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Brian Tarbet has spent a lifetime as a team player, so the first words out of his mouth when he is asked about his retirement are: Since when has the pending departure of a career state bureaucrat warranted a news story?

But Tarbet, the former general of the Utah National Guard and a 40-year military man, stepped into the Utah attorney general's office at a moment the staff and office were deeply shaken, inherited a commanding role he didn't seek out, and guided the state's law office through a period of historic litigation and tough transition.

"Obviously, it wasn't what one would have expected," Tarbet said. "I started on a Monday and I think the scandal broke on a Friday."

"The scandal" he speaks of were the first bombshells that went off involving an alleged pay-for-play culture in the office under then-Attorney General John Swallow and his predecessor Mark Shurtleff.

In the 18 months that followed, Swallow would be driven from office and both he and Shurtleff charged with multiple felonies in the most sweeping political corruption scandal in Utah history.

That year, 2013, "was a pretty tough year for the entire attorney general's office, and I think we're all thrilled it's behind us," Tarbet said.

"It was difficult for office morale. You know, when you go home and whether you're coaching your kids' soccer game or with the Scouts on a river trip, people wanted to know what was going on," he said. "And, given the allegations there was rampant corruption, I don't think anyone in the office thought it was true, certainly among the rank and file."

Chief among Tarbet's responsibilities was complying with requests for records from state and federal law enforcement and investigators from a Utah House committee laying the potential groundwork for Swallow's impeachment.

The office turned over tens of thousands of pages and engaged in lengthy negotiations with the House panel on how to recover email and other documents that investigators determined Swallow had erased from his computers.

"The team [members] we put together to do that were great professionals who worked long hours. Utmost in their mind was to comply with the investigators, get the truth out to the special investigators and the public," Tarbet said. "We forged a special bond that I'll always remember, because it was a tough time."

When Swallow resigned in December 2013, Tarbet, his chief deputy, stepped in to take over as interim attorney general. His mission: Steady the ship.

"[Swallow] knew by then that the office was suffering," Tarbet said. "The office started to heal immediately after Mr. Swallow left, because that page was now turning. We started the cure early in December and it just gave us a fresh start, and a much-needed fresh start."

But there was no calm after the storm.

Two major court decisions hit — the first, a high-profile case involving a polygamous family from a televised reality show, overturning part of Utah's anti-polygamy law; the second, even more historic, struck down the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Without a permanent replacement as attorney general, it fell to Tarbet and his interim team to fashion Utah's immediate response.

"I began to wonder at that point exactly what I was doing in that position," Tarbet said. "Because it's pretty quiet around here for years and then all of the sudden we have two very high-profile cases affecting matters of great importance for the public."

Gov. Gary Herbert chose Sean Reyes as the next attorney general Dec. 23, 2013 — picking Reyes over Tarbet and several other candidates. Reyes was sworn in the following week.

The new boss asked the general to stay on board as his chief deputy of the civil division, a job Tarbet balked at initially, believing the office needed a new start.

"I said, 'You're going to want to turn the page here,' " Tarbet said. "But he brought in a good team from the outside and I think he felt like he needed somebody who had been here a little bit."

Reyes said the leadership Tarbet showed throughout the scandal and its aftermath leaves difficult shoes to fill.

"General Tarbet led this office through extremely difficult times and circumstances. The respect he has earned from leaders around the state is only surpassed by the respect and admiration he has from those within the attorney general's office," Reyes said in a statement. "In many ways, he is irreplaceable."

Reyes has appointed Bridget Romano, the office's solicitor general, to take over as chief deputy for civil matters when Tarbet leaves in September.

He and his wife will be moving to Germany for 18 months to serve an LDS service mission among the Mormon military populations stationed there.

gehrke@sltrib.comn Twitter: @RobertGehrke