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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov.-elect Spencer Cox said Saturday that he had opposed the legislature's strategy to get Salt Lake City students and teachers back in the classroom but didn't say so publicly because doing so would have "accomplished nothing."
The statements were part of a lengthy Twitter thread in which Cox argued that politics is now treated too much like sports or entertainment. And while that can lead to positives like increased engagement, he said "the problem is when we forget that good politics is WORK and bad politics is SHOW."
"Good politics is broccoli," he wrote. "Bad politics is cotton candy."
During a Wednesday meeting of the legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee, legislative leaders revealed they are allocating millions to Utah educators — a $1,500 bonus and $1,000 to school staffers. The move was widely praised by legislators on both sides of the aisle; but before it could be voted on, House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, added a caveat: The bonus would only go to teachers in districts with in-person classes.
In other words, to every teacher except those in the Salt Lake City School District, which has opted for remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The move brought pushback from Democratic leaders and public officials who argued Salt Lake teachers were being unfairly singled out. Others believed it was necessary to pressure the district into in-person learning because students' grades were shown to be slipping during the remote semester.
[Thread] I've spoken often about how politics has become a religion for far too many people...but I'm equally worried that it is becoming something else: Sport. While many are concerned that sports has become too political, I'm worried that politics has become too sporty. 1/
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) December 19, 2020
Cox declined to comment publicly on Wilson's approach at the time. Ultimately, the Salt Lake school district announced Friday night it would vote on a return to in-person learning at a Jan. 5 school board meeting, which Wilson said would qualify its teachers for the bonus.
On Saturday, Cox tweeted that he felt all along that Salt Lake students should have the option of learning in person but "felt it was a mistake to use the teacher stipend as a means to that end." But he said he didn't want to publicly break with Wilson and Republican legislative leadership.
"Politics as sport is all about scoring easy points," he said. "A snarky tweet and a terse statement to reporters would have 1) scored points, 2) been really entertaining and 3) accomplished nothing. That was the fun, dopamine, 1000 retweet, cotton candy option. It's what we expect now."
Cox said he instead shared his concerns with Wilson personally, and that they discussed it and ultimately "came to an understanding and commitment to work to get that money to all teachers and find a way to safely open schools."
"That's the broccoli," Cox said.
Cox went on to call Wilson an "incredible public servant" who was instrumental in the push to move teachers to the front of Utah's line to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Some Utahns took issue with Cox's reasoning Saturday. Former Salt Lake Tribune reporter Benjamin Wood said Cox shouldn't be allowed to sidestep public debate. "You were formally asked for your position by a reporter on a topic of legitimate public interest and your staff chose to punt and hide," Wood wrote.
"I wish everyone was more willing to hash it out in the daylight," wrote Lauren Simpson, policy director for the progressive group Alliance for a Better Utah.
But Cox, who will become governor on Jan. 4, asked Utahns to be "patient with me."
"Maybe judge more on outcomes than the messy process," he wrote. "Let's be quick to assume the best and slow to assume the worst. Celebrate the boring. And maybe, just maybe, eat a little more broccoli."
