He caught the party's attention again this week when campaign reports showed that Pazell, who had been Democrat John Rendell's campaign manager until July, received $1,000 from Rendell's opponent, Republican Sen. Chris Buttars.
Buttars said Pazell called him about two months ago, saying he had left the Rendell campaign because he was disgusted with Rendell's use of the satirical play "Saturday's Voyeur," which skewered Buttars mercilessly, for a campaign event. Buttars said Pazell put up lawn signs and organized community meetings in Copperton, where Pazell lives, and was paid $1,000.
"I've never done well in Copperton and he's from there. He did a good job setting me up with the [town] council," Buttars said. "I'm tickled with what he did for me as far as lining up the meetings."
Pazell says he didn't put up signs, but did organize a meeting in Copperton, a meeting similar to one he organized free of charge for Rendell.
He said he was being "idealistic," and trying to help Copperton voters know who was running to represent them. "I unequivocally support John Rendell. I will vote for him, and I urge other people to vote for him," Pazell said.
"I'm not frustrated with the John Rendell tactics," Pazell added.
He has also done campaign work for Rep. Merlynn Newbold, a Republican whose district includes Copperton, both in 2006 and this year, but hasn't been paid for that work, he said.
The Utah Democratic Party was initially concerned that Pazell may have accessed the party's voter information database using a password he had been given while he was working for Rendell, and sold information to Buttars.
The party's logs show that Pazell had logged in to the system six days before Buttars paid him. He also accessed the database twice on Friday. Pazell said that was to help in planning for Clinton's rally Saturday in West Valley City.
After investigating the access, the party says Pazell was only searching for phone numbers on the site, not exporting large amounts of voter information or lists, said party organizer Craig Axford.
Party officials have deactivated the password Pazell had been using without authorization.
