Democratic Salt Lake prosecutor ready to take on Miller for district attorney

SALT LAKE CITY — Long-time Salt Lake prosecutor Sim Gill quickly shifted into campaign mode after he won the Salt Lake County Democratic nomination Saturday to face, once again, GOP incumbent District Attorney Lohra Miller.

Just moments after his victory over another Democratic legal veteran, former Salt Lake County chief deputy district attorney and current private practice attorney Greg Skordas, Gill was ready to talk about how he will square off with Miller.

"This campaign will be about restoring the public trust," Gill said. "Citizens need to be clear that their representative in this office is a person who makes decisions based on integrity and is not driven by politics."

The first-vote nod Gill received from the approximately 1,100 delegates gathered for the 2010 Salt Lake County Convention at West High Saturday sets him up for a reprise of the 2006 contest that he lost to Miller by less than 1,000 votes. This time, Gill said, his opponent will have some bigger questions to answer.

"After four years in office, the district attorney has accumulated a record," Gill said. "Now, she needs to defend that record."

Gill came into the convention with the support of the 300-plus members of the Salt Lake Police Association and was nominated by Salt Lake Mayor Peter Corroon and former Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocum on stage at the convention.

Another nominee that swept to victory in a single round of voting was veteran journalist Holly Mullen. Mullen, a former columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune and Salt Lake City Weekly, is the stepmother of the Democratic council member who vacated the at-large seat she's running for, Councilwoman Jenny Wilson. Wilson joined Mullen on stage along with other council Democrats for Mullen's introductory comments, before the vote that advanced Mullen and sent her Democratic opponent, Christian Burridge, home.

Mullen's GOP opposition remains unknown for the time being, as Republican hopefuls for the at-large seat, Winston Wilkinson and Richard Snelgrove, will face-off in a primary battle this summer.

Voters will also play a role in winnowing the Democrats' fall ballot, after two candidates seeking retiring Salt Lake County Council Chairman Joe Hatch's District 1 seat were in a near dead-heat after three rounds of voting.

Arlyn Bradshaw and Cal Noyce will have to first campaign against each other before they can battle Republican Steve Harmsen in the general election.

Hatch told convention-goers that regardless of who got the nod, they were a lock in the Democratic bastion of District 1.

"This district gave me the opportunity to stand up for our values and not worry," Hatch said. "I didn't have to hide behind the word 'progressive.' I got to say, and did say, I'm a liberal Democrat."