Mike Dmitrich: Grand Old Man of the Legislature

By Greg Jarrard

The high school gym is packed to the rafters. And it’s loud. Businesses are closed and the streets in the small Utah town are empty. The game is on the line, and it’s all tied up. This particular playoff game is bitter than most since the two schools are in adjacent towns, and there is no love lost between them. One hamlet was settled by Swedes — the other Danes. Bad blood!

Then the visiting point guard drives hard to his right, switches hands and goes in for a layup. But, the defender stops him, blocks the shot as both players go to the floor. The crowd roars its approval. And there’s that shrill sound, penetrating the entire arena. A whistle, followed by wave after wave of boos.

“Foul on 13,” the ref yells and holds up two fingers to the scorer’s table. “Two shots.”

Dripping in sweat, the boy at the foul line takes his time. Catcalls descend on him. His dad chews a knuckle on the far side in the visitor’s section. The shot goes up, rattles around and drops in. The visitors are up by one, and there are 8 seconds left. The next ball is a rim shot and bounces back to the guard at the foul line. He dribbles to the corner and is chased by three players. Then as the clock counts down — 5, 4, 3 — he drops a bounce pass to his teammate who goes in for an easy layup. The buzzer puts an end to the home team’s season and to the hopes of a small town where every bit of good news is hard to come by.

The referee who made the fateful call is at the scorer’s bench. He ducks a paper cup thrown him and waves a disapproving finger at the perp at the top of the bleachers.

“We’ll see you in November, Dmitrich,” the tough, old truck driver yells at the man in stripes. November? Ah yes, the referee reminds himself: it’s an election year.

State Sen. Mike Dmitrich has seen a lot of election years. And hundreds of closely contested basketball and football games.  The mining executive, former banker and former coal miner not only doubles as an elected official, he also has been refereeing Utah high school football and basketball games for decades. Not only does he hold a record in terms of elective service, he also points to an honor of which he is particularly proud: his photo hangs at the Utah High School Hall of Fame.

One wonders if his skills as a ref could have come in handy earlier this year when he was seen — and hammered by The Salt Lake Tribune — sitting in the best seats in the EnergySolutions arena, just spitting distance from Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

“I get one game a year,” he said matter-of-factly. He was joined on the front row by fellow Democrat Brent Goodfellow and Republican senators Dan Eastman and Curt Bramble. For most Jazz fans that night who knew them, it seemed like a fairly balanced representation. And for others who recognized the shiny pate of the old referee on the bench, they would have preferred him on the floor.

The Jazz lost. Blame it on the referees!

Even if he had grabbed a whistle and helped the visually impaired who were calling the Jazz game that night, it would have likely not changed the outcome. Mike Dmitrich calls them as he sees them.

He learned that in the coal mines of eastern Utah.

That’s where his career started, just like his dad and his granddad. For the state senator, it has had a happier outcome. Both of his progenitors gave their lives in the mine, Grandpa Isaac Milovich in 1936 and his father, Dan, in 1957. They were two Serbian immigrants who hoped to find a better life here, and died trying.

And their descendant has spent his life making things better for Utahns with faces smeared with coal dust and hands gnarled from cleaning ditches and fixing fence lines.

For 18 years, Dmitrich worked in the mining industry. He took a job after a football injury at USU ended his athletic career — he had starred in both football and basketball in high school (at Utah State he followed LaVell Edwards; not only did he play his position, he wore his jersey). The future state senator’s mining career started underground at the Kaiser Steel coal mine in Sunnyside. Years later, he was handling government relations for the Cyprus-Amas Willow Creek mine, working above ground.

“That Willow Creek mine was a dangerous place to work due to all the hydrocarbons on the floor of the mine and all the methane. There was always the possibility of fire,” he explained. The mine was finally closed.

He also worked in the banking business. Then, in 1968, the 31-year-old Mike Dmitrich filed and won, as a Democrat from Carbon County, a seat in the Utah House of Representatives. Two years later he won again. And again. He’s been winning ever since. In 1992, he moved to the Utah Senate. He now represents a huge swath of eastern and southern Utah that includes Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan counties and a sliver of Utah County.

“Believe it or not, my district is 61 percent Republican,” he said with a smile. With 39 years under his belt, Dmitrich is Utah’s longest-serving elected official.

Dmitrich’s district contains some of the world’s most beautiful scenery, not to mention several federal and state parks and monuments. The area is also home to incredible natural resources. It’s a place where too many people are trying hard to scratch out a living and not succeeding as well as they would like. Sen. Dmitrich understands what they face.

