Senior West Valley City attorney Paula J. Houston was to be named the state's first "porn czar" today by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, sources told the Deseret News.
While Shurtleff's office would not confirm Houston's name Friday morning, his spokesman Ric Cantrell did say the new "czar" is a woman, a prosecutor with considerable experience in law enforcement, domestic violence and child pornography cases.
"She has worked with victims, with women's shelters, and she does have national experience in the fight against pornography," Cantrell said. "She's got a unique combination of toughness and grace, and she has passion for working to protect Utah families and children."
Shurtleff was set to make the announcement of Houston's appointment in his office at 2 p.m. today after Deseret News deadlines.
The one-year position — which is officially titled "pornography ombudsman" — was funded by the Legislature during the 2000 session. During his campaign for the attorney general's office, Shurtleff said he intended to expand the position to help parents block explicit material on the Internet from children. Last year the attorney general created the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to work on child porn cases full time.
Police in West Valley City say Houston is highly regarded in the police department and will be missed.
"She has been a gem as far as the work she has done in domestic violence and in civil condemnation of properties where drug labs were housed," said Charles Illsley, spokesman for West Valley City police.
Houston had plans of applying to be a judge before the porn czar position was announced, said Illsley.
During her time with West Valley, Illsley said Houston has been instrumental in fighting domestic violence. She donated a lot of her personal time to domestic violence events, he said, and was actively involved with the domestic violence shelter in West Jordan.
Houston also aggressively prosecuted landlords who allowed drug dealers on their property, who didn't clean up property that had been the location of a meth lab or failed to notify new tenants that the property had been infested with drugs.
"She has a wide variety of experience in investigating crime against children and conditions that lead to child and sex abuse," Illsley said.
Houston's office at West Valley City Hall is located next to that of Police Chief Alan Kerstein. She worked as a liaison between the police department and the city attorney and made herself available at all hours of the night to help officers with things such as search warrants or domestic violence incidents, he said.
"She'll be a great addition to the A.G.'s staff," said Kerstein. "He's getting a good one."
Houston is very responsive and aware of the laws, particularly on search and seizure, said Kerstein. And she's easy to talk to, he said.
"She's minimum on legalese and maximum on common sense," Kerstein said.
Rep. Gary Cox, D-Kearns, is a West Jordan police lieutenant who has worked with Houston on the board of the South Valley Sanctuary, a women's shelter.
"I support that choice. I'm excited for Paula," Cox said. "She will give it all she has. She will be aggressive. She'll do a good job."
Contributing: Pat Reavy.
E-MAIL: dobner@desnews.com