From Deseret News archives:
Lohra Miller broke no law, prosecutors decide
The prosecutors from the district attorney's and attorney general's offices ruled Wednesday that Lohra Miller did nothing illegal by accepting money from Wasatch Property Management employees even though there were accusations that the donations were forced.
Former employee Shauna Hardy said she was one of 12 employees who allegedly received $2,000 bonuses and then were ordered to sign the cash over to Miller's campaign fund.
Miller, who has claimed she was always open about contributions and did nothing illegal, said the ruling is vindication.
"I hope that this is the end of the dirty campaigning, so now we can go back to focusing on the important issues of this race," Miller said. "I hope the voters can see this for what it is — it's just dirty campaigning just before the election."
The investigation started after former University of Utah law professor John Flynn filed a complaint asking the district attorney to determine if the proxy contributions violated the law.
County law says donors cannot make a contribution with someone else's funds. If elected officials knowingly accept the money from a contractor who works for the county, they could be charged with a class-B misdemeanor.
After Flynn's complaint, the question of who should investigate seemed difficult. The problem was Attorney General Mark Shurtleff backs Miller, while District Attorney David Yocom is endorsing her Democratic opponent, Sim Gill.
Both Shurtleff and Yocom declined to investigate, because of the obvious conflicts of interest, said Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. Instead, their respective staffs did the work.
The team of prosecutors said that since Miller is not an elected official and Wasatch Property Management does not have a contract with the county, no crime was committed.
"Since the action complained of is not a crime, and further action would unnecessarily expend public funds investigating a matter that has no basis for prosecution, this concludes the matter for both prosecutors' offices," the attorneys wrote in a joint statement.
Even so, Flynn said he still believes Miller and Wasatch Property Management violated the spirit of the law.
"I think any voter would like to know who is paying for the campaign of the various candidates on the ballot," Flynn said. "If people hide contributions by playing games like this, I think that's inappropriate."
To avoid problems like this in the future, Flynn said Utah campaigns should be publicly financed.
