Should Leavitt have jumped on Jensen case?

Wilson: Gov. Mike Leavitt has a lot on his plate these days. His appointment to the Environmental Protection Agency along with his regular governor's job would surely try anyone.

But the governor has been AWOL on one important piece of Utah business in recent days -- the Parker Jensen case. The governor had opportunity to express leadership. But he took a pass. He was asked about Parker Jensen at his monthly KUED press conference but all he could mutter was a weak statement of support for Parker's family. It makes one wonder if Gov. Mike Leavitt has the grit the EPA job will require.

Most observers of the governor's performance give him credit for his vision, his dedication, his clarity and his charisma. But as for his resolve, many think Leavitt too often backs away from issues when the going gets tough. What happened to Mike Leavitt after he said he would fight to change the U.S. Constitution to give states more presence? Why did our leader fade after he held his open space summit and declared his dedication to that cause? And where did the Western Governors University go? Is it still around? There are many other examples of his tendency to fizzle and now we have Parker.

The laws of Utah make clear that the state has an interest and obligation to protect children. Otherwise some of our kids would suffer meth houses, sexual abuse, beatings and starvation by bad parents. We never criticize the state for seizing children from such awful circumstances.

But along comes Parker Jensen and his family. His parents subscribe to the prevailing faith in Utah. The Jensens, a wonderful picture, are mainstream Utah. Parker is energetic, well fed, nicely dressed and even camera-wise, but he has a life-threatening cancer that can kill him.

This charismatic family opposes the diagnosis of Parker's cancer and recommended treatment from a passel of fine doctors. They rush Parker off to Idaho to evade Utah law. They then make a deal with the state and later back out. They claim parental rights that Parker is theirs and he must follow the rule of the parents. They own their child.

But their premise is wrong because the state has a legal obligation to stand up to them, to demand medical treatment that a 12- year-old cannot understand. To give him the rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," as Thomas Jefferson said in our Declaration of Independence. "Dead people have no liberty or happiness," says former university professor J.D. Williams. Why should Parker's family have the liberty of a death sentence for a child? Life trumps liberty.

So the state law says the boy must have chemotherapy and leaves the job of presenting the state's case to a brave young attorney who is appointed guardian ad litem for Parker. Later, the state, absent executive leadership and under enormous pressure, folds its cards, leaving the treatment to the Parkers, who seek "alternative" methods.

And the governor? Well, he understands the plight of family -- how nice -- but says nothing about why the state has legal obligations to children right at the time when he has the opportunity to lead, to explain, to make whole the rule of law.

For Leavitt, the responsibility for law now shifts from the life of one child to environmental conditions that can affect many people's lives in America. Is the new EPA director up to it?

Webb: I personally believe Parker Jensen's parents should have followed the advice of competent medical specialists. But it is both unfair and a bit nave for Ted to question Leavitt's leadership because he has not wrested Parker away from his parents and somehow forced him into chemotherapy.

This is by no means a simple black-and-white case. Ted refers several times to "the state," [but the players here include Parker, his parents, his guardian ad litem, the attorney general, the Salt Lake County attorney, the courts, the Division of Child and Family Services, and the Governor's Office. All have somewhat different interests and procedures in this ongoing case. Who is "the state"?]

Ted implies that Leavitt should have climbed on a big white horse, smashed through all the other players, ripped a kicking-and- screaming Parker from the arms of his parents, strapped him to a hospital bed, and under armed guard forced him to undergo chemotherapy for 48 weeks.

Even if Leavitt had such authority (which he doesn't), it would have directly contradicted the reasoned policies and expert advice of his child welfare professionals.

The truth is, although he has worked behind the scenes and hasn't bragged about it in press conferences, the governor early on recognized the seriousness of this situation, and the threat to Parker, and has since been fully engaged, providing quiet, but intense, leadership. Under his steady guidance, working in concert with DCFS professionals, this case was de-escalated from a major confrontation to a point that the Parker family voluntarily returned to Utah from Idaho instead of going underground and hiding Parker.

Acting swiftly on concerns of his child welfare professionals, who worried that the legal machinations were spinning out of control, Leavitt dispatched his top social worker, DCFS Director Richard Anderson, and his personal counsel, Gary Doxey, to Idaho to help defuse the conflict and bring the Jensens home.

It was Anderson and state Human Services Director Robin Arnold- Williams, two consummate professionals, who concluded the best place for Parker was with his family during this period as all the players work in their respective roles to resolve this case.

Leavitt has stayed in daily contact with his top social workers, using his leadership to support them in their professional decisions and procedures. He has never attempted to influence or override their decisions.

The case continues, with DCFS professionals working with the family to help the parents make the right decision, and with the courts determining whether the parents' actions constitute medical neglect, whether there are acceptable alternatives to chemotherapy to treat Parker's cancer.

Should Leavitt have somehow intervened and overridden these procedures? Should he have driven the family into hiding or thrown the parents in jail? Should he have decided what constitutes medical neglect? That's what Ted seems to be asking of him.

It's true that Leavitt chooses his battles. If he didn't, he'd be all over the place, sticking his nose in every fight and controversy that comes along, and losing his effectiveness. Luckily, we have a smart, thoughtful governor who knows how to exercise leadership in all its forms.

By the way, Leavitt never tried to change the Constitution, but instead has fought tenaciously to reinvigorate the 10th Amendment. His initiatives on open space and planning for growth continue as high priorities, and the Western Governors University has emerged as the country's premier online university, with accreditation, numerous students, solid funding and surging momentum.

Democrat Ted Wilson, former Salt Lake mayor, is a political consultant. He recently stepped down as director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. E-mail: tednews@hotmail.com. Republican LaVarr Webb was policy deputy to Gov. Mike Leavitt and Deseret News managing editor. He now is a political consultant and lobbyist. E-mail: lavarrwebb@msn.com

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