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Profile: Lily Eskelsen
2nd Congressional Dist. Merrill Cook's challenger for the 2nd Congressional District seat has become a familiar face over the last ten years or so... but largely as a voice for public education. In this Decision '98 report, News Specialist John Hollenhorst has more on the woman who's hoping she can upset the incumbent.
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If you ask teacher Lily Eskelsen what drew her out of the classroom and into the political arena, you get a simple answer: Merrill Cook, a long time ago.
Eskelsen: "THE FIRST TIME I WAS EVER ASKED TO HAVE ANY KIND OF PUBLIC POLITICAL VOICE WAS THANKS TO MERRILL COOK AND THE A.B.C. TAX INITIATIVES."
It was 1988. Tax fever was in the air. Merrill Cook's prescription: Three initiatives to rollback and limit taxes. Teacher Eskelsen signed up to help lead the fight against Cook's medicine, believing it would devastate public school funding.
Eskelsen: "MERRILL IS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN THAT SLICK, SILVER-BULLET GIMMICK. HE WAS PROPOSING SOMETHING THAT WAS VERY POOR PUBLIC POLICY. SO POOR THAT IT WAS NOT HARD TO GET A BI-PARTISAN COALITION TO FIGHT THEM."
In 1989, Utah Teacher of the Year Lily Eskelsen strummed a guitar.
And that helped launch a one-day walkout by teachers.
Since then, Cook has tried to portray her as a rabble-rousing union leader.
She says that 1989 walkout was a demonstration, not a strike, to protest a broken promise by lawmakers to spend surplus dollars on education.
Eskelsen: "AND INSTEAD THEY DECIDED TO GIVE A SMALL REBATE TO EVERYONE, INSTEAD OF PUTTING THEM INTO SCHOOLS THE WAY THEY HAD PROMISED. AND IT WAS VERY UPSETTING TO A LOT OF PARENTS AND A LOT OF TEACHERS."
Those two years were a turning point for Eskelsen. In the 90's she took the reigns of the U.E.A. teacher's association.
In time she evolved from teacher to politician.
Eskelsen: "THE COMMITMENT THAT I HAVE FOR MY STUDENTS CARRIES THROUGH TO MY COMMUNITY TOO. I CAN FIGHT FOR MY STUDENTS AND THEIR INSIDE MY CLASSROOM AND OUTSIDE MY CLASSROOM."
Teaching creates a deep understanding, she believes, of the issues that confront American families. Jobs. Crime. Health Care. Social Security.
Eskelsen: "GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE THERE TO SAY, WE CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE. WE CARE ABOUT THE WORLD THESE KIDS ARE GOING TO GROW UP IN. THEIR EDUCATION. THEIR HEALTH. THEIR SAFETY."
And she believes her old nemesis is still moving in the wrong direction.
Eskelsen: "MERRILL COOK'S RECORD IS ONE OF THE INSPIRATIONS I HAVE FOR RUNNING."
On one point she agrees with Cook. She'd like to cut taxes. But unlike him, she says, she won't do it until social security is protected, and until budget surpluses are real, instead of a gimmick.
