The founder of a grass-roots group called The Peoples Right filed an elections complaint Monday against Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
Kanosh resident Steve Maxfield, who helped draft "anti-bribery" and "anti-corruption" initiatives and then launched the state's first electronic signature drive, has a campaign-finance bone to pick with Utah's top prosecutor.
Maxfield's concerns focus on what he says are breaches of law stemming from Shurt-leff's personal campaign account and his political action committee, PAC for Utah's Future.
For starters, Maxfield says state statute requires a detailed list of expenditures -- but in 2008, Shurtleff paid Guidant Strategies, the company handling his re-election campaign, more than $285,000 without much explanation.
"By hiding campaign expenses in a lump sum behind a DBA violates the letter and spirit of disclosure laws," Maxfield wrote in the three-page complaint.
In 2009, Guidant began receiving payment out of Shurtleff's PAC, which Maxfield said violates the law because the PAC then began functioning as a default personal campaign account.
Maxfield also charged that of eight businesses which donated a total of $193,000 to Shurtleff's PAC in January 2009, two do not exist, one only functioned as a corporation between 2004 and 2005.
Only two of the eight reported contributions to Shurtleff as required by law.
Maxfield wants the primary officer on the PAC -- Shurtleff's Civil Deputy John Swallow -- to be investigated for acting either "with direct knowledge or recklessly" in respect to these particular contributions.
Reached Monday afternoon, Shurtleff said he was aware of the complaint and called it "ridiculous."
"This guy has been after me for years," Shurtleff said.
Of the eight companies that generously donated to his PAC in January 2009, Shurtleff said all were registered as business entities with the state Department of Commerce. The Web site showed that IMI Media's registration had expired.
Under Utah law, if the Lieutenant Governor's Office determines a criminal investigation is necessary, the complaint gets handed over to the Attorney General's Office.
As with other government agencies, the Lieutenant Governor's Office has been trimmed down because of budget constraints.
"We've lost people over the last few years," said office administrator Mark Thomas. "In our office we have one person to scrutinize campaign finance disclosures."
This story is a corrected version of one orginally published Feb. 8
Eight companies contributed a total of $193,000 to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's PAC for Utah's Future between Jan. 16-25, 2009. Some failed to file a donation report as required by state law.
Dreamworks Mortgage » Gave $25,000 -- did not file disclosure
PC Passport » Gave $25,000 -- did not file disclosure
Bloosky » Gave $20,000 -- did not file disclosure
The Tax Club » Gave $33,000 -- did not file disclosure
Infusion Media » gave $25,000 -- did not file disclosure
Professional Marketing » gave $15,000 -- did not file disclosure
Source: Lieutenant Governor's Office
What state law says
Each corporation making a campaign donation of more than $750 during a calendar year shall file a verified financial statement with the Lieutenant Governor's OfficeWithin 30 days after a filing deadline, the Lieutenant Governor's Office must review corporate statements. If a corporation fails to file, the LG's Office must notify them within five days. Then it is unlawful to fail to file within 14 days of receiving that notice. Violations are class B misdemeanors and are reported to the Attorney General.
Source: Utah state code
