Democrats call for probe into alleged backdoor deal involving John Swallow

It appears this Johnson fellow is stirring up trouble to put himself in the clink, regardless of what happens to Swallow. It appears he is the person that started his trouble.

Johnson said the $600k was for reid at the beginning of the article, then he said later it was for Swallow. The guy is an accused con man and cannot even tell a consistent story, yet the typical lefties are using this as fodder to attack a republican. not surprising.

I think we should employ just as many independent investigators on this as holder used on fast and furious. Or will our typical lefties say only repubs EVER need investigating?

BTW, Dabakis, Attorneys General do not govern.

They say if you wrestle with a hog, you're going to get muddied. Mr. Swallow got into the pen with Mr. Johnson. I think most of us knew the allegations against Mr Johnson, and we would have steered clear of dealing with him. Mr Swallow, as a State official, showed either poor judgement or a desire to further himself by working with Mr Johnson.

I think an independent investigation is a necessary pill we need to swallow in order to find out who did what.

In noticing the person who is calling for the probe, I noticed he was not civil in how he was bringing up the probe. He acted mean, mad and was on an attack. The probe could be requested by an offended party but the actions of this individual seemed to be for revenge and not for a valid action through the legal or review process.

The involved party should have a representative that is civil in his actions and behavior in the public's view. I know he may be in the minority but those kind of actions won't improve his opportunity to become a majority, even if he proves to be right.

Corruption is not a partisan topic - there is plenty of corrupt public officials on both sides of the aisle.

There are also a lot of good, honorable individuals who love this country on both sides of the aisle. Too bad many of them stay out of politics.

I agree with One Old Man..."By their fruits ye shall know them"....

Regarding the headline, who would you expect to probe a backdoor deal involving Swallow, if not the Dems?

Even among the Republicans in the AG's office, they didn't really support him getting the nomination in the caucus. He had more publicity with his runs for Congress and the legislature and his opponent didn't have that kind of face time prior to the caucus, even though he had a great resume.

Investigations of this type are not fun, even if you are not guilty. Just the investigation, by itself, puts a lot of pressure and distrust with the staff and public. It is a little suspicious that this Mr. Johnson would throw John Swallows name out there the last day of his plea. Mr. Johnson appears to want to muddy the water as he potentially goes down the drain. Speculation for profits and earnings have taken people down for centuries, whether for 5 cents or $5M or more.

John Swallow may wish he had listened to his father when he said avoid the appearance of evil or associations with people that have that trend.

@BYUalum

If you believe John Swallow really is "a good, honorable man", then why are you so afraid of an investigation? If he's truly got nothing to hide then you've got nothing to worry about. In fact, you should probably be welcoming an investigation so it will become public what a "good, honorable man" John Swallow really is. Or deep down are you not quite as confident as you come across?

The Provo Daily Herald has called for the immediate resignation of John Swallow. Just based on the one publicly released email from Swallow to Jeremy Johnson, there is enough unethical statements on Swallow's part that he should resign. Utah deserves better for an AG.

Having been the house attorney for Check City, which makes its money by extorting outrageous fees from our society's most vulnerable citizens, puts Swallow's integrity in question right from the start. His other claim to fame is as chief fundraiser for Herbert. Cronyism, disregard for the poor and needy, and now back door deals with another high-rolling vulture. No wonder Swallow got the nod from the Republicans to run for AG - he represents all of their core values.

Esquire, old man,
Why an independent investigation here and not for the corrupt and incompetent Holder and fast and furious?

Furry,
I remember Nixon. Mitchell and Gonzales have nothing on Holder when it comes to corruption and incompetence.

This whole thing is just Johnson wanting to drag others down with him, yet he is inconsistent in his story; at first it said the $600k was for reid, but later he says it was for Swallow.

If the dems want an investigation, will they investigate the indication that reid can be bribed?

BTW, Dabakis, attorneys general do not govern.

To Flashback 11:58 a.m. Jan. 13, 2013

I agreed with what you said until you called Eric Holder "The most corrupt Atty General (at the federal level) in my lifetime". Sice you are posting here, I presume you were born before 2009. If you lived through the time when Alberto Gonzales was the AG (in the GWBush regime). HE is the one who deserves "the most corrupt Atty General" title. If you were born before 1972 (Rihard Nio's presidency), John Mitchell deserves the title. Holder doesn't come even close to the corruption practiced by either of them..

