FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, November 8, 2013
Salt Lake City — As thousands of emails, documents and calendar appointments have gone missing in the midst of a legislative investigation into the Utah Attorney General’s ethical misconduct, Governor Gary Herbert stands by and says little more than there is “cause for concern.”
In January of this year, officials with the good government group Alliance for a Better UTAH asked the Governor and Attorney General to issue a litigation hold to ensure that all relevant records to the various existing and potential Swallow investigations would be preserved. The Governor’s office and Attorney General’s office ignored that request.
In light of this oversight failure, Better UTAH has issued the following statement:
“During Watergate, 18-½ minutes of audio tape went missing and led to the only Presidential resignation in history. This is John Swallow’s 18-½ minutes and, as the Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board suggested, he should put a stop to this circus by resigning. Governor Herbert should also show more than passing concern and should call for Swallow to step down.
“Even with six or more investigations of serious wrong-doing, a litigation hold request ignored, thousands of missing records, an Attorney General who scolds investigators of his own party, all the Governor has to say is that there is cause for concern.
“The Attorney General has been operating under a dark cloud of suspicion and accusation for nearly his entire tenure in office, he has dismantled the public’s trust in the Attorney General’s office and is an ongoing embarrassment to the State of Utah, and all the while, rather than lead, our Governor stands by and remains effectively silent.
“Utahns have a reasonable belief that their leaders will abide by certain ethical standards and the law of the land. If Swallow won’t hold himself accountable to the people of Utah, then Governor Herbert should step in and be the voice of accountability. He should stand with the 71 percent of Utahns who think Swallow should step down by immediately calling for the Attorney General to resign.”
For background on the John Swallow scandal, see the Salt Lake Tribune’s infographic, available at: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56654471-78/font-scribd-http-iframe.html.csp
More information about the missing records is available here: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57087128-78/swallow-attorney-committee-general.html.csp
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Alliance for a Better UTAH | 801.557.1532 | www.betterutah.org
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The Alliance for a Better UTAH is a year-round, multi-issue education and advocacy organization providing resources, commentary, and action on important public policy matters.