Utah AG’s race looks to pick a new leader after decade of scandal
Oct 1, 2024, 5:01 PM | Updated: 5:53 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s attorney general’s office has been involved in more than a decade of controversy and scandal, including allegations of a pay-to-play scheme, extortion, and using the office for cover. But this November, Utah looks to pick its new leader.
Four candidates debate Tuesday night for their one and only debate, with no incumbents in the mix.
AG Sean Reyes decided not to run in December of last year after months of questions surrounding his ties to Operation Underground Railroad Founder Tim Ballard. Reyes is also accused of taking lavish trips and is currently in a legal battle with KSL over his refusal to release his public calendar.
Now, Derek Brown (R), Rudy Bautista (D), Michelle Quist (United Utah Party), and Andrew McCullough (Libertarian) look to fill that role.
“The biggest task, I think, that the next attorney general have, will be regaining public trust of the office,” said KSL Legal Analyst Greg Skordas, who ran for the post in 2020.
The position comes with a great amount of power — the person is seen as Utah’s top law enforcer. They defend the state every time it gets sued, they work to sue on behalf of the state, plus they have a myriad of other state agencies they defend and provide legal advice.
“They contract with all the other large law firms in the state of Utah for legal services. So there are a lot of people that always want their business,” Skordas said. “And it just is fraught with the potential for that kind of misconduct. And unfortunately, the last three attorneys general have taken advantage of that.”
In 2013, then-Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and his successor John Swallow were accused of being part of an elaborate pay-to-play scheme. Both were arrested in 2014 amid a myriad of charges. Shurtleff’s case was ultimately dismissed and Swallow was acquitted by a jury.
It was current AG Sean Reyes who was then appointed to replace Swallow — but he too found himself in scandal after a lawsuit accused him of using his position to silence critics of Ballard. The claims against him were dropped after Reyes apologized and said he’d drop out.
Skordas believes it’s not so much the office itself that’s the problem, but rather those three who held it.
At the same time, he said, the only check on the office is the voters.
“I think it just needs to have a new leader, someone who isn’t part of the establishment, part of the problem that’s been going on there,” Skordas said. “Someone who could come in with fresh ideas and realize that that office is now under a microscope. I mean, it’s hard to imagine the next attorney general doing anything like the last three have, given the scrutiny that that office is going to be under.”
About a year ago amid the Reyes controversy, Utah lawmakers also ordered a legislative audit of the AG’s office. At last check, the work had been done and its status was listed as “report writing” — but there is no timetable yet for when that audit will be released.
Since Reyes’s issues last year, there have been calls to make the office appointed or to reform campaign donations. But so far none of that has happened. Lawmakers have passed a law saying that the AG cannot engage at any outside practice of law while serving.
