AG candidate Charles Stormont addresses ethics at Democrats of Southern Utah meeting
Written by Erin Zeltner
The upcoming election heavily dominated the theme of the meeting held Monday by the Democrats of Southern Utah at the Abbey Inn in St. George. Utah Attorney General candidate Charles Stormont served as the keynote speaker at the gathering, and Dorothy Engelman, candidate for House District 74, relayed the existing needs of her campaign. Action items and upcoming local Democratic political events were also detailed at the meeting.
Stormont, who resides in northern Utah, has been touring the Washington County area since Friday.
“I don’t have the huge $10,000 donations that my opponent has, so I’m out here on the ground, trying to talk with as many people as I possibly can to get the word out that we need to change the ethics of our public offices. This is a special election for fairly obvious reasons,” Stormont said, referring to the public scandal and recent criminal charges which eventually forced former Utah Attorney General John Swallow from office during his first elected term.
Stormont said he feels that a state ethics office could be added to help sift through any potential political ethical issues in Utah, with the hope of regaining public trust in the Utah Attorney General’s office. He explained that it would be his intention to form an ethics office with no additional cost to taxpayers by removing inefficiencies that he feels currently exist today. Stormont also stated that the Utah Attorney General’s office currently runs less efficiently than it could, because it needs a more modernized system. He explained where additional funds would come from for these endeavors: “We can easily cut out some of baseless, wasteful, pointless litigation and save the money for where it’s needed most,” he said. He feels that some inefficiencies occur in cases that have already been determined federally or which are currently being pursued by other states, such as the same-sex marriage reversals in Utah, the ensuing Utah Public Lands Initiative, and the R.S. 2477 Rights of Way issue.
“There is no reason for us to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money away on cases that don’t make good sense. I would opt to use our tax dollars to do things for the state of Utah that are truly necessary for its citizens, like using that money for child protection and getting drunk drivers off the road,” Stormont said.
Stormont, who has practiced law since 2001, had a private-sector history of assisting mergers and patent litigation before he entered the public sector in 2008 with the Utah Attorney General’s office, where he has focused on eminent domain litigation for the Utah Department of Transportation. Originally from Houston, Texas, Stormont also serves on the Utah State Bar’s Third District Pro Bono Committee. He is running against incumbent Republican candidate Sean Reyes, Libertarian candidate Andrew McCullough, Constitution Party candidate Gregory Hansen, and American Independent Party candidate Leslie Curtis.
Other agenda items at the meeting included Engelman requesting volunteer assistance to aid her campaign. Canvassing training will be provided on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. and on Saturdays from 3-5 p.m. for persons who would like to get involved in all Democratic canvassing in Washington County. Engelman is scheduled to speak at the Women’s Democratic Club on Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at La Frontera Cafe in St. George. Engleman is running against Republican incumbent candidate V. Lowry Snow.
Washington County Democratic Party Chair Della Lowe presented upcoming political involvement information.
“We need to see a change for the better in our county and our state, but what we need most is all of you,” she said. “We need you to get out there and get your friends and neighbors involved, and we need you to help get the word out about our candidates.”
Lowe invited volunteers to assist candidates at the Democrats of Southern Utah office on Wednesdays from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. She also announced that a “House Candidate Forum,” hosted by The Spectrum, will take place on Sept. 22 in the Gardner Auditorium at Dixie State University from 6-8 p.m. The Democratic Party’s “Blue Night” will be held at DSU at the Gardner Center on Sept. 24 from 7-8:30 p.m. The theme is scheduled to be “Local Elections are About Local Issues,” and the party hopes to help make students more aware of local issues and candidates. For more on the Washington County Democratic Party, visit wcdpu.com.
