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Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff on Friday canceled an upcoming neighborhood meeting he was advertising, hosted by the Free Capitalist Project, a group founded and led by Rick Koerber, who is accused of running a $100 million Ponzi scheme.
Shurtleff, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett for his seat, sent a notice Thursday to his Facebook group, inviting them to attend the July 23 meeting in Springville and urging people to come with tough questions to ask.
His campaign manager, Jason Powers, said that nobody noticed that the event was being billed by organizers as a Free Capitalist gathering, and the campaign wasn't told the group was hosting the event.
After being asked about the event by The Tribune on Friday, Shurtleff decided to back out.
"We just weren't notified about who it was going to be as the host," Powers said. He added that changing the host "doesn't change the fact of who the group is. Given the circumstances right now, it wouldn't be appropriate for the attorney general to be at that meeting."
Those circumstances include a three-count federal indictment against the Free Capitalist founder announced in May by U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman.
Eighteen months earlier, Shurtleff's office had declined to file against Koerber a civil complaint brought to it by the state's Commerce Department. Attorneys in Shurtleff's office asked for more evidence to support the complaint.
Instead, Commerce Director
Koerber has pleaded not guilty and has accused Giani and her investigators of abusing their power and engaging in a witch hunt against him. It's an argument he made personally to Shurtleff, his chief deputy Kirk Torgensen, and a handful of state legislators during meetings at the end of 2007, shortly before the Commerce Department took its case to the attorney general's office.
Koerber said Friday that he didn't have any part in arranging the Shurtleff event; it was set up by one of the numerous Free Capitalist study groups, where friends gather in their private homes to discuss principles of capitalism and democracy.
"I thought it seemed a little odd myself," Koerber said. "I thought to myself, 'I better not show up to that.'"
David Eliason, who organized the event, said that there "was no connection to Rick [Koerber], per se."
The group gathers every Thursday to discuss the principles Koerber has espoused and thought it would be worthwhile to have Shurtleff speak. "The true and sincere intent was, 'Just how awesome would it be to have him come talk to us?'" Eliason said.
Asked if Shurtleff would have agreed to the meeting had he known it was affiliated with the Free Capitalist Group, Powers said that the attorney general supports "many of the ideals the Free Capitalists promote: freedom, free markets."
"I wouldn't want it to be confused that we don't believe in many of those free market principles that have made our country great, but given some of the other circumstances we would have preferred it just to be a regular neighborhood meeting," Powers said.
One of those who had planned to attend the event, according to the Facebook notice, is Randy Bradley. He is charged with 10 felony counts of securities fraud and theft for allegedly soliciting money that would be invested in Koerber's Founders Capital company, but using the funds to pay earlier investors or his own bills.
Bradley, who is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, is being prosecuted by Shurtleff's office.