Looks like someone else should have been elected! Swallow looks a little crooked! Makes me wonder how much the Governer new about this!

A totally independent, non-partisan, transparent investigation is needed. Publish the results, whatever they may be.

If John Swallow is truly innocent, he will welcome the investigation.

If he is not, then he will try to produce a smoke screen.

By his behavior, we will know.

I am a Republican. I didn't support John Swallow in either the convention or the primary. His was the only part of the election slate that I left blank. I felt Swallow was the least qualified candidate for the job. He' spends most of his time fund raising. I didn't vote for either major candidate for Atty General. I had heard rumors about this situation months before the election. While I didn't give any creedence to it at the time, it needs to be looked into.

If Swallow is innocent, then he will be exonerated. If not, then he needs to go to jail. If Harry Reid goes down with him, I won't cry.

Someone from the outside does need to be appointed to look into this. Just not someone appointed by the ethically challenged Eric Holder. The most corrupt Atty General (at the federal level) in my lifetime.

Republicans, as of late, have had problems with major candidates at all levels on a national basis. We need to collectively get better candidates who do not have any problems with ethics or what comes out of their mouths.

VST,

I agree with the rush to judgement by both those who condemn and those who support Mr. Swallow. I would hope as the AG that Mr. Swallow himself would request this investigation to put these questions behind him. If he allows them to linger they hinder his ability to be an effective AG.

"He's a good, honorable man!" is an interesting comment. Many St. George residents still make similar comments about Jeremy Johnson.

Investigate and make everything public.

Time for swallow to resign. It's obvious. He needs to go. Time to cleanse the inner vessel.

@ Cougar and BYU alum, Yes the Swallow affair deserves a probe, this smells of corruption. Good government starts at home.

Can someone help me with this? Mr. Johnson comes to Mr. Swallow saying "the Federal Trade Commission is investigating me and my company." Mr. Swallow is the deputy Utah Attorney General at the time. And he thinks the appropriate response is to help Mr. Johnson hire a lobbying firm to influence the FTC? That doesn't seem right to me. When the Utah Attorney General's office is investigating someone, does it respond to lobbyists?

Seems like an independent review is the least you could do. Swallow, in his position, has to be beyond reproach, and right now, he isn't whether he or anyone else likes it. Clear this up with an honest investigation. Those commenters who are pushing back have made their opposition based on politics and loyalty to the GOP, not what is in the interest of public and the state. If Swallow has nothing to hide, then he should demand an honest,independent investigation.

BYUalum & Riverton Cougar,

Voter fraud? Months after the election and you are still so desperate to find a reason for Romney's loss that you are playing that old, unsubstantiated hand? You're going to have a long 4 years.

"Democrats have no room to complain and call for investigations"

Well, With the obvious lies that started the War in Iraq & Utah's unequivocal support of the President that started it all, Republicans have no room to complain and call for investigations. For decades. Iraq is WAY bigger than Fast & Furious or Benghazi, so I say we use your logic and stop investigating them, and double the efforts to investigate Swallow. Don't blame me, this is your logic.

Its true corruption is rampant in Utah and its why we can't get our elected representative to adopt some ethical behavior and accountability standards, not as law but as common sense mandates of trust, morals, and ethics.

Not only should the republicans be scrutinized and ethically challenged, the same should be done with any public office, position, or contracted city employee and any propriety of trust or ethics grounds for dismissible by resignation at the request of the public electorate regardless of party affiliation. For some reason the news media seems to think the democrats have any ethics or morals in their ranks, so they should not be excluded as suspected violators of the same crimes.

When ever you put 2 politicians together with public funds or money at risk, corruption is very likely in Utah where ethics and trust have been excluded as the public's right to expect.

I agree with BYUalum. With the apparent voter fraud this last election and things such as Fast and Furious and Benghazi, the Democrats have no room to complain and call for investigations.

Asking Eric Holder to look into this? You've got to be kidding. John Swallow will be proven innocent of any wrong doing. He's a good, honorable man! The Progressives will try to make something out of nothing. Let's focus on getting Mr. Holder's missteps on Fast and Furious. Who is going to hold him accountable for the obvious? How about looking into voter fraud in the last election? Travisty of justice indeed.

Seriously this is how you spin it? You put Reid in the headline? The problem is the corruption of the AG office and the Republican party. I am very curious how this kind of journalism gets practiced...is it editors or brainwashed writers? You need to worry about Herbert's complicity and knowledge of this. Again amazing that you put Reid in the headline...really?