Query: 1) Just who has so much political juice as to kick the A.G.'s office into high gear to protect the Envision Ogden culprits; and, 2) What exactly is in those documents which the government lawyers are working so feverishly to hide?
For those readers closely following Dan Schroeder's Envision Ogden GRAMA Documents Request Saga, we're pleased to highlight the latest news in the matter, via yesterday's Cathy McKitrick/Salt Lake Tribune story:
Both Dr. Schroeder and Mark Shurtleff's Utah Attorney General's Office have filed pleadings with Utah's Third District Court, appealing the April 22, 2011 decision of the State Records Committee, which was for the most part favorable to Dr. Schroeder. Whereas Dr. Schroeder now merely seeks the release of the final few documents which were ruled to be "protected" under that earlier order however, the A.G.'s Office is reportedly hell-bent on a wholesale reversal of the committee's decision, and thus apparently now seeks to block the release of over 300 documents, including the very bank records which could reveal the names of the culprit (or culprits) behind the Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate scam.
This latest pro-secrecy action on the part of the A.G.'s Office flies flagrantly in the face of the intent of the current Utah GRAMA law, which generally favors open records, and invites the two-pronged question: 1) Just who has so much political juice as to kick the A.G.'s office into high gear to protect the Envision Ogden culprits, and 2) What exactly is in those documents which the government lawyers are working so feverishly to hide?
Update 9/23/11 8:00 a.m.: For those readers who'd like to dive a little more deeply into the issues involved in this round of litigation, here are the pleadings which are now on file with the Third District Court:
Update 9/23/11 10:00 a.m.: Not to be outpaced by the Trib, Scott Schwebke provides his own morning version of the story too:
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9 comments:
Thanks for highlighting this story, Rudi. But in the future, please note that only my students are allowed to call me Dr. Schroeder. :-)
LOL, Dan. Seems to me however, that we're all your students, here at Weber County Forum. ;-)
Has the AG seen the complete records he is trying to block? That might explain why he is trying to prevent release. Would the complete list be possibly embarrassing to be made public?
Not sure I understand your question. Are you asking whether Shurtleff himself has seen the records? The AG office has released a list of the withheld records, but the list isn't very detailed regarding the individual bank transaction documents.
Sorry for the confusion. I am curious as to whether the AG has reviewed the complete re3cords in question. That would perhaps raise the question of whether or not he is defending the records on legal merit or is merely trying to prevent disclosure to avoid embarrassing political and public figures.
I think you can say with 100% certainty that the government lawyers have gone over all the subject documents with a fine-tooth comb.
At this point I have no idea whether Shurtleff himself is playing any role in these decisions. If he is, I suspect it's at a fairly high level.
On the other hand, there IS some evidence that he personally intervened in the investigation two years ago, by calling the SBI investigator.
This must be a serendipitous moment for Dan Schroeder. He was going after the corrupt Blame Johnson and the corrupt Godfrey and their blatant money laundering, and, finding the whole thing to be slow walked then swept under the rug by the Utah Attorney General....
And NOW.... the AG wants the records kept secret. Gee I wonder why!
Dan, in following the stink from two rotting fish, found a dead and rotting whale, contaminating the entire ocean - the intensely stinking AG office of Utah.
Dan is a credit to patriots everywhere.
Welcome to Zion!
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