Joseph Ingles, who served as executive secretary of the state's Committee of Consumer Services for 15 years, has been escorted from his office and locked out.
The removal came three months after Constance White, director of the Utah Department of Commerce, told Ingles his services were no longer needed.But supporters of Ingles have insisted that the committee is a quasi-independent group appointed to watch out for the consumer and that the department had no right to fire Ingles.
Ingles refused to comment Wednesday, referring callers to committee Chairman Leland J. Hogan, who is also a Tooele County commissioner.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Stan Harbuck, who describes himself as a small businessman, filed a petition with the Utah Supreme Court on behalf of a new group called Coalition for Utility Ratepayer Equity. The petition seeks to overturn White's action.
The petition contains an affidavit by Hogan stating that the committee has asked the attorney general's office for help in contesting the removal, and the attorney general's office has declined.
Harbuck said the attorney general's office told him the Supreme Court has scheduled a June 7 hearing on the matter.
White told the Deseret News she gave Ingles a three-month notice that April 30 was his last day on the job. "After April 30, he continued to come into his office, and that's how this strange situation came to pass," she said.
She said she was allowing him until Monday to make the transition and clean out his desk. White said she thought he would comply with that, but about 5:30 p.m. Monday he told her, "I'm coming into the office. I'll be here tomorrow."
"He was sitting in his office as though he was going to sleep there all night," she said.
White said she called the security office of the state's Heber Wells Building, where both she and Ingles worked. "The security man came up promptly. We walked into Joe's office together. I told him it was time for him to leave, and he did."
She had already changed the locks, and she removed his security clearance.
"Terminated employees are required to turn over their state credit cards, their security pass, all that kind of thing," she said. "He was refusing to give those things to me, so I just had them electronically canceled. He was in the status of a former employee."
Ingles apparently is getting another state job, White said. As far as she knows, that hasn't changed.
State employees in Ingles' position are considered exempt, meaning they do not have the same job protection as normal government employees. "These people do not typically stay when a new governor takes office," she said.
"The committee's position is that the committee's autonomous and that the committee should be able to hire and fire the administrative secretary," Hogan said. "The committee has always been in a position of support for Joe Ingles."
However, he said, the attorney general said the department has the right to fire him. "We don't think that's right," but the committee has to go along with it, he said.
The department appointed Lisa Hurtado Armstrong as acting administrative secretary without the committee's advice and consent, he said. The committee will meet Friday to discuss the matter, Hogan added.
Tim Funk, an activist with the Community Coalition of Utah, denounced the removal of Ingles.
"This is outrageous. Connie White has created a disaster. Ratepayers are without competent leadership and representation, for the first time in over 15 years," Funk said.