Mark Shurtleff answers Deseret Morning News questionnaire

Mark Shurtleff, Republican, incumbent

1. What is the major issue facing Utah today and how would you deal with it?

My priorities as the state's chief law-enforcement officer are to protect Utahns and prosecute criminals by (1) protecting children from Internet predators and abduction, (2) combating the growing surge of identity theft and (3) keeping high level nuclear waste from coming to the Goshute Reservation and threatening the viability of Hill Air Force Base. To safeguard children, my office has led out with the AMBER Alert and Netsmartz, and we will continue teaching schoolchildren how to protect themselves online. Our Identity Theft task force is a national model of uniting public and private entities to protect citizens from identity thieves. Furthermore, by battling on the legal front, my office is responsible for keeping spent nuclear fuel rods off the Goshute reservation and from within 40 miles of Salt Lake City. On all of the above issues, I am committed to continue the fight. I will not relent from my duty to protect every Utahn, especially our children, our elderly, and our most vulnerable.

2. How will you handle having to defend legislation you personally disagree with?

My sworn duty is to uphold, enforce and defend Utah's law and to protect Utah's citizens, irrespective of personal opinions or preferences. Period. As attorney general I have demonstrated that commitment. Four years ago I opposed two ballot initiatives (English Only and Asset Forfeiture), but once they became law I successfully defended them in court. As the chief law-enforcement officer of the state, I then worked with the Legislature to amend the latter to better protect innocent property owners and return effective crime-fighting tools to the police. As attorney general I am the people's lawyer and have no qualms about acting in the best interest of all Utahns.

3. Does the Utah attorney general need to use outside counsel? Under what circumstances? How would you control costs?

My general preference is to use assistant attorneys general on every case. I do not want to spend limited office resources on outside lawyers. In fact, when I took office I negotiated down the $60 million in private attorney fees committed by my predecessor for the tobacco industry lawsuit. I am confident the Attorney General's Office is staffed with highly qualified and capable attorneys, and only very occasionally do circumstances warrant using outside counsel when there is a conflict of interest or the office lacks the narrow expertise or immediate manpower to staff a case. In those few cases where we have used outside counsel we have selected them based on low fees as required by law.