Few seem to be interested in joining Herbert's team

Several Utah political items this week: Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker's misstep on police in Library Square, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's politically sensitive meetings and soon-to-be Gov. Gary Herbert's search for a lieutenant governor.

First, I'm told by several GOP insiders that Herbert is looking for a "leading conservative" from Salt Lake, Weber or Davis counties to be his lieutenant governor.

"Unfortunately for him, the top-end people aren't very interested," one source said.

Meanwhile, Utah House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, said while he will always listen to requests by Utah's governors for service, he's not now seeing why he should give up his top post.

The House speaker and Senate president are routinely seen as two of the most powerful politicians in the state.

As another Republican officeholder put it: Who among the current GOP leaders wants to "take a pay cut and loss of power" to join the still-uncertain political future of Herbert?

Herbert must stand for election as governor in 2010; he'll likely be challenged within his own party.

Herbert says if he wins, he'll run for a full four-year term in 2012.

"You might be looking at six or 10 years" as Herbert's No. 2 until "you could run for governor yourself," another Republican said.

Herbert "may have to reach down into the middle ranks of the Legislature or to county officials" or less-well-known businessmen to pluck a second-in-command, this person says.

Former Gov. Olene Walker, who stepped up to fill Mike Leavitt's seat when he resigned the governorship in 2003 to join the Bush administration, picked a former GOP House member, Gayle McKeachnie, for her lieutenant governor.

The rural conservative from Vernal was to help shore up her support among GOP delegates. But he was not well known among Utahns in general and not considered a leading Republican politician.

Shurtleff, who says he'll run against U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, next year, is getting renewed criticism for meeting with a subject of investigation by his office.

Shurtleff's office declined to prosecute a Utah County millionaire investor who was recently charged with fraud by the U.S. district attorney's office for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme.

Outside of issues of why the attorney general didn't charge the man when the U.S. attorney did, Shurtleff apparently met with the man and the local legislator who helped set up the meeting.

Shurtleff has done this before — met with individuals who are being investigated by his office. He stands by those meetings, saying they are appropriate, that as a public servant, as well as a law enforcement officer, he should meet with citizens concerned about his office's operations.