Reader comments
Payday lenders are generous to Shurtleff

Isn't it great that they can spend the money on themselves. What a great political state.

*** "Shurtleff, 50, is a conservative GOP attorney general who at times angered core Republicans over his more liberal stands, like including gays in hate crimes laws and opposing Amendment 3, which banned same-sex marriages in Utah. [And for his support for illegal immigration]" ***

In other words he angers conservatives because he's not conservative, although he pretends to be. Can't imagine why that would make anyone mad.

*** "Shurtleff raised $38,400 from payday loan owners this year, about $1 of every $4 given to him..." ***

Let business make exhorbitant profits by charging obscene interest rates and by employing cheap illegal labor - no matter the effect on society, no matter the effect on families.

*** "The attorney general has also received a $50,000 donation from IWorks [which]...donated a house for "Lost Boys," an outreach program that Shurtleff supports for young men who leave polygamous families." ***

No, they don't "leave" their families. They get kicked out, for capital sins like leaving the toilet seat up and listening to rock music. They get kicked out because they're sexual competition.

Mark Shurtleff doesn't represent me or my views. Let's hope he loses to someone who more closely represents Utah.

Conservative Not He Be. White guy speaks with forked tongue. I became a Physical Conservative over time and still am not a total social conservative and never want to be. I will join you on Abortion but not on the Right To Die. You cannot be a Conservative and not embrace the Values. You can be Conservative leaning but if you claim to be Conservative but you have No Game. Like a Jack Mormon. I never did like the Payday Loan Companies, I live in Hawaii and we have a lot of Military and that can become an I want it now addiction. The end game is that your entire paycheck and sometimes beyond can go to pay back the loans. However responsible controlled the Payday Loan Companies can be useful. Your Broken Car does not get fixed without you having the money to pay for it. Not even towed. In Hawaii you pay for your Dry Cleaning when you put it in,(a great idea long overdue). Also shipping out or deployment costs money. Like Guns its not the Guns but the people that use them. However they must be strictly regulated. I want to see them Off Limits.

Calling Mark Shurtleff conservative besmirches the term. Interesting that the DN would throw that label around so cavalierly. Those of us who pay attention have NOT forgotten Mr. Shurtleff's not-so-slight deviations from our state's predominate family values. Why the state GOP continues to support him mystifies me. We need someone with a true moral compass and serious legal credentials to take him on.

Great article, isn't the attorney general supposed to be the moral leader of the state. It's pretty sad when this "leader" gets campaign money from loan sharks, and takes corporate paid, tropical island, junkets. Shurtleff should be the poster boy for government ethics reform.

Is there a public servant, voted in by the people of Utah, who has the inner integrity to serve in the interests of the common people?

Who are they? I would like to know. Who does not have the appearance of being bought?

I don't care which side of the political aisle you are on, this is criminal. These blood-sucking predators are criminals. Anyone taking money from them is a criminal and a moral coward.

Sure, it is legal but is it ethical? This is blood money.

The TOP COP in the whole state taking money from loan sharking thieves;NOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!

Shurtleff gets HUGE donations from payday lenders because they cater to illegal aliens.

Shurtleff is a disgrace to Utah!

WANTED: New A.G.

I'm not a republican, but I have absolutely no respect for anyone who takes money from those payday lending loan shark dirt bags including Shurtleff any many of our fine GOP state legislators as well as the Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans who owns several such establishments. Personally, I just don't understand why republicans who profess to be the "religious" party would support an industry that so blatantly abuses the poor by ensnaring them into endless debt traps and depriving them of what little money they have to make ends meet. We need usury laws back in Utah.

The boundaries of moral leadership only extends as far as the campaign pocketbook.

Don't we have some obligation to take care of the weak and the feeble; the downtrodden and the forgotten?

If there is one undisputed role an all-intrusive government should play it is to protect the powerless from the predators.

Now here is another reason for the high level of financial problems such as bankruptcies. Most states have laws that regulate Pay Day Loan interest rates to protect consumers---Not Utah.

Once someone starts using a Pay Day Lender---it is almost impossible to stop. They have to borrow more money to pay the high interest rates on the earlier loans. Eventually, they can not pay what is owed.

The interest rates they charge should be regulated to protect consumers from getting in over their head in debt.

. . . for a chance to vote against this "conservative" haha

I'm tingling all over at the prospect!

This is not a problem peculiar to Utah. Legislatures all across the land have suddenly become impotent when it comes to passing legislation to restrict these voracious vultures.

So sad, the Ethically Deficient cannot find the constitutional wherewithall to Choose The Right.

Shurtleff and pay day loan companies have the same non symbiotic relationship with society. Nothing new here.

Ethics in this state is a joke. People with money rule, no matter how the got it. Just look at Orrin Hatch's backing of loose rules regarding multilevel marketers.

This may not be the time to bring up term limits but for people accepting money from loan sharks, shouldn't the number be zero? Or 5 to life?

Who is Shirt Less's PR guy? He should be taken for a one-way ride to Wendover. First the Reid/Polygamist debacle, now this. Does the AG know Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds or Eliot Spitzer?