Multi-level marketing is sometimes attacked as akin to a pyramid scheme and has attracted legal action in other states. For example, a Wyoming attorney general investigation in 2001 led to fines for Pre-Paid Legal Services for its multilevel marketing system. That firm gave $80,000 to Shurtleff, and is his top corporate donor.

• Shurtleff has also received nearly $60,000 from payday loan firms. The companies charge annual interest rates averaging 521 percent interest in Utah for short-term loans. Shurtleff has been a defender of the industry, saying the loans are often a better deal for the poor than bouncing checks or paying other late fees.

• Some of the major individuals and/or firms giving to Shurtleff over the last four years are: Republican State Leadership Committee, $150,000, a national GOP PAC; Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., $80,000; USANA Health Sciences, Inc., $71,000; and trial attorneys Siegfried & Jensen, $54,500.

• Shurtleff has contributed more than $31,000 to GOP candidates this year, tens of thousands more to local Republican parties. He gave $20,000 to the state GOP for its "I Can" public relations campaign.

Hill has accepted donations from: Bruce Bastion, $7,500, a gay rights activist; Equality Utah, a gay rights group, $1,000; labor unions, at least $10,900; law firm Jones Waldo, $1,000; the former owners/managers of the Salt Lake Tribune and their family members (Welchs and McCarthys), $12,600; Planned Parenthood, $2,000; and education officials, nearly $5,800.

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