This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The John Swallow-Mark Shurtleff scandal is, at the moment, the leading candidate for Utah's top story of 2014. The fact that two former Utah attorneys general are charged with 21 felonies and two misdemeanors between them raises vital issues about accountability, about how we elect government leaders, and how they should act while candidates and once they are in office.

It's a story, too, that has a long way to go before it ends. Swallow and Shurtleff are months from trial, where the facts of what they did, or didn't, do will get a full airing. That's assuming, of course, all this gets to a trial.

It also remains to be seen if allegations against them will prod lawmakers to take more action on reforming campaign laws and ethics rules for elected officials, going further than they did in the past legislative session when they toughened up campaign-finance-reporting and conflict-of-interest laws.

This midway point presents a good opportunity to take stock of what happened, and what could happen — perhaps even what should happen — as the rest of the story unfolds. Some ideas being floated: Should the attorney general — and county attorneys and sheriffs, for that matter — be elected in nonpartisan races? Should they be appointed by the governor, commissioners and mayors? Does state government need an ethics board to monitor the actions of elected officials?

Reviewing this political saga, and looking where it could lead, is the point of a 7 p.m. Wednesday town hall forum that The Salt Lake Tribune will host at Salt Lake City's Main Library. Robert Gehrke and Tom Harvey, the award-winning reporters who broke the story, will be on hand to explain and explore how their reporting led to five independent investigations, Swallow's resignation a year after being overwhelmingly elected to succeed Shurtleff, and then their arrest on charges of bribery, obstruction of justice and patterns of unlawful conduct. Marissa Lang, who covers the story as it moves into the courtroom, also will be part of the panel moderated by The Tribune's multimedia specialist Jennifer Napier-Pearce.

As this story developed, The Tribune made available to readers much of the source material our reporters gathered to uncover evidence against Swallow and Shurtleff — hours of secretly made audio recordings, emails and other documents. Excerpts from that evidence, too, will be part of Wednesday's forum. You can hear for yourself the exchanges between Swallow and indicted businessman Jeremy Johnson, and how that conversation became a seminal point in the story.

Please join us Wednesday for "Swallow and Shurtleff — Anatomy of a Scandal." The evening will offer a chance to see behind the scenes of how we do our work, and will be a forum for discussing how to