Republican Mark Shurtleff, the two-term incumbent, derided Democratic challenger Jean Hill's lack of courtroom experience and also accused her of negative campaigning during the debate hosted by the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.

"Don't throw out innuendo and use the City Weekly to plant stories that are ridiculously silly," Shurtleff said. He referred to a recent story in the alternative newspaper focusing on the attorney general's ties to law firm Siegfried & Jensen.

Hill questioned the attorney general's ethics, both in his receipt of hefty campaign donations from payday lenders, and in his inability to investigate bribery allegations against former GOP state treasurer candidate and former state Rep. Mark Walker.

"That was due largely to the fact that he had endorsed [Walker], hosted a fundraiser for him and made a large contribution to his campaign - creating an obvious conflict of interest," Hill said.

Hill added allegations in the recent City Weekly story to that list.

"My opponent steered lucrative legal contracts to Siegfried & Jensen shortly after the firm hired his daughter as a paralegal," Hill said. "He entered these contracts without a formal competitive bidding process."

Since 2000, Siegfried & Jensen has fed Shurtleff's campaign fund close to $60,000. Shurtleff said his daughter, Ambra Gardner, worked for the firm for about six months.

The bid process - for lead attorneys to recoup state Medicaid funds from the manufacturers of Vioxx and Zyprexa - was less than formal, acknowledged Shurtleff.

"Our policy has always been to not go with the strict bidding process because that would require going with the lowest bid even though they might not be the most qualified," he said.

The attorney general's office reviewed proposals from five firms, Shurtleff said, and the team of Matthew Garretson and Joseph Steele offered the best bang for the buck. Joseph Steele, part of the Salt Lake City-based firm of Steele & Biggs, serves as counsel for Siegfried & Jensen and also occupies an office in their building. He argues catastrophic injury cases and also handles mass Medicaid torts, he said.

"I'm not a senior partner with Siegfried and Jensen and I had nothing to do with hiring Shurtleff's daughter," Steele said. "I've never contributed any money to Shurtleff."

Steele worked with Alaska on a similar case that netted the state a $15 million settlement. He is also working with Idaho and Montana on related cases.

"We're the only ones to ever get anything from [Zyprexa maker Eli] Lilly on a Medicaid-related claim," Steele said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

Shurtleff is convinced he made the right pick.

"No one came close to the 15 percent contingency and no one said they'd pick up the million-dollar expert witness costs" - both promised by Garretson & Steele, Shurtleff said.

Hill questions how he can be sure.

"The question is, did his bid process actually lead to the most qualified attorneys getting the contract?" Hill asked. "This is important litigation that many qualified law firms . . . could have taken on."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com