Some anonymous comments:
The guidelines for campaign contributions in Utah are extremely poor. Swallow has accepted money with little or no oversight. An attorney who hoped to represent and now represents the state of Utah should be much more careful on accepting donations.
At the very least Swallow was engaged in outside work which is wholly against the rules. He failed to report the income and in fact created a company for the purpose of hiding the money. This alone is grounds for resignation and disbarment.
What ever happened to "Innocent until proven guilty?" People are calling for his resignation when we don't even know all the facts, or if it even occurred.
There are a lot of people who have watched John over the years who believe he is capable of the sort of unethical behavior alleged. Swallow needs to understand that you can't talk yourself out of a problem you behaved yourself into.
Even though it doesn't appear that he did anything illegal, his lack of judgement and ethics, along with putting personal gain ahead of the public trust, should disqualify him. Not matter what he does from this point on, a cloud of doubt and suspicion will hover over him.
No one should be tried in the media (especially by the Trib), but if the investigation substantiates the allegations against Swallow, he should resign.
Even if he isn't guilty of bribery, Swallow should resign because his explanation of lobbying for Johnson in exchange for campaign donations is still very fishy.
Even giving Swallow the benefit of the doubt, which we must, and taking his version of the facts at face value, the events as he recounts them give me serious doubts about his fitness to represent the people of Utah as their chief legal agent. He has shown a serious lack of regard for appearance of propriety that all lawyers must keep in mind. He has shown a willingness to cut corners too closely.
I know John and I think he believed he was only trying to help a constituent.
There seems to be a lot of questionable things going on. You would think the top legal adviser for Utah, or someone looking for that position would have more sense than to get involved in something like this. POWER + MONEY + GREED = TROUBLE.
Since the days Swallow was in the Utah House of Representatives he has taken a position of knowing more how to do things than his colleagues. He apparently thought he could get favors ($) from Johnson and therefore cooperated in a less than ethical scheme to take the heat off Johnson.
No matter how much he denies this, there is something there. Anybody remember President Clinton, Mr. "I did not have sex with that woman."
Nobody in a prosecutorial role should be offering up legal advice to outside parties. It creates an immediate conflict of interest should they end up on opposing sides.
While A. G. Swallow may not have done anything criminally wrong, his lack of judgement and integrity have certainly been exposed. No one governs long without the support of the people, and there certainly does not appear to be any way by which he can regain that.
The immediate calls for resignation truncate the process. Swallow, like everyone, deserves the assumption of innocence and a chance to defend himself. AND the people deserve to have the issue resolved in the full light of him being in office rather than letting it be swept under the rug and the radar if he were to resign.
John Swallow took money (funnelled thru another person that is well documented) from someone who was under felony charges while he was Assistant Attorney General and he should resign.
While it certainly appears bad, we must remember that we only have information from both sides that serve their individual purposes. Let's withhold judgement until all the facts have been laid out.
Even the guilty deserve due process. The court of public opinion is so easily swayed by biased media that we must not allow that court to be the deciding factor.
It doesn't really matter whether or not what he did was illegal. The part of the story that Swallow admits to is reason enough to raise serious ethical concerns and it undermines the public's trust in the Attorney General's office. It is clear that he is not representing the 3 million Utahns, just those select few that donate significant amounts of money to his or Shurtleff's campaigns.
This story has been talked about for months in political circles. It was just a matter of time before it went public. He has made more enemies than friends on his upward climb, so we won't see lots of allies coming to his defense.
This has been under investigation for many months. Why is it taking so long to either clear Swallow or indict him ?
It is a serious charge that should be seriously investigated. People should withhold judgement and "problem solving," until all the information is available. To many politicians attempt to bandwagon and advance their careers on the backs of others in situations like this. The media is there to stoke the flames.
Where the hell was the Trib in September when they got this information? Now it's after an election AND one of the witnesses is dead.
It doesn't look good, but then it's been one-side so far. I'm surprised how quickly the newspapers have been to call for his resignation when the facts are still unclear.
Swallow conducted these meetings and made these arrangements as an employee of the state of Utah. He can claim he "technically did nothing illegal" but we won't know without subpoenas. Lets find a different b- list lobbyist to fill his place.
What do we know right now -- a charged and likely will be convicted individual has made allegations against Swallow. Those allegations are disputed and denied by him. Let's not get carried away and start building the scaffold just yet. Let's at least wait until we know what the facts really are. Home Depot will still be open later if we need to purchase scaffolding material.
