September 11, 2026

[UPDATED] Background on All Candidates for Utah Attorney General

December 7, 2013 by

Utah Attorney General[Updated 11:00 AM 12-13-2013] Posted “Picking the Best Candidate for Utah Attorney General,” an endorsement of Sean Reyes. Also, added Lieutenant Governor’s letter regarding residency requirements (see below).

[Updated 2:20 PM 12-11-2013] Posted Reyes, Smith, Mumford, and Wilkins responses to American Lands Council 2013 Questionnaire Attorney General Candidates Transfer of Public Lands (see below)

[Updated 12:00 PM 12-11-2013] Posted article from SL Trib on potential disqualification of Ward, Burns, and Mumford, and post on Holly on the Hill about Rawson and role of money in the race.

[Updated 11:00 AM 12-10-2013] Posted Brian Tarbet photo and bio, add priorities submitted by Sean Reyes, and several links (see below).

This coming Saturday, the Republican State Central Committee will vote for three names to send to Governor Gary Herbert as nominees for appointment to fill the Attorney General’s office made vacant by John Swallow’s resignation.

Who are the candidates? And what should you know about them?

The Utah Constitution spells out the qualifications for anyone seeking to be Utah’s Attorney General:

To be eligible for the office of Attorney General a person shall be 25 years of age or older, at the time of election, admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of Utah, and in good standing at the bar.

Article VII, Section 3

The general duties of the Attorney General are a bit more extensive. You can find the in state code here (and I’ve posted them in full at the bottom of this page).

Find below links to all of the brief biographies I have posted here on Publius Online (to date; I’ll be updating as we go) on each candidate. As articles, posts, and information comes up, I’ll try to link it below in order to create a clearing house of information on the nine candidates.

In addition to bios (and news articles, if I can keep up), I have also listed is the contact information for each candidate as posted on the Utah GOP website.

If you have any news article or other link that you think should be added, please submit it to me in the comments or in an email to danDOTburtonATgmailDOTcom. I’ll evaluate each for relevancy, my own sole discretion applying for what gets added.

Thanks!

Bret RawsonBret Rawson
Cell: 801.884.3752
Email: bret@friendsofbretrawson.com
Website: www.friendsofbretrawson.com

Sean Reyes for AG closeSean Reyes
Cell: 801.209.3688
Email: info@seanreyes.com
Website: www.seanreyes.com

Brent WardBrent Ward  Withdrawn as of 12-11-2013.
Cell: 801.879.2934
Office: 801.325.1407
Email: wardbd@gmail.com

Michael WilkinsMichael J. Wilkins
Phone: 801.580.4249
Email: justicemichaelwilkins@gmail.com

Scott BurnsScott Burns
Phone: 801.210.2470
Website: scottburnsutah.com
Email: scottburnsutah@gmail.com

Michelle headshot2Michelle Mumford
Phone: 801.410.4506
Email: michlmumford@gmail.com

Brian TarbetBrian Tarbet
Phone: 801.544.0085
Email: brian.tarbet@gmail.com

Bob SmithRobert Smith
Phone: 801.949.5381
Email: bobsmithutah@gmail.com

 

Stephen Sorenson

  • Withdrawn as of 12/9/2013 at 10:30 AM.

General duties of the Utah Attorney General as  in Utah Code Section 67-5-1.

The attorney general shall:

(1) perform all duties in a manner consistent with the attorney-client relationship under Section 67-5-17;

(2) except as provided in Sections 10-3-928 and 17-18a-403, attend the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of this state, and all courts of the United States, and prosecute or defend all causes to which the state or any officer, board, or commission of the state in an official capacity is a party, and take charge, as attorney, of all civil legal matters in which the state is interested;

(3) after judgment on any cause referred to in Subsection (2), direct the issuance of process as necessary to execute the judgment;

(4) account for, and pay over to the proper officer, all money that comes into the attorney general’s possession that belongs to the state;

(5) keep a file of all cases in which the attorney general is required to appear, including any documents and papers showing the court in which the cases have been instituted and tried, and whether they are civil or criminal, and:

(a) if civil, the nature of the demand, the stage of proceedings, and, when prosecuted to judgment, a memorandum of the judgment and of any process issued if satisfied, and if not satisfied, documentation of the return of the sheriff;

