John Swallow News Roundup - Episode XXXVII: Post-holiday Tidbits

 Political dynamite? You bet!

It's a slow post-Pioneer Day news day, so why not?  While you were all slacking off yesterday and sleeping late this morning, we were busy scouring the net for the latest news in the ever-enthralling John Swallow Saga.  So here are a couple of new tidbits to digest whilst you clear out those post-holiday cobwebs:

1) Citizen-activist and Utah Political Capitol reader Matt McCarty offers a sound argument that "[i]n order to maintain the integrity investigation and the public trust, Speaker Lockhart must find another House investigative committee chair, one who doesn’t have connections with any of Mr. Swallow’s accusers and who hasn’t contributed to the Swallow campaign fund":

• Reader Op-Ed: Investigatory Committee Shouldn’t Have Connections to Swallow

2) In the below-linked blockbuster Salt Lake Tribune "tattle-tell" guest commentary, Salt Lake attorney Greg Skordos, who represented convicted fraudster and Swallow bribery accuser Marc Jenson as recently as 2012, reveals that former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (along with everyone else in the Utah A.G.'s Office) was well aware of the close connections between Jenson, Shurtleff and Shurtleff's then-chief assistant Swallow, but willfully ignored his own staff attornies' recommendations to withdraw from the still-pending Jenson prosecution matters, and to rather remain on the case despite the clear conflicts of interest, ostensibly in order to shield his hand-picked successor, Swallow, from political blowback in the run-up to Swallow's 2012 GOP convention nomination.  Here's the gist:

Sadly, as early as the spring of 2012, discussions were held in the A.G.’s office with then-candidate Swallow about the wisdom of that office prosecuting Jenson when the relationship between Swallow, then the A.G.’s chief deputy, and Johnson was already known.
It was no secret that Swallow and his boss at the time, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, had spent considerable time with Jenson at a luxury resort and had solicited and received campaign contributions, either directly or indirectly, from Jenson, all while Jenson was under investigation on one matter and was serving a plea in abeyance on another.
Over the objection of staff in the A.G.’s office, the order came down to continue that prosecution, not because it was sound legal strategy, but because Swallow was facing a tough opponent from his own party at the upcoming Republican state convention and that the information about Jenson could damage Swallow’s chances.
One can easily imagine how that convention would have turned out had the delegates known what we all know now.

Check out the full Greg Skordos guest commentary here:

• Skordas: Swallow’s tactics no secret 

Political dynamite?  You bet!

That's it for now, folks.