Leavitt to take panel's advice on pay raises

Utah Attorney General-elect Mark Shurtleff will take a salary cut when he moves from the Salt Lake County Commission to the State Capitol next month.

And then the Republican officeholder will be in line for a suggested pay raise the likes of which his Democratic predecessor never saw during her eight-year tenure.

In his proposed state budget, GOP Gov. Mike Leavitt went along with the Executive and Judicial Compensation Commission's recommendation to boost the attorney general's annual wages 11.3 percent, the highest of any statewide elected official. The raise would take the salary to $90,500 a year.

Echoing the commission is something Leavitt did not do in at least his past three budget proposals, when Democrat Jan Graham occupied the attorney general's office. The commission has recommended double-digit raises for the attorney general in the past. He has typically suggested across-the-board increases for elected leaders in the 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent range.

Leavitt also agreed this year with the commission's suggestion the governor get a 4 percent raise, state auditor 3.7 percent and lieutenant governor and state treasurer 3.1 percent.

"There's no political motivation behind that," Lynne Ward, Leavitt's budget chief, said of the recommendation for a fellow Republican. She pointed out the the auditor and treasurer also are Republicans.

It was a way to "finally" acknowledge the commission's work, she said, adding the panel has recently complained about being ignored.

Republican lawmakers and Leavitt, though, have feuded with Graham on things such as the tobacco lawsuit and other issues over the years. The most recent big fight was a GOP attempt to strip her office of its authority to file civil lawsuits and briefs and negotiate settlements on the state's behalf.

In 1995, former Republican House member Norm Nielsen tried to amend the state's executive salary bill to exclude Graham from a raise because in his opinion she wasn't doing a good job.

Graham did not respond to a Deseret News request for comment.

The Utah Legislature ultimately sets the pay for elected and appointed officials in the statehouse and has historically been tight with the purse strings.

In the past 10 years, lawmakers have rarely followed the compensation commission's recommendations, causing the six-member panel to question its own existence. The Legislature created the commission in 1969 to evaluate elected and appointed officials' salaries.