Enid Greene Mickelsen, formerly Enid Greene Waldholtz (born June 5, 1958), is an American politician from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

who served one term in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. She was the third woman and first Republican woman elected to congress from Utah. No woman was elected to Congress from Utah from her retirement in 1997 until

Mia Love Mia, MIA, or M.I.A. may refer to: Music Artists * M.I.A. (rapper) (born 1975), English rapper and singer * M.I.A. (band), 1980s punk rock band from Orange County, California * MIA., a German rock/pop band formed in 1997 * Mia (singer) (born 1983 ...

's election in 2014.

Early life

Greene was born in

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

, to naval officer and financier D. Forrest Greene and Gerda Marie Beyer. She is one of five children. She graduated from East High School and earned her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in 1980. She received her J.D. degree from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

in 1983. She worked as a lawyer for

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

company

Novell Novell, Inc. was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as Novell NetWare. Under the lead ...

and then at a

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

law firm. She was deputy chief of staff for Governor

Norman H. Bangerter Norman Howard Bangerter (January 4, 1933 – April 14, 2015) was an American politician and businessman who served as the 13th governor of Utah from 1985 to 1993. He was the first Republican elected to the position since 1960, and the first to h ...

Career

Run for the U.S. House of Representatives

While serving as chair of the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF), Enid met Joe Waldholtz and they were soon in a relationship. Greene ran for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in 1992 against

Karen Shepherd Karen Shepherd (born July 5, 1940) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995. Early life Shepherd was born in Silver City, New Mexico, where her father, Ralph Felker, worked for the U.S ...

for the Utah Second District, which was entirely contained in

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

at that time, losing by four percentage points.

Second run for U.S. House of Representatives

Greene married Waldholtz in 1993. After her marriage, Greene took the name ''Enid Greene Waldholtz''. During her 1994 rematch against Shepherd, Joe acted as her campaign manager. Her campaign spent approximately $2 million, the most expensive House race in the country that year. Greene was swept into the

104th Congress The 104th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 19 ...

in the Republican landslide in November. She was named to the House Rules Committee, the first freshman on that committee in over 80 years, and considered to be a potential rising star in the party. In March 1995, she announced she was pregnant. Greene became the second representative to ever give birth while in office (the first being

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke Yvonne Pearl Burke (née Watson, later Brathwaite; born October 5, 1932) is an American politician and lawyer from California. She was the first African-American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress. She served in the U.S. Congress from ...

) and the first Republican.

Misuse of funds

Her term was marred with scandal as her campaign was accused of campaign finance violations. Almost $1.8 million of the money spent in the 1994 campaign came from her husband, Joe, who had embezzled nearly $4 million from her father. Joe Waldholtz disappeared in November 1995 for six days before surrendering to police. During that time she announced that she was suing for

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

, for custody of her daughter, and to change her name back to 'Enid Greene'. ''The Washington Post'' reported that Waldholtz was addicted to heroin. Under pressure from Utah Republicans, she announced on March 5, 1996, that she would not seek re-election to Congress. Joe Waldholtz pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax, bank, and campaign fraud, and then, while out on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

, was subsequently convicted of forging insurance and

Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

checks from his stepmother and his late father. He was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison.

Comeback

Greene has slowly made her way back up the state Republican ladder in Utah. In 2003, she was elected vice chair of the

Utah Republican Party The Utah Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the U.S. state of Utah. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all four of Utah's United States House of Representatives ...

. Greene was a candidate for

Lieutenant Governor of Utah The office of the lieutenant governor of Utah was created in 1975. Nine people have held the position since then. Prior to the creation of the lieutenant governor's office, the succession to the governorship of Utah was held by the Utah Secretar ...

in 2004, but her ticket with gubernatorial candidate

Nolan Karras Nolan E. Karras (born December 30, 1944 in Ogden, Utah) is an American politician and businessman who served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 1981 to 1990. Early life and education Karras earned a Bachelor of Science deg ...

was unsuccessful, garnering only 34% of the vote in the Republican primary. After losing in the primary, Greene went back to being Utah GOP vice chairwoman. She became acting chair of the Utah Republican Party upon the resignation of Joe Cannon in November 2006, and was unanimously elected to serve as state party chair in February 2007 until the next convention in June 2007. Enid Greene remarried in 2008 to then sheriff's deputy, and current judge, Scott J. Mickelsen. She was a delegate at the 2012 Republican National convention, served as chair of the 2016 Republican National Convention Site Selection Committee, and was appointed by RNC Chair

Reince Priebus Reinhold Richard Priebus ( ; born March 18, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump from January 20, 2017, until July 31, 2017. He also served as the chairman of the Republ ...

as chair of the 2016 Republican Convention Rules Committee.

Electoral history

Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1992, Eileen Koschak of the Socialist Workers party received 650 votes.

Notes

References

* Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa. ''The Almanac of American Politics, 1994''. Washington, D.C.:

National Journal ''National Journal'' is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes da ...

, 1993. * Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa. ''The Almanac of American Politics, 1998''. Washington, D.C.:

, 1997. * Michael Barone, Richard E. Cohen, and Grant Ujifusa. ''The Almanac of American Politics, 2002''. Washington, D.C.:

, 2001. * Benson, Lee. ''Blind Trust: The True Story of Enid Greene & Joe Waldholtz'', Agreka Books (November 1997), * Leigh Dethman
"Greene elected Utah GOP chief"
''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

'', February 11, 2007

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greene Mickelsen, Enid 1958 births Latter Day Saints from California Living people J. Reuben Clark Law School alumni University of Utah alumni Utah lawyers Female members of the United States House of Representatives Women in Utah politics People from San Rafael, California American women lawyers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Utah Republican National Committee members Utah politicians convicted of crimes 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians Latter Day Saints from Utah