“I consider myself a Cal Rampton Democrat, the kind of a politician that is concerned about people’s jobs and their ability to take care of their families. If I were more of an urban Democrat calling for gun control and for more wilderness, I wouldn’t get elected,” he said.

Maybe that’s why his hot button issues — natural resources, power production, agriculture and livestock, economic development and education — all focus on jobs…jobs his constituents need to take care of their families.

“Water is another critical issue the whole state faces. We need to protect and conserve our water resources,” he said. His ability to work with Republican majorities on these critical issues is likely a reason for his long-term success.

“There are only 8 Democratic state senators out of 29,” he explained. “But we were able to get 57 percent of our bills passed; the Republicans got 62 percent. In  the House, it’s a different story. In the Senate, we are the Loyal Opposition; still, we are able to get things done.”

Utah is different, he points out, in terms of how legislators of opposing parties get along. He counts as his friends many household Republican names like Bangerter, Hatch, Hansen, Leavitt and Karras.

“A few years ago, Nolan Karras and I traveled together to Denver for a national legislative conference. When the other delegates found out I was a Democrat and he was a Republican, they couldn’t believe it. Of course, Nolan is one of my best friends. I even told people he was my stake president. ‘But you live in Price and he lives in Roy,’ they pointed out. Just another example of Republican gerrymandering, I explained.”

Both parties enjoyed “the warm and fuzzies” of the last legislative session, which featured a huge, exceptional $1.2 billion surplus.

“We were able to get every teacher a $2,500 raise, plus a $1,000 bonus. And they deserved it, as did the classified employees in the various school districts. But for me, I was especially gratified to see that we could get some badly needed funds to help strengthen and reopen mental-health facilities on the Navajo Reservation, probably the poorest part of the state.”

Dmitrich doesn’t agree with everything his colleagues across the aisle pushed through.

“We do have our differences. But at least we get heard. I personally don’t think with Utah’s limited resources that we can afford three different education systems in the state. We have our historic system we are familiar with and now a charter school system. And with the passage of the school voucher program, a private school system funded in part with tax dollars. I just don’t think we can afford that. Do you think vouchers can do anything for a family who is sending their kids to Waterford where the tuition is $13,000 a year? Or how about the Catholic school system, Judge Memorial, for example?  Will it go away without vouchers? Of course not. It has existed for years without any public support, and it will continue to do so,” Dmitrich said.

He also sometimes has differences with his own constituents, with members of his own party.

And he gets the occasional unsigned “letter of support.”

A recent one had a note scribbled on the bottom of a letter to the editor about his Jazz game appearance, expressing disappointment from “life-long Carbon County Democrats.”

“They were upset about my meeting with lobbyists. Just tell me this: How are you going to get a handle and understand the 900 or so bills that fall like an avalanche on the Legislature every year without lobbyists? It’s impossible,” Dmitrich said.

Such criticism doesn’t deter the veteran lawmaker. He even does a morning talk show twice a week on Price’s AM talker, KOAL. For nearly 39 years, he’s been telling his story. And listening.

“Thirty-nine years is a long time. Next year, it will be 40 years in the legislature, and 50 years married to my wife, Bo. Come to think of it, we were married on Valentine’s Day. And for 35 of those 49 years (so far), I spent my anniversary at the Legislature. That’s romantic, don’t you think?”

The Dmitrich’s marriage produced two daughters and a son. One daughter works in Salt Lake for the county, another lives in Henderson, Nevada, and their son is in a high-tech business and lives in Pleasant Grove. One grandson is in junior high, another is at the U. and the third is finishing film school in San Francisco.

“He wants to make movies,” Dmitrich said.

How about this for a storyline?

Veteran lawmaker cuts his teeth on the coal mining business, moves above ground to work in banking and then mining management, runs for the state legislature where he stays for close to 40 years, referees football and basketball games in the small towns he serves and makes friends wherever he goes.

Then at a crucial championship game, he blows his whistle and decides the game. Half the folks are happy, the others not so.

The moral of the story:

“You call them as you see them and make sure that everybody plays by the rules,” Dmitrich would probably say. “You can’t please all the people all the time.”

And in most cases, even the losing team doesn’t blame the ref. Because in this part of the state, most everybody likes Mike Dmitrich. Enough so that he can probably keep adding to his record years of service if he desires.

Greg Jarrard is a veteran ad man, writer and publisher best known for running paid ad campaigns for Republican candidates. He is now in the publishing business, running a small-press publisher serving the natural foods industry. His recent book, "A Jack Mormon's Travel Guide," is available at Deseret Book. He resides in South Jordan where he digs weeds and claims it is a garden.