, shirt sleeved Americanism." Lee had managed to antagonize "clergymen, bankers, benevolent societies, lawyers, musicians, do-gooders, farmers, veterans, old-age pensioners, sachems of school boards," and "a formidable horde of grafters and chiselers." Yet, by 1950, with the budget balanced and the fiscal condition of the state impressive, many people were changing their minds. The author found people who had been directly deprived by Lee's economy drive supporting him, such as David B. Romney, managing director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and a flying farmer who was intially disturbed over the lack of an airport appropria­tion. A taxi driver and veteran said, "We can't spend what we ain't got; anybody understands that."30 Eddy called Lee a man of "impetuous bluntness" and "bull-headed determination" but "an atrocious politician" unable to make extravagant promises or shy away from controversial issues. He was also "an average American" who could "think clearly, analyze critically, and act with the fearless tenacity of a pit bull." Nevertheless, "politics being what they are, this may be about the last you'll hear of Joseph Bracken Lee, the lone wolf from Castle Valley. But, honestly, now, ain't it a shame?"31 In the author's opinion, Lee's honesty and economy were destroying his political future. 60 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT I An almost identical approach was employed by Richard L. Williams in a Life article entitled "Politician without a Future." He pictured Lee as "willing to commit political hara-kari" ever since his election by displaying integrity and insistently saving money. In spite of offending many groups Lee continued his pro­gram because he was "driven by a belligerent contempt for expediency" and had no choice but to vigorously pursue the right course. Wiliams gave an inaccurate version of Morals and the Mayor, quickly dismissing it as a "desperate" Democratic tactic. He was impressed with Lee's political philosophy: "Do it honestly, do the best you know how, and let 'em holler!"32 Unimpressed by the favorable publicity accorded the gover­nor, Utah Democrats inspired an anti-Lee article in the New Leader, written by Salt Lake public relations consultant Gail Martin. Entitled "Lee of Utah: Champ or Scamp?" the article's subheading was even more direct: "The Salt Lake State's Cover-boy Governor isn't quite the angel he's made out to be." Martin claimed that "discerning students of public affairs" were dis­turbed that "an inexperienced, poorly informed and frequently bungling politician" such as Lee had been catapulted to national fame. He speculated that a grand political strategy of the Repub­lican party was responsible for Lee's sudden publicity kick.33 Severely criticizing Lee's economy program, Martin correctly argued that when Lee took office, Utah had no bonded indebted­ness and had $5,000,000 in reserves and $4,000,000 in the building fund.34 In a lengthy letter to the editor of the New Leader, Lee's press secretary, Harold Simpson, tried unsuccess­fully to refute the article. He attacked Martin for some errors and for belonging to a firm that handled advertising for the Democratic State Committee. Simpson was indignant that a pic­ture of Lee in some issues of the magazine was actually a photo of Adam S. Bennion, a member of the University of Utah Board of Regents. Further, he noted that a picture caption reading "Salt Lake City's Mormon Tabernacle" was actually the temple with the tabernacle in the background and that Utah was incor­rectly reported as having achieved statehood in 1897 instead of 1896. These mistakes provided Simpson's evidence for his over- 61 J . BRACKEN LEE drawn claim that the article was "filled with inaccuracies, half-truths, and unwarranted insinuations."35 Unaccountably, Simpson made no comment about Utah's debt-free status, certainly Martin's most telling point.36 If the state was in excellent financial condition in 1949, why was an economy drive necessary? Martin claimed that Lee was getting credit undeservedly for removing $27,000 from his gubernatorial mansion budget, when in fact he had requested the full $32,500. Although the legislature had reduced that amount by $2,500, Martin was convinced that Lee was not operating the mansion out of his own pocket.37 Simpson denied that Lee had ever recom­mended a reduction in the mansion budget; instead, he had sug­gested a cut of $15,480 in appropriations to his office. The legis­lature then cut that an additional $14,520, meaning that Lee was literally running his office on his own.38 Martin said that Lee volunteered to drive his own car and suggested selling the governor's 1946 Cadillac so as not to burden taxpayers. The car was sold for $1,500, which Democrats claimed was about $1,500 under its market value. Soon after­ward Lee changed his mind and requisitioned the finance com­mission for a new Cadillac; this request was refused due to insufficient funds. When Lee's own "economy minded" finance commission took office, Lee purchased his Cadillac.39 Without denying that story, Simpson insisted that Lee had saved the state the car expenses for a seven-month period, and when he received the new Cadillac he sold his own car at a "$500 personal loss."40 Martin also chided Lee for paying an attorney in the gover­nor's office a $500 fee during the legislative session, when previ­ous governors had had no special attorney. Lee also employed an executive assistant at $500 per month for work that had custo­marily been done by a secretary