RadioWest Transcript: October 25, 2000
By Bryan Schott

DOUG FABRIZIO: The race for Utah's attorney general has been overshadowed the higher-profile races. And it doesn't help that, at first glance the men trying to replace Jan Graham, share similar views on most issues. But, as KUER's Bryan Schott reports, there are differences, and they're striking.

SCHOTT: How do you choose a lawyer? Do you look for the most impressive layout in the yellow pages? Do you pay attention to the commercials that run on daytime television? If it’s a daunting task to choose a legal adviser for yourself, what about choosing one for the whole state? Essentially, that’s what the election for Utah’s Attorney General is about.

It's dificult to make distinctions between the two major party candidates vying to succeed Jan Graham, Democrat Reed Richards and Republican Mark Shurtleff. Both espouse tough-on-crime policies, both support the death penalty and both oppose restrictions on the 2nd amendment. But this race is different, if only because there is a third party candidate getting attention late in the race-- Libertarian Andrew McCullough. He believes that the current AG’s office has not been vigilant enough in protecting the personal liberties of Utahns-- specifically not doing enough to stop racial profiling.

Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer for the state, so where candidates stand on crime is key. Utah’s violent crime rate is at a 15-year low. Richards says he can’t take full credit for the downturn, but it does show that the attorney general’s office has been doing its job-- making sure law enforcement is focusing on the same objective.

RICHARDS: "I certainly wish I had total power to control crime. Everyone has a role in trying to reduce and prevent crime. Street crime is always going to be prosecuted by county attorneys, and investigated by sherrifs and police chiefs. It’s a combined role. Over the past five years, every year we’ve gone to communities around the state and met with law enforcement leaders and received their ideas on how we can change the law to help them enforce them. Then we’ve gone back to the legislature and asked them to make the changes."

Shurtleff concurs that crime rates are dropping, but he says the current administration hasn’t done enough. He points to crime drops in New York and New Orleans of nearly 50% - while Utah is down only 9%:

SHURTLEFF: "We’re gonna start with methamphetamine because that’s where we have not had any downturn. It has gone up from ‘98 to ‘99, the usage, and that drives the other crime rate up. What we gotta do is start attacking meth, first thing."

Libertarian Andrew McCullough agrees crime is a problem, but he disagrees with the emphasis his opponents put on it.

McCULLOUGH: "My opponents try hard to say each is tougher on crime. I say that’s the battle for who can be more efficiently oppressive. Our jails are as full as we can make them. I’m not terribly worried at this point in life that we are not punishing enough people. If a policeman violates the Constitution in his ardor to catch someone, we now have two lawbreakers, one who is carrying a badge. The one carrying the badge scares me more."

The sharpest difference between the three is the question of how the office is run and who it serves. Richards says it should serve the people. That’s why the office joined national lawsuits against the tobacco industry and Publisher’s Clearing House.

RICHARDS: "Certainly, in the civil enforcement and criminal enforcement of laws, we have to be the representative of the people. There’s no one else who can do that. We also represent state agencies because we are their attorney. Even in that role, we have some obligation to represent the people. If that agency is wanting to do something that is improper, we have an obligation on behalf of the state to make sure that doesn’t happen."

Republican Mark Shurtleff, on the other hand, says lawsuits like that overstep the authority of the office, and are nothing more than an attempt to legislate and regulate through litigation. And, he says, that has moved the office away from its main purpose.

SHURTLEFF: "It’s what the Utah constitution says. We’re gonna be sworn to uphold that constitution. It’s very clear. It says the attorney general shall be the legal advisor for the state offices and agencies. That’s the number one role. That does not mean you're not independent. It doens't mean you don't also represent the people. But that’s your first job."

McCullough is like Richards. He believes the office needs to go after companies that harm Utahns, but he’s not sure he’d go as far as the current administration:

McCULLOUGH: "The ultimate client is the people. If the public at large is being harmed by someone, then the attorney general's office certainly has the power to go after it. Consumer protection is something that attorneys general do all over the country. And I would selectively continue that practice. Whether I would have sued the tobacco companies, I don’t know."

Who the office serves brings up the question of independence and political balance. Richards contends that with a Republican Governor and a Republican-controlled Legislature, it is imperative to keep a Democrat attorney general:

RICHARDS: "We have in this state a very strong bias toward Republicans. I think it’s important to have a balance there so that we have both views expressed. One of the things that happens when you have too many on one side, is, the tendency is you make decisions in closed caucuses in one party or the other. If you have somewhat equal balance, you have much less of that going on."

Shurtleff says, even though he thinks the office primarily serves the state, he won’t be a drone of the Republican party.

SHURTLEFF: "Some people say, 'Well, if you have a Republican governor then you should have a Democratic AG for independence. No. The constitution makes it independent. It ought not to be politicized in that way. And I think the current administration has politicized it."

In fact, only 14 attorneys general in the United States are Republican, so he says his election will help the political balance nationally.

As for McCullough-- he believes political independence would come naturally as a member of a third party:

McCULLOUGH: "I understand as the only Libertarian in government, I could be a bit of an outcast. But a Libertarian basically takes the good points from the Democrats and Republicans. Hopefully I'll be able to bridge it."

What the election might hinge on are the intangible qualities the three candidates bring to the table. Though he has never prosecuted a criminal case in Utah, Shurtleff has served as a Salt Lake County commissioner for the past two years. He says that job has prepared him to be the Attorney General because it honed his leadership skills:

SHURTLEFF: "It’s about being the No. 1 attorney in that firm. We need someone who will provide vision and direction and leadership, to increase morale up there. Morale in that office is at an all time low in that office. We need to do everything we can to hire and retain the very best attorneys to represent the state and the people. And so leadership counts. And so for the last two years, that’s what I’ve done. That's prepared me better to be attorney general than the litigation experience I’ve had prior to that."

Richards has been the top assistant to current attorney general Jan Graham for eight years and held elected office as the Weber County attorney prior to that. He says you can judge a leader by what he’s been able to accomplish, and his record speaks for itself:

RICHARDS: "It’s fine to say I’m a great leader, I'm visionary, I do all sorts of great things, but what you need to do is be able to point to a proven record of accomplishments, because that's what a leader does. A leader should be able to look back and say OK, her are the things that I was able to do. And certainly none of those things are things the leader has done by myself. They're done by being able to bring other people together to accomplish a common goal."

But that’s still not enough, according to McCullough. He says leadership and experience don’t matter if your priorities are out of whack.

McCULLOUGH: "The reason that I have decided to run for attorney general is that I do not believe the leadership is going in the right direction. So if I can’t say I am not going to assert new leadership and correct the direction, then I have no business doing this."

The ultimate question is why the candidates even want the job. Richards says it’s important to continue the programs he had a hand in under the current administration like children’s justice centers and the laws regulating the sale of the ingredients to make methamphetamine. Shurtleff says the office is adrift-- off-course from its purpose and his leadership will bring it back. As for McCullough, his candidacy is personified by a flag hanging in his office - white with a red stripe on the outside and the stars and bars from the confederate battle flag.

McCULLOUGH: "The flag on my wall in my office is the last official flag of the Confederacy. The reason it’s up there is the Confederacy is referred to as "The Lost Cause," with the capital letters. I am a lover of lost causes and the underdog. That’s why I am here, that’s what I do."

The lost cause analogy may be prophetic. Polls show the race a virtual dead heat between Richards and Shurtleff-- each getting about one-third of the vote. McCullough lags far behind with 4 percent.

I’m Bryan Schott, KUER News.

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