GOP Senate candidate's finance chair quits campaign under federal civil charges; and the Utah Governor's race starts to heat up
Several interesting Salt Lake Tribune news stories today, impacting the upcoming 2012 Utah General Election:
1) U.S. Senate candidate Dan Liljenquist's GOP primary campaign has suffered a major disaster. His campaign finance chairman "resigned Thursday, a day after he was sued by federal regulators over impropriety at a hedge fund he manages" The gravamen of the "impropriety?" He's accused by SEC regulators of defrauding his own investors:
While we're no fans of the incumbent GOP Senator-for-Life Orrin Hatch; it seems to us that Utah citizens would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire with this Liljenquist guy. Liljenquist's obvious failure to properly "vet" one of his most important campaign aides doesn't speak well for his political judgement, does it?
Perhaps it's time to consider somebody from the other side of the political aisle, folks. Just a thought.
2) The Utah Governor's race is starting to heat up, according to this morning's SL-Trib story. "Peter Cooke, the Democratic candidate for governor, says it is time for Gov. Gary Herbert to take charge of lingering problems at the Utah Department of Transportation by firing Director John Njord and repaying a wrongly terminated employee the legal fees spent getting her job back" :
Cooke also adds that "the attorney general 'needs to investigate this full-force,' or else an independent investigation should look at how UDOT handled the botched Interstate 15 bid two years ago, why the state paid $13 million to the losing bidder."
Scandal-wise, it would appear that the Gary Herbert campaign is up to its eyeballs with corruption problems, dunnit? That taint from the Governor's office should make for a very interesting 2012 race for sure.
3) And speaking of the Utah Governor's race, the Trib also reports that "Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has named Cody Stewart, a former congressional staffer and lobbyist for the oil and gas industry, as his new energy adviser," which elicits for us images of the fox watching over the henhouse:
As a seasoned political wonk with over forty years' political experience under his belt, your humble blogmeister can't imagine how this ill-timed gubernatorial appointment can possibly fail to emerge as a major campaign issue.
That's it for now, O Gentle Ones.
We'll stand by for your ever-savvy comments.
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1 comment:
"That taint from the Governor's office should make for a very interesting 2012 race for sure."
I wish that were so, but I doubt it. I'm afraid any incumbent governor with an R after his name is, at present here in Zion, in the same position as the Hon. [?] H. Edwin Edwards [D] was, running for re-election as governor in Louisiana a few decades ago. To lose the election, Edwards told reporters, they'd have to "catch me in bed with a live boy or a dead girl." Absent an indictment prior to election day, I think Herbert is in pretty much the same position. So to speak.
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