Demos pick sales rep as auditor candidate

Norman Le Fevre, 59, was chosen Wednesday to face GOP candidate and newly appointed interim auditor Sean Thomas for the position made vacant by Craig Sorensen. Sorensen resigned May 24 following allegations of misusing county gas cards.

"The citizens of Salt Lake County are ready for a change," Le Fevre told the Democratic party's central committee in his nomination speech.

"I'm seasoned without being fermented," he said with a smile.

Le Fevre is currently an independent sales representative for ACN International and a real estate broker for Chapman Richards. He also has 30 years experience as a certified public accountant and is a certified internal auditor. With a degree from Loyola University in Louisiana he ran his own accounting firm in Miami, Fla., for 25 years before moving to Utah.

"Who's auditing the auditor? What does that tell you about the culture of that office?" Le Fevre asked. "I want to go in and clean it up; I don't want to be anyone's buddy."

Speaking of his much younger opponent (Thomas is 32) currently replacing Sorenson until the November elections, Le Fevre said, "He's going to be in office for four months. That's not going give him the time to gain experience. He's not going to be able to make the kind of decisions he'll need to make."

Although neither candidate has served in an elected position before, Le Fevre emphasized that his accounting experience gives him the advantage.

He also acknowledged that his campaign won't be able to match Thomas' funding but isn't worried.

"A lot of people will support me in this endeavor. We will mount a viable campaign," he said. "I don't like to think of this as a partisan issue. It's an issue of trust between the people of this office and the people of Salt Lake County.

Non-partisanship was a frequently used term Wednesday by many party leaders. As the evening was filled with jokes referring to recent allegations of misconduct by county mayor, Nancy Workman as well as Sorensen's so-called "Guzzlergate" scandal, many said the elections won't need to be partisan. The voters will simply acknowledge their county government needs drastic change, said Nicole Adams, party spokesperson.

"Campaign managers are going to say the attacks on Workman are partisan. We're not going to fall for it, it's not partisan. We'll see how that spin turns out and it'll probably be not in their favor, "said Joe Hatch, county councilman.

Le Fevre's said his goals are more about management than partisanship.

"People in that office (of the auditor) are for the most part competent and very high quality. I'd want to make sure my leadership could build a cohesiveness for the betterment of Salt Lake County government," he said.

"And I'm not interested in a company car or telephone or anything," he added with a smile.