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

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

who served one term in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. 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 Ludmya "Mia" Love (née Bourdeau; December 6, 1975 – March 23, 2025) was an American political commentator and politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Utah's 4th congressional district from ...

'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 in and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of th ...

, 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. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

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

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

in 1983. She worked as a lawyer for

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

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 NetWare. Novell technolog ...

and then at a

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

law firm. She was deputy chief of staff for Governor Norman H. Bangerter. Mickelsen and

Jon Huntsman Jr. Jon Meade Huntsman Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American politician, businessman, and diplomat who served as the 16th governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the ambassador of the United States ...

were co-directors of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

's campaign in Utah.

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 entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

in 1992 against

Karen Shepherd Karen Rae Shepherd (née Felker; 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 Karen Rae Felker in Silver City, New Mexico, where her father ...

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 co ...

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. In March 1995, she announced she was pregnant. Greene became the second representative ever to 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 the 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 reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

, for custody of her daughter, and to change her name 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, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

, 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 slowly returned to Utah state politics. In 2003, she was elected vice chair of the

Utah Republican Party The Utah Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Utah. It is currently the dominant party in the state, and has been for almost all of its history. It currently holds Utah's entire congressional delegation ...

. 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 Secreta ...

in 2004, but her ticket with gubernatorial candidate Nolan Karras was unsuccessful, garnering only 34% of the vote in the Republican primary. After losing in the primary, Greene became Utah Republican vice chair. She became acting chair of the Utah Republican Party upon the resignation of Joe Cannon in November 2006. She 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 "Reince" Priebus ( ; born March 18, 1972) is an American politician, attorney, and naval officer who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017 and as White House chief of staff during the first s ...

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 ...

, 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 a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

'', 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 Latter Day Saints from Utah 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives