The Alliance for a Better Utah delivered a petition to the Utah County Commission Tuesday morning asking embattled Utah County Commissioner Greg Graves to resign from his office.
Graves came into the spotlight about two weeks ago when his fellow commissioners released documents detailing a sexual harassment complaint filed against Graves and a subsequent investigation into the issue.
The investigation into the sexual harassment complaint filed against Graves by a county employee could not corroborate the woman’s claims that sexual harassment had occurred, but did not reflect favorably on Graves.
Witnesses interviewed nearly all painted Graves as a workplace bully who was dishonest, demeaning, intimidating, threatening and explosive, the investigation conclusion stated.
Shortly after these allegations came to light, Alliance for a Better Utah started a petition asking Graves to resign. The online petition had 354 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
Though the signatures came from all across the state, Boyer said primarily came from Utah County residents.
Graves’ fellow commissioners, Nathan Ivie and Bill Lee, as well as 17 Utah County legislators and the Utah County Republican Party, have all called on Graves to resign.
Laura Boyer, policy and advocacy fellow at Better Utah, delivered the petition Tuesday, and also read aloud a letter asking for Graves to step down.
Graves was not in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting. Lee said during commission meeting Graves said he had a family matter to attend to.
Graves called into last week’s commission meeting, but did not attend in person.
Boyer said she was disappointed to see Graves’ vacant seat when delivering the petition.
Not showing up in person to the meeting showed that Graves is slacking from his responsibilities, Boyer said, and that he is scared of public comment.
“It shows that he really does care what people think about him, so I think it doesn’t reflect really well on him that he didn’t show up to the committee meeting,” Boyer said.
Boyer said she hopes the petition amplifies the voice of those who have already called for Graves to resign.
“We hope Graves will listen, do the right thing and resign or change his behavior,” Boyer said.
When the sexual harassment complaint was first released, Graves told the Daily Herald he did not plan to resign from office.
Graves did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Herald. He last spoke with the Daily Herald Dec. 6, the day the complaint was first made public, but has not returned multiple requests for comment since that time.