for $333. Simpson did not deny these facts either but claimed that Lee had spent $1,500 less per month to operate his office than his predecessor, mainly because he had only three employees on his office staff, compared with the six utilized by Maw.41 Years later Lee remembered two women and a press secre­tary who were regularly employed in his office; and he admitted 62 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT I paying an attorney $500 during the legislative session because he lacked confidence in the particularly partisan opinions of Attor­ney General Clinton Vernon, a Democrat. Lee denied that he was operating the Governor's Mansion "on his own," although he was convinced that he ran it for less. On the subject of housing for the chief executive, he recommended that the state divest itself of the Governor's Mansion because of expense as well as lack of privacy: "You could walk in any time of the day or night. You'd be amazed. They'd come right into your private bedroom and then spend the afternoon in there if you didn't keep every­thing locked." On the car matter, he said he drove his own car for the first six months and never had a chauffeur because he did not think a "governor should be like a god." However, Lee con­ceded that he did requisition the state for a new Cadillac after the first six months in office.42 Lee freely acknowledged Utah's lack of bonded indebtedness when he took office, and even credited the previous governor and legislature for providing him with a debt-free system: "I would admit frankly the state was in good shape." His reply when challenged about the need for economy under such conditions is revealing: When you look back and say the country was on a big spending spree, and everybody was borrowing, and this in itself was creating inflation, I would agree with you that what I did made no difference. I don't think it made any differ­ence. What I was trying to do actually, was to set an example, because I had begun to see the growth of these bureaus, which I was very much opposed to, and the power that the state was handing over to the bureau, which later I discov­ered was a form of human nature, and I don't know how you could have stopped it. But when you stop to think about it, we could have borrowed money at that time for I guess 2Vi or 3%. State bonds, see, were tax exempt. But I contend that when you start dishing unlimited sums out and you give people everything they want, that the waste becomes terrific.43 Economy in government represented his essential political phi­losophy. "I'd even do it today. . . . I think people are a little bit better off when they don't get all the money they need."44 63 J . BRACKEN LEE The Salt Lake Telegram took note of the national attention being given to Lee as "a kind of maverick among state governors -the chap who, for example, astounded Washington officialdom by failing to spend all the money Uncle Sam wanted to dump into his lap." Whether Lee was right or not the Telegram concluded that "at least we have had a kind of state administration which is unique enough these days to warrant national attention. Good or bad, neither Utah nor the nation can ignore J. Bracken Lee."45 Lee's own reaction was self-righteous: "This publicity rather scares me. I wonder what is so unique in what I'm trying to do. All my life I've been taught that this was the thing to do. I don't know why suddenly when a man attempts to do what he's been taught to believe, that it is considered unique."40 Several people sent letters and telegrams advancing his can­didacy for the presidency of the United States, but Lee was unmoved: "All I want is to do a good job for Utah."47 Even an Iowa newspaper editorially praised his accomplishments, suggest­ing that "in Governor Lee's independent spirit lies the type of ability the United States needs so desperately in Washington, D.C." There seemed to be special appeal in such Lee logic as "Any man who believes he can spend himself rich is a plain darned fool," and "Too many of us are thinking more about our own jobs, our wants, our own pleasures, than about the well-being of our country. If we don't wake up, we'll have no country to save and no selfish wishes to think about." The editors thought that Lee's unselfish devotion to his country and his "courage to take unpleasant steps for our own good" were refreshing. "It wouldn't be bad strategy for both political parties to keep an eye on Joseph Bracken Lee for 1952."48 Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Raymond Moley praised Lee's record of economy toward schools, for "these institutions are not only the cherished favorites of the people, but they are backed by a tremendously powerful lobby." According to Moley, Lee was more than "just another Governor. He embodies prin­ciples to which a distracted nation may turn next year."49 64 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT I 4Deseret News, December 6, 1948, editorial. On January 10, 1949, the News observed that if the legislature could cut expenditures to meet income without new taxes, "it will go down in history as one of the most successful lawmaking bodies since Utah achieved statehood." 2Budget Message of Gov. J. Bracken Lee to the 28th Legislature of the State of Utah, January 12, 1949, pp. 5, 6, Lee Gubernatorial Papers. 3Ibid., p. 8. 4Ibid., pp. 9-11. 5Senate Journal, 28th Legislature, as quoted in Floyd S. Wilcox, "The Major Financial Policies of Governor J. Bracken Lee of Utah, 1949-1957" (Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1969), pp. 16, 17. 