We shouldn't rush to judgment but if even a few of the allegations are correct, John Swallow should be prepared to resign. At the least, this shows very shabby judgment on his part.
Yes, there are conflicting accounts and we should not jump to conclusions - but it does not look good for the state's highest legal officeholder to be mixed up with Mr. Johnson and his schemes. His background as a political fixer/operator and his cozy connections with the rather morally deficient payday loan business suggest that the state would have been better off if he had not chosen to run for office at all.
This looks very bad, but everyone deserves due process. If Swallow is guilty, he has a moral obligation to resign immediately.
Regardless of any criminal issues, this may be a breach of public trust, however, all of the facts have not yet been made public.
Even if only half of the allegations are half-true, this situation will cast a shadow of doubt over the Attorney General's office for the next 4 years. It reflects poorly on the Office and on the State Republican Party. The Legislature needs to look seriously at some of the reform suggestions emerging from this mess, such as making the AG an appointed rather than elected position, and limiting campaign donations to all elected officials.
Some anonymous comments:
Swallow does not appear to be guilty of criminal activity only of very poor judgement.
Swallow is a good man and is being treated unfairly by the media. He deserves to be heard out and for a full investigation to take place. I believe him to be an honest man.
Are you serious? He won't even consider it. As a member of the majority party (the veto proof majority) he has been successful in all sorts of questionable practices for quite a long time. It appears that he and many of his cohorts on Capitol Hill don't recognize the line where unethical behavior begins. Honestly, we need enough members of the minority party in the legislature to have enough influence to at least force a discussion. Power corrupts. Complete power corrupts completely.
Knowing Swallow, I don't think his ego will allow him to resign.
Swallow has been working for years to be the big cheese...it just seems he's decided to be a smelly cheese.
Not unless the heat in the kitchen gets much hotter...
Probably not. He knows that if he outlasts this, he's safe, and in Utah, Republicans can always outlast scandals.
For him it is not about integrity of the office it is about the power. He will not leave without pushing, kicking and crying, no matter how bad it makes the AG office look. It is the way of the Eagle forum.
Unless he is indicted or someone pushes him very hard to leave, he will remain in office. He will not go willingly.
He's pretty sure he can beat any charges brought against him, and I doubt the legislature will force him out. I fully expect, though, that his legal career will die in convention in 2016.
1. He doesn't see that he did anything wrong. Too much time in Utah Politics. 2. There won't be enough proof to convict him of a crime, so the party will just blame critics for "playing politics."
A man who would show a willingness to "do what is necessary" in the way Swallow has will not resign short of indictment. He has little honor or shame.
Eventually, I believe he will but not until he is trapped completely. It is surprising how quickly the Republican super-majority that elected Swallow is willing to dump him.
John - give it up. We don't trust you.
Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. He will resign when there is no other option but he may take others out with him.
Wild accusations aren't a reason to resign, unless they turn out to be true. Anybody can allege just about anything in this 24/7 news media cycle and we would be wise to withhold judgement based on innuendo.
Eventually he will have no choice. The story isn't going anywhere and it isn't a one-time problem for Swallow. This is a pattern of behavior. This guy was not even a practicing attorney, he was a lobbyist for the payday lending industry and Shurtleff's money guy. With Shurtleff out of the picture, Swallow will find himself without a protector and he'll have no choice but to step down. No worries, he can always go back to the lucrative lobbying world, Shurtleff will no doubt help him out.
He should resign unless he wants to go through an ugly impeachment process.
Not until some of his other shady dealings come to light. His quivering, Utah lip statement of "I have done nothing wrong" is reminiscent of Richard Nixon, "I am not a crook".
Not without a fight as he would not have run for A.G. since this investigation started before the election.
There will be a great attempt to whitewash this. The only way he will resign is if he is convicted and we,as a state, won't have an attorney general. That would probably be better than having John Swallow embarrass Utah at every turn.
Why would he? He's a Republican in Utah. He'll most likely get a medal from the Legislature and a trophy for "Best Managed Scandal"
Not unless the disclosures get so embarrassing to the state government that there is no other choice.
It will be self above service. Rather than doing what's best for the AG Office, the Republican Party, and the people of Utah, Swallow will likely do what is best for Swallow.
