Candidates cry foul in attorney race
Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans is accusing the Democratic candidate for district attorney of a class B misdemeanor. Evans said he plans to file a formal complaint with the county clerk's office today claiming Sim Gill intentionally filed false contributor reports.
Meanwhile, the Democrats plan to file a formal complaint against the Republican candidate for district attorney, claiming she benefitted from illegal proxy campaign contributions.
County Democratic Chairwoman Megan Risbon said Lohra Miller brought in $36,000 in campaign money from Wasatch Property Management employees.
The complaint is expected to allege 18 individuals each got $2,000 bonuses from the company, which directed those people to donate the money to Miller's campaign as a way to skirt contribution limits, according to KSL-TV.
Donors cannot make a contribution with someone else's funds, according to county election law.
Miller denied the accusations, saying she has nothing to hide.
If the contributions indeed were made on behalf of Wasatch Property Management without Miller's knowledge, she can return the money within 10 days after the county clerk alerts her to the problem.
The race for district attorney is a dead heat. The latest numbers show Gill with 38 percent support to Miller's 37 percent, according to a Dan Jones & Associates poll conducted for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV.
Evans says Gill deliberately withheld information on his September financial disclosure report. If a donor contributes $200 or more to a campaign, candidates must disclose the donor's occupation and employer.
But Gill isn't the only one who filed financial reports with errors. In total, five Republicans and five Democrats failed to either list donors' occupation or employer.
"Please, this is absolutely ridiculous," Gill said. "Is he also filing complaints against the Republican violators as well?"
Evans first complained to the clerk's office about Gill's financial reports in late September. At the time, he said Democratic County Clerk Sherrie Swensen had been quick to send back reports for Republicans to correct, yet ignored similar problems in reports filed by Gill, a Democrat.
Shortly after, the clerk's office sent letters to 10 candidates — including five Democrats and five Republicans — to fix their financial disclosure reports.
Evans said Gill should have known and complied with the law instead of waiting for the clerk's office to tell him about the problem.
"If there is anyone who would have known the campaign disclosure requirements it would be Sim Gill and his Yocom campaign team," Evans said in a statement. "We believe Sim Gill intentionally hid the employer and/or occupation information to keep this information secret as long as possible so as to better facilitate the timing of their attack on Lohra Miller."
Evans also asked the clerk's office to pass the complaint onto another office without an "obvious conflict of interest," like the lieutenant governor, attorney general or another county clerk.
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
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