Jon Huntsman Junior was at Rose Park Elementary school in Salt Lake City Wednesday. He was there highlighting Chevron’s Fuel Your School Program, but the former Utah Governor also took the time to chat with reporters about his political ambitions for the future.
The 2012 presidential candidate spoke to students about the importance of science and technology in the global marketplace.
“In the years to come when you grow up and you’re as old as I am, we’re going to be competing with a lot of people around the world; competing based on our ability to get out and perform well in the marketplace,” Huntsman said.
Later he helped them unwrap the boxes filled with petri dishes, goggles and fake fossils that the students can use in the school science lab. Huntsman praised the program for bringing much needed supplies to the classroom.
After taking care of students’ school needs, Huntsman took the opportunity to talk about the destructive nature of partisan politics and how it keeps lawmakers from working together.
“And every minute that we’re talking about ripping down political opponents and political gamesmanship we’re not talking about schools and we’re not talking about classrooms and we’re not talking about tax reform and economic survival.”
But Huntsman didn’t take a position on Utah lawmaker’s recent discussion about a possible tax increase to better fund education. Utah remains last in the nation in per pupil spending.
Huntsman briefly ran for President in 2012. He said he’s not looking at 2016 at all, but he will remain involved in some aspect of politics.