Yes, but he will drag this on for about six weeks before finally saying that he's stepping down even though he did "nothing wrong" but because the media is making it impossible for his office to focus on its important work amidst this "manufactured scandal." Then a year later, he will be indicted by the feds.
Respondents include -
Fred Adams, Stuart Adams, Jess Agraz, Scott Anderson, Laura Arellano, Patrice Arent, Bette Arial, Neil Ashdown, Bruce Baird, Tom Barberi, Heather Barney, Steve Barth, Jeff Bell, Tom Berggren, Mike Bertelsen, Ron Bigelow, Emily Bingham-Hollingshead, Rob Bishop, Laura Black, Nanci Bockelie, Charles Bradley, Jim Bradley, Ralph Brown, Chris Bleak, Curt Bramble, Joel Briscoe, Ralph Brown, Aaron Browning, Ken Bullock, Ric Cantrell, Maura Carabello, Marty Carpenter, Rebecca Chavez-Houck, Kay Christensen, David Clark, Kim Coleman, Peter Corroon, Tim Cosgrove, Fred Cox, Lew Cramer, Gene Davis, Richard Davis, Brad Daw, Alan Dayton, Margaret Dayton, Mike Deaver, Brad, Dee, Joseph Demma, Jake Dennis, Dan Deuel, Jeff Dixon, Brian Doughty, Carl Downing, Randy Dryer, Susan Duckworth, Donald Dunn, Alan Eastman, Becky Edwards, Scott Ericson, Chase Everton, Jessica Fawson, Janice Fisher, Wendy Fisher, Lorie Fowlke, Ronald Fox, Claire Francis, Ryan Frandsen, Adam Gardiner, Jordan Garn, Ernie Gamonal, Luke Garrott, Dave Gessel, Sheryl Ginsberg, Natalie Gochnour, Robert Grow, Karen Hale, David Hansen, Neil Hansen, Joe Hatch, Jeff Hartley, Dan Hauser, Lynn Hemmingway, Deidre Henderson, Neal Hendrickson, Casey Hill, Lyle Hillyard, Kory Holdaway, Randy Horiuchi, Ben Horsley, Bruce Hough, Scott Howell, Greg Hughes, Miriam Hyde, Allison Isom, Casey Jackson, Eric Jergensen, Mike Jerman, Jonathan Johnson, Michael Jolley, Gordon Jones, Leslie Jones, Pat Jones, Kirk Jowers, Jeremy Keele, Brian King, Scott Konopasek, Steve Kroes, Chris Kyler, Carter Livingston, Fred Lampropoulos, Clark Larsen, Douglas Larson, David Litvack, Larry Lunt, Matt Lyon, Ben McAdams, Daniel McCay, Gayle McKeachnie, JT Martin, Maryann Martindale, Jason Mathis, Bob Mayhew, Karen Mayne, Bret Milburn, Derek Miller, Rob Miller, Ethan Millard, Brett Millburn, Karen Morgan, Jeffery Morton, Mike Mower, Holly Mullen, Wayne Niederhauser, Mike Noel, Randy O'Hara, Ralph Okerlund, James Olsen, Val Oveson, Kelly Patterson, John Pearce, Helen Peters, Karen Peterson, Frank Pignanelli, Becky Pirente, Marie Poulson, Jason Powers, Tami Pyfer, Joe Pyrah, Mike Reberg, Jill Remington Love, Lauren Richards, Holly Richardson, Robin Riggs, James Roberts, Luz Robles, Ross Romero, Carol Sapp, Don Savage, Bryan Schott, Shauna Scott-Bellaccomo, Jay Seegmiller, Jennifer Seelig, Patrick Shea, Randy Shumway, Soren Simonsen, Jeremy Slaughter, Brendan Smith, Brian Somers, Carol Spackman-Moss, Robert Spendlove, Barbara Stallone, Howard Stephenson, David Stringfellow, Mike Styler, Shinika Sykes, Juliette Tennert, Gary Thorup, Kevin Van Tassell, Royce Van Tassel, Doug Thompson, Michael Waddoups, Laura Warburton, Chuck Warren, Christine Watkins, LaVarr Webb, Todd Weiler, Alan West, Mark Wheatley, Larry Wiley, Ted Wilson, Carl Wimmer, Mike Winder, Travis Wood, Thomas Wright, Crystal Young-Otterstrom
Results from the UtahPolicy.com/KSL Insider poll can be heard on KSL Radio every Friday and are published on Utah Policy.com every Monday.
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