(b) if criminal, the nature of the crime, the mode of prosecution, the stage of proceedings, and, when prosecuted to sentence, a memorandum of the sentence and of the execution, if the sentence has been executed, and, if not executed, the reason for the delay or prevention; and

(c) deliver this information to the attorney general’s successor in office;

(6) exercise supervisory powers over the district and county attorneys of the state in all matters pertaining to the duties of their offices, and from time to time require of them reports of the condition of public business entrusted to their charge;

(7) give the attorney general’s opinion in writing and without fee to the Legislature or either house and to any state officer, board, or commission, and to any county attorney or district attorney, when required, upon any question of law relating to their respective offices;

(8) when required by the public service or directed by the governor, assist any county, district, or city attorney in the discharge of his duties;

(9) purchase in the name of the state, under the direction of the state Board of Examiners, any property offered for sale under execution issued upon judgments in favor of or for the use of the state, and enter satisfaction in whole or in part of the judgments as the consideration of the purchases;

(10) when the property of a judgment debtor in any judgment mentioned in Subsection (9) has been sold under a prior judgment, or is subject to any judgment, lien, or encumbrance taking precedence of the judgment in favor of the state, redeem the property, under the direction of the state Board of Examiners, from the prior judgment, lien, or encumbrance, and pay all money necessary for the redemption, upon the order of the state Board of Examiners, out of any money appropriated for these purposes;

(11) when in the attorney general’s opinion it is necessary for the collection or enforcement of any judgment, institute and prosecute on behalf of the state any action or proceeding necessary to set aside and annul all conveyances fraudulently made by the judgment debtors, and pay the cost necessary to the prosecution, when allowed by the state Board of Examiners, out of any money not otherwise appropriated;

(12) discharge the duties of a member of all official boards of which the attorney general is or may be made a member by the Utah Constitution or by the laws of the state, and other duties prescribed by law;

(13) institute and prosecute proper proceedings in any court of the state or of the United States to restrain and enjoin corporations organized under the laws of this or any other state or territory from acting illegally or in excess of their corporate powers or contrary to public policy, and in proper cases forfeit their corporate franchises, dissolve the corporations, and wind up their affairs;

(14) institute investigations for the recovery of all real or personal property that may have escheated or should escheat to the state, and for that purpose, subpoena any persons before any of the district courts to answer inquiries and render accounts concerning any property, examine all books and papers of any corporations, and when any real or personal property is discovered that should escheat to the state, institute suit in the district court of the county where the property is situated for its recovery, and escheat that property to the state;

(15) administer the Children’s Justice Center as a program to be implemented in various counties pursuant to Sections 67-5b-101 through 67-5b-107;

(16) assist the Constitutional Defense Council as provided in Title 63C, Chapter 4a, Constitutional and Federalism Defense Act;

(17) pursue any appropriate legal action to implement the state’s public lands policy established in Section 63C-4a-103;

(18) investigate and prosecute violations of all applicable state laws relating to fraud in connection with the state Medicaid program and any other medical assistance program administered by the state, including violations of Title 26, Chapter 20, Utah False Claims Act;

(19) investigate and prosecute complaints of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of patients at:

(a) health care facilities that receive payments under the state Medicaid program; and

(b) board and care facilities, as defined in the federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396b(q)(4)(B), regardless of the source of payment to the board and care facility; and

(20) (a) report at least twice per year to the Legislative Management Committee on any pending or anticipated lawsuits, other than eminent domain lawsuits, that might:

(i) cost the state more than $500,000; or

(ii) require the state to take legally binding action that would cost more than $500,000 to implement; and

(b) if the meeting is closed, include an estimate of the state’s potential financial or other legal exposure in that report.

 

There are some addition sections in the state code that address the duties of the AG here:   http://le.utah.gov/UtahCode/section.jsp?code=67-5

 

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About Daniel Burton

Daniel Burton lives in Salt Lake County, Utah, where he practices law by day and everything else by night. You can follow him on his blog PubliusOnline.com where he muses on politics, the law, books and ideas. He is active on social media, Republican politics, and has been named to PoliticIt’s list of the “Top-50 Utah Political Opinion Leaders” on Twitter. You can reach him directly at dan.burton@gmail.com