KUER Citizen Panel Takes Attorney General Candidates to Task

This fact comes first because according to Gray, it's all some police officers ever see.

GRAY: "I have no criminal record. I've never been arrested. And yet I've been stopped, numerous times, because of my race, and have been told that, when I finally pushed it to the max to find out the reason. What do you do to support my right to constitutional protection of not having profile stops."

SHURTLEFF: "We need to find out if there's a problem."

SHURTLEFF: "I think there ought to be a way to categorize and keep track so that if it's happening we can get to the root of it and make sure it stops."

Libertarian Andrew McCullough said he has fought racial profiling as a defense attorney in lawsuits against the Utah Highway Patrol. He also pointed to his membership on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union, which he says has helped draft legislation to stop racial profiling. Democrat Reed Richards also is against the practice.

RICHARDS: "It has to be tracked, I think, and analyzed, at every level-- at the police officer level, at the prosecutor level at the judge level and make sure that each of those groups are treating everyone in a fair and equitable manner. And if we do that hopefully we can come up with solutions that will be long lasting. "

Laura Hoffman's concern didn't come from an incident on the street-- it came home to her dinner table, growing up.

HOFFMAN: "My father worked at the Utah State Prison for 25 years. And I can't tell you how many stories around the dinner table of so-and-so's back. What are we going to do with those offenders currently in the system?"

McCULLOUGH: "What we really can't be doing is allowing them to sit there for 10, 15 years, maybe, and just sit."

"And then they get out and, 'Now what?' I'd like to see them participate in the American life more than they do and certainly an incentive in shorter prison terms for people who get the therapy, take the education, do the various things they need to do to be a little bit less of a risk when they get back out."

Democrat Reed Richards said he would expand training and education programs so more prisoners can earn a living when they get out of prison. Republican Mark Shurtleff blamed drugs and proposed anti-drug incentive programs similar to drug courts.

On this year's ballot measures: Shurtleff and Richards were strongly against Initiative A, making English the official language. McCullough supports it, although he said he wasn't sure and "could be talked out of it." Richards and Shurtleff both opposed Initiative B, which would make it harder for law enforcement to seize property from suspected criminals. McCullough strongly supports the initiative saying it would protect property rights, a fundamental principle of the Libertarian party.

Candidates also responded to questions about legalizing marijuana: McCullough is for it, Richards and Shurtleff are not.

And they discussed the state's role in correcting bad parenting with teacher Mary Ann Bowers. Bowers wanted the candidates to tell her when a parent should be criminally responsible for a child's actions.

McCULLOUGH: "Should parents be responsible for what their children do if they're 10? Yes."

McCULLOUGH: "Uh, if their children, uh..."

BOWERS: (interrupts) "Criminally liable? Not just a slap on the hand, I want them in a jail cell next to their kid."

McCULLOUGH: "I can see instances in which that would be appropriate."

SHURTLEFF: "Yeah, there are laws in place, (voice of moderator Doug Fabrizio: "Mark Shurtleff"), in fact we had a case in Salt Lake County where a woman turned over the car keys to her 15-year-old son, who had problems and he ran over a couple of girls late that night. In those situations, absolutely you need to hold the parents liable."

RICHARDS: "Clearly, young people ought to be held accountable..."

RICHARDS: "...and if parents contribute to the wrongdoing by assisting in some way then they can also be punished."

The debate can be heard tonight on KUER from 6:30 to 7:30. I'm Steve Spencer, KUER News.

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