When legitimate concerns are raised about government corruption in Utah, it is imperative that those in power take these claims seriously if trust in government is to be restored and maintained.
Unfortunately, Utah’s elected officials don’t seem to understand this as they continue to take measures that severely erode the public’s trust.
There are several instances in which Utah state officials and/or state agencies neglected to take immediate action to conduct fair and independent investigations into what whistleblowers report, particularly if the crime reported involves a top government official. Perhaps no government office has been more fraught with problems over the years than the Utah Attorney General’s Office (AGO) — the very office that is supposed to uphold the law and to conduct fair, timely investigations into reports of crimes.
In 2015, ironically, a Utah prison inmate, Reginald Williams, raised concerns that multiple Utah criminal justice agencies illegally accepted millions of dollars of grant money. Williams had hoped that gubernatorial candidates would run to be “Utah’s anti-corruption, law and order governor,” however, Williams, a convicted criminal, had to take his case to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ then filed a lawsuit against the state and 18 current and former state administrators. The AGO defended the state’s misuse of the funds rather than going after the perpetrators and eventually settled the federal lawsuit. The legislature also changed the law to prevent prisoners from doing this again.
In 2016, Assistant Attorney General Paul Amann alleges he was fired for reporting criminal activity in the AGO, including misuse of federal funds. Amann also raised concerns that a convicted felon who had served time in state prison for, among other crimes, assaulting a law enforcement officer, had been promoted to an attorney.
Another Assistant Attorney General, Robert Jason Hanks, says he was forced out of his job after reporting sexual harassment. Hanks subsequently resigned in 2017.
The public has now been made aware that in 2021, Utah National Guard members asked Gov. Cox for an investigation into violent threats against guard members, mishandled sexual misconduct cases and the failure to address an unhealthy and hostile work environment. Despite these complaints, “there were no formal charges brought or disciplinary actions taken by the state,” an administrative officer for the Department of Government Operations told The Tribune. As the Tribune Editorial Board rightly noted, “In the case of the National Guard commander, Utah does nothing and waits for the feds to clean up the mess.”
It is, therefore, not surprising that multiple media organizations are concerned about corruption in the AGO. Investigative journalists tried to obtain Attorney General Sean Reyes’ calendars to track his activities. Reyes refused to turn over the calendars. The Utah State Records Committee and a state judge both ruled that his official calendar is a public record, which makes sense because citizens have a right to know what their elected officials, who are paid by the taxpayers, are doing on government time.
Despite these rulings, Reyes still refused and turned to the governor and Legislature for support. So, rather than upholding the court’s decisions and supporting open and transparent government, the Legislature and governor quickly changed Utah’s public records law, GRAMA, in order to, as Sen. Curt Bramble told KSL, make it clear public employees’ schedules aren’t available to the public through Utah’s open records law in the future. This, of course, includes the governor’s and legislators’ calendars as well.
A legislative audit of the AGO is underway. But it’s not the first one during Reyes’ tenure. Legislative auditors also conducted audits of the AGO in 2015. The resulting reports recommended numerous changes, including greater protection for whistleblowers. But without any enforcement mechanism for those recommendations, Reyes and his office were free to implement those recommendations as they saw fit.
All Utahns deserve elected officials who honor and uphold the rule of law. All Utahns deserve timely and open access to public records, especially those related to government corruption. Without this access, all Utahns are severely disadvantaged in their efforts to advocate for and receive fair, independent investigations into government corruption. Above all, Utahns deserve elected officials who restore and to maintain our trust in government. So, let’s have timely, independent investigations into reports of government corruption and malfeasance rather than more stonewalling to protect those in power.
Judith Pinborough-Zimmerman
Judith Pinborough-Zimmerman, Ph.D., was an assistant research professor at the University of Utah between 2005 and 2013. She was a program manager and speech pathologist at the Utah Department of Health between 1978 and 2005. Dr. Zimmerman has prevailed against the state of Utah on whistleblower-related claims in state and federal court.
Ronald Mortensen, Ph.D., currently focuses on preventing the unauthorized use of Utahns’ personal identifiable and medical information for scientific and other purposes.
Ronald Mortensen, Ph.D., currently focuses on preventing the unauthorized use of Utahns’ personal identifiable and medical information for scientific and other purposes.
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