SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Attorney General John Swallow, who resigned amid public corruption allegations more than six years ago that eventually led to a criminal trial, now wants his old job back.
Swallow, a Republican, filed by proxy to run Thursday at the state elections office shortly before the 5 p.m. candidate filing deadline for the 2020 election, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.
State law requires candidates to file in person, but the governor waived that rule just last week due to coronavirus concerns. Swallow took the candidate oath over FaceTime, said Justin Lee, state elections director.
Swallow did not make himself available to comment but sent out a statement late Thursday night. He said the decision to run again wasn’t made lightly and might be misunderstood by some.
“As we have seen here, in other states, and with our president, biased and ambitious parties are weaponizing false allegations with only one objective — utter reputation annihilation,” he said.
Swallow said he left office “honorably” to spare the state from distraction and to clear his name. He said once that was done, he saw no compelling reason not to seek the “privilege of returning to finish our contribution.”
“In the face of contrived allegations, seeded and fanned by people in power, I prevailed in a constitutional process that we accept as determinative of innocence or guilt. While facing a head wind is never easy, if we in Utah allow false allegations to wrongly extinguish a light or silence a voice, vice prevails,” Swallow said.
Incumbent Attorney General Sean Reyes, whom the governor appointed to replace Swallow in 2014, is seeking reelection. Republican Utah County Attorney David Leavitt has filed, as have Democrats Greg Skordas and Kevin Probasco and Libertarian Rudy Bautista.
Swallow works as a partner at Vested Law in Salt Lake City, where his practice focuses on business and government. He also is a “skilled public speaker and offers keynotes and executive/training on how to prevent and navigate destructive allegations that threaten investments in goodwill and jeopardize personal reputation, job security and legacy,” according to his bio on the firm’s website.
Swallow maintained his innocence throughout multiple federal, state, local and legislative investigations that prompted criminal charges, including bribery, making false statements and misuse of public money. A state jury acquitted him on all charges after a monthlong trial in 2017.
“John Swallow is apparently claiming he is innocent and is now going to run against Attorney General Sean Reyes,” Alan Crooks, a Reyes campaign consultant, said in a message. “I would give you a comment but I can’t stop laughing!!!”
Swallow won the 2012 attorney general’s race by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, but accusations of impropriety began to spill out days after he took office in January 2013. He resigned 11 months into his first term.
Now imprisoned St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson claimed Swallow was involved in a plan to bribe a U.S. senator to thwart a federal investigation into Johnson’s internet marketing company. Johnson bolstered his allegation with a secret recording he made of a conversation with Swallow at a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop.
The accusation and others related to campaign finances led to federal, state and local investigations, along with a Utah House special committee investigation that ultimately concluded that Swallow “hung a veritable ‘for sale’ sign” on his office door.
The committee found that Swallow “compromised the principles and integrity of the office to benefit himself and his political supporters. In so doing, Mr. Swallow breached the public’s trust and demeaned the offices he held.”
The probes eventually led to Swallow’s arrest, along with his predecessor, Mark Shurtleff, in July 2014. Both were charged with multiple felonies.
Prosecutors alleged that Swallow was part of a conspiracy with Shurtleff and the late Tim Lawson to extort money and favors from another wealthy businessman, Marc Jenson, who had reached a plea-in-abeyance deal with the attorney general’s office. Jenson paid for the three men to visit the posh Pelican Hill resort in Southern California where he lived.
Prosecutors also alleged Swallow illegally accepted the use of a houseboat, lied in a deposition and an FBI interview, omitted financial information from a candidate declaration form and had the state pay for a broken screen on his personal laptop. They also say he took a bribe through a campaign fundraiser held by a couple who had filed a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit against Bank of America in which the attorney general’s office intervened.
Shurtleff faced many of the same charges, but prosecutors dropped the case against him before going to trial.
Swallow sued the state to recover attorneys fees after his acquittal. The legislature approved a $1.5 million settlement last September.
Having had the “extraordinary” experience of seeing both sides of a prosecution in a “very personal way,” Swallow said he uniquely understands the strengths and weaknesses of the justice system and what needs to be changed. He said he wants to protect the rights of Utahns by increasing accountability for government workers and particularly prosecutors, “who under current law answer to no one.”
That Swallow declared his candidacy makes it hard to tell how serious his bid is, said Chris Karpowitz, co-director of the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.
“I’ve seen many unexpected headlines so far this year, John Swallow returning as attorney general would be quite a shock and very unexpected,” he said.
Swallow, he said, has a steep hill to climb to rehabilitate his image and win over Utahns who polls showed wanted him to resign during the scandal.
“He just has an enormous task in front of him to explain what happened before and why voters should trust him to return to that same office,” Karpowitz said.
Swallow said he feels more prepared than before the protect rights of Utahns and secure justice for all people.
“I love my family and feel we are running straight into a forest fire, but the cause we feel in our hearts is worth the heat of flames,” said Swallow, who along with his wife, Suzanne, are the parents of five children and eight grandchildren.