In February 2007 Shurtleff accepted free round trip airfare from the payday loan association to speak before its convention in the Bahamas. Shurtleff decided to take his family on that occasion, paying for his wife and kids himself, the attorney general said. He said he did nothing wrong in accepting that trip. "I accept airfare from various groups when I fly out to speak to them."

Among payday loan groups donating to Shurtleff this year were: Advance America, $12,750; Axcess Financial Services, $6,100; Check Into Cash of Utah, $5,500; USA Cash Services Management, $3,000; QC Holdings, $2,700; Dollar Financial Group, $2,000; Cash America, $1,900; RAC Rent-A-Center, $1,250; Check$mart, $1,200; First Cash Financial, $1,000; and the Online Lenders Alliance, $1,000.

Unlike lawmakers, state executives like the governor and attorney general can accept political contributions during the general legislative session. And Shurtleff took much of the payday loan money during the 2008 Legislature, when the reception was held. At least two payday loans reform bills were considered then, but were relatively minor and sought to collect information on the industry and its customers. They did not attempt to cap interest rates on payday loans, as some other states have done.

An analysis by the Deseret News shows that overall, 94 percent of the money Shurtleff raised came from corporations. Another 3 percent came from political action committees of special interests, and 3 percent came from individuals.

No other candidate for attorney general, auditor or treasurer attracted such support from special interests. All but one of them attracted a majority of their money either out of their own pockets, or from individuals.

The exception is Walker in the treasurer's race. Nearly 87 percent of his money — $40,355 of his $46,605 raised — was transferred over from his old Legislature campaign account.

The big donations from special interests allowed Shurtleff to do some interesting spending, beyond traditional campaign expenses.

Shurtleff's disclosure form says he spent $557 for tickets to the Phoenix Suns game for Mexican attorneys general; both Shurtleff and the Mexican lawyers were in Phoenix for a conference. He spent $500 as an entry fee for a team from his office to join the Lawyers Softball League. (Shurtleff can't play himself because of serious leg injuries.) He spent another $2,500 to help sponsor a basketball tournament. He made a $10,000 donation to the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation. He donated another $10,000 to "Operation GOP Endowment" — the Utah Republican Party's attempt to set up a multimillion-dollar fund that would pay for party operations out of interest earned.

He spent $146 for a "clothing expense"; $45 to pay for a locksmith to open his car when he accidentally locked in his keys; and tens of thousands of dollars in donations to other politicians, including $5,000 to state Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo; $2,300 to the presidential campaign of John McCain (and also used money to travel to campaign for McCain); and $5,000 to Walker's treasurer campaign.

Utah has some of the most liberal campaign finance laws in the nation. Any candidate can accept any amount of money from any legal source, including businesses. And candidates can spend their campaign funds in any legal way they wish, including giving it to themselves. Recent attempts to tighten up those laws in the Legislature have failed.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; lee@desnews.com