“Well bless your heart.” “You have an uphill battle.” “Why aren’t you running as a Republican?” “Why aren’t you running as a Democrat?”
These are just a few of the comments and questions I’ve received on the campaign trail over the past six months as I’ve shared my vision as a third-party candidate for a reformed attorney general’s office. Then, when Utahns hear that the attorney general’s office is currently a partisan office, they pause.
Because that doesn’t make any sense. Our judges aren’t elected (at least, not yet — cough cough, Utah Legislature). Lawyers don’t proclaim their partisan allegiance in court. And victims aren’t chosen by their voter registration.
Politics don’t belong in law enforcement.
It only takes that long for Utahns to realize that we need to reform the Utah Attorney General’s Office, and that my proposal makes sense.
I’m Michelle Quist, and I’m running as a third-party candidate for Utah Attorney General to bring independence to an office that has been plagued by partisan scandal for decades. I want to cut the office off from both of the national parties — from the party bosses and the non-transparent purse strings that come with those partisan ties.
I am running as a member of the United Utah Party, whose platform includes ethical government and transparency, which is one of my priorities in office. After decades of scandals, it’s time for an experienced, honest broker to focus on legal issues and not partisan politics.
Allow me to provide an example. Utah has a drug problem that our county prosecutors can’t prosecute because they’re underfunded. A partisan attorney general, though, has to toe the partisan line. Partisan themes take flight, and Utah’s drug problem becomes a border problem. But we can’t solve the border problem and, in fact, national party bosses refuse to solve the border issue in order to play politics.
With a nonpartisan attorney general, our drug problem would remain a drug problem that, if properly funded, we can solve.
The most frequent question I’m asked on the campaign trail is: What does the attorney general do? The attorney general represents the people of Utah. But I believe a partisan attorney general will always have loyalties to a party first, Utahns second.
An example: Sean Reyes traveled the country saving citizens of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania from alleged election fraud rather than tending to legal matters here at home. Meanwhile, our courts issued public opinions criticizing the office because its e-discovery methods are woefully inadequate and “haphazard.”
In a more recent example, my opponent Derek Brown called for the special session to put Amendment D on the ballot — I believe out of party loyalty. In contrast, I have opposed Amendment D from the outset because it infringes on Utahns’ constitutional right to use the initiative power without government infringement.
Our next attorney general should protect Utahns’ existing constitutional rights, not support legislative power grabs or amendments that limit those rights.
Similarly, Derek Brown supports limiting vote by mail “to those who need it.”
I support increasing voter participation with safe, secure access.
Experience matters. Integrity counts. I have both.
I’ve been a Wall Street lawyer, a federal court clerk, a solo practitioner, a law school Dean of Admissions and a Utah State Bar Commissioner. I am now a business litigator, appellate advocate and a familiar face in Utah’s legal community.
I am not a lobbyist or Utah politico insider. And that’s a good thing.
Indeed, Brown’s donor list appears like the office for-sale sign is still up. No attorney general candidate should be receiving donations of $50,000, $20,000 and $10,000 from single donors. Yet in Utah’s partisan office, such donations have become normal. Brown is business as usual.
To reform the office, we need to vote differently. A vote for me will do three things:
Send a message to the party who has had stewardship of this office for decades that voters are unhappy with that stewardship;
Reform the office to an independent attorney general to get the politics out of law enforcement and cut off both of the national parties, including the party bosses and their purse strings; and
Elect the best candidate with the most experience and service in Utah’s legal community, whose only interest is to refocus the office back on state legal issues.
Let’s reform Utah’s Attorney General’s Office together. Because politics don’t belong in law enforcement.
Vote Michelle Quist for Utah Attorney General by Nov. 5.
(Michelle Quist) Michelle Quist is running for attorney general as an independent, third-party candidate.
Michelle Quist is running for attorney general as an independent, third-party candidate. She is a business litigator and appellate lawyer at Buchalter; has served two terms as a Utah Bar Commissioner; and is a single mother of seven children and one Bernedoodle.