6Budget Message, pp. 9-11. 7Lee's opinion that state government was unwieldy with its proliferation of commissions turned out to be a forerunner of reform. In the mid-1960s the Little Hoover Commission recommended wholesale reform through more streamlined government. It concluded that Utah governors had the machinery to "be little more than governors in name only." The governor had to imple­ment his policies "through persuasion, the prestige of his office, and the force of his personality." The latter point was the obvious key to Lee's success. The Little Hoover Commission made state government less complex and its manage­ment more dynamic. See Little Hoover Commission Report, 1966, pp. 13, 19, Utah State Archives. 8Budget Message, pp. 13-17. Lee said the money for the prison project should come from the $2.5 mil­lion reserve building fund, providing tax collections continued at the present level. Deseret News, July 13, 1949. 9'Salt Lake Tribune, January 13, 1949. 10Deseret News, January 13, 1949. ^Salt Lake Tribune, February 3, 1949. 12Salt Lake Telegram, January 25, 1949. 43Salt Lake Tribune, January 27, 1949. 14Salt Lake Telegram, February 10, 1949. 15Salt Lake Tribune, February 14, 1949. ™Salt Lake Tribune, March 22, 1949. "Salt Lake Telegram, March 22, 1949. lsSalt Lake Tribune, February 27, 1949. lsSalt Lake Tribune, February 28, 1949. 20Salt Lake Telegram and Deseret News, February 28, 1949. 21Salt Lake Tribune, March 22, 1949. 22Deseret News, February 22, 1949. 23Salt Lake Tribune, February 22, 1949. "Joe Alex Morris, "The Stubbornest Man in Utah," Saturday Evening Post, May 6, 1950, pp. 124-26. 25Ibid., p. 26. 26"The Man at the Wheel," Time, April 24, 1950, p. 28. "Ibid. 28Morris, "The Stubbornest Man," pp. 26, 27. There are numerous examples to support such a charge. In August 1949 Lee decided to cut back on operations of the State Historical Society. In a terse letter, he claimed that the number of employees had ballooned from nine in December 1948 to twelve by June 1949, causing combined salaries to rise from $1,397.00 to $1,865.18. He insisted that the payroll be "reduced substantially below the number of employees as of December, 1948." (Lee to Mrs. E. J. Lauchnor, State Historical Society, August 2, 1949, Lee Gubernatorial Papers.) Next, he became irritated over the society's practice of sending out letters with "meter-stamped return envelopes enclosed." Worried that some of the 65 J . BRACKEN LEE envelopes would be wasted, he suggested that the practice be discontinued and "have those who are interested in writing your department purchase their own stamps." (Lee to Mrs. Lauchnor, secretary-manager, Historical Society, Septem­ber 11, 1950.) A similar nitpicking attitude could be discerned in his approach to travel requests. In December 1949 Lee considered requests of two employees of the Department of Public Instruction to attend meetings of the American Voca­tional Association in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Addressing the Board of Examiners, Lee said "these requests are unjustified and should be denied by the Board." However, the attorney general and the secretary of state, both Democrats, had approved them. Lee claimed that at most one trip could be justified, even though one trip was actually being financed by federal funds and the other by Weber College, "since the taxpayers-in one way or another- still must pay the bill." (Lee to State Board of Examiners, Heber Bennion, Jr., Secretary of State, and Clinton Vernon, Attorney General, December 2, 1949, Lee Gubernatorial Papers). Lee had a long quarrel with State Health Commissioner John Spies over travel expenses and department economy which finally resulted in his ouster. (Extensive correspondence between Lee and Spies, Lee Gubernatorial Papers, 1950). Lee claimed that Spies ran up huge telephone bills, one month alone totaling $1,200. When questioned about it, Spies said he had telephoned the Los Angeles Hospital on health business. Since Lee was not satisfied with his answers, he asked the finance commission to investigate. They discovered that every call had been to a woman-a nurse at the hospital. "He was carrying on a love affair with her by telephone. . . . I think he had a screw loose, to tell you the truth." As a postscript on the medical profession, Lee asserted that "doctors sometimes get so wrapped up in medicine that they don't know any­thing about anything else." He had known several doctors who were "highly intelligent in medicine and dumber'n hell on pretty near everything else you talk to them about." (Lee interview.) 29Morris, "The Stubbornest Man," p. 30. 30Don Eddy, "Lone Wolf of Utah," American Magazine, May 1950, pp. 24, 25. "Ibid., pp. 94, 99. 32Richard L. Williams, "Politician without a Future," Life, May 1, 1950, pp. 109, 110, 113-16. 33Gail Martin, "Lee of Utah: Champ or Scamp?" New Leader (New York), July 8, 1950, p. 16. 34Ibid., p. 17. 35Harold Simpson to W. E. Bohn, editor, New Leader, undated, pp. 1, 2, Lee Gubernatorial Papers. 36Ibid., pp. 2, 3. "Martin, "Lee of Utah," p. 18. 38Simpson to Bohn, p. 5. 39Martin, "Lee of Utah." 40Simpson to Bohn, p. 6. "Martin, "Lee of Utah," p. 18; Simpson to Bohn, pp. 6, 7. "Lee interview. 43Ibid. 44Ibid. 4!iSalt Lake Telegram, April 22, 1950. 4aDeseret News, April 28, 1950. "Deseret News, May 1, 1950. 4»Deseret News, December 13, 1950, quoting editorial in Sioux City (Iowa) Journal. ""Raymond Moley, "Utah's Governor Shows Road to Economy," Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1951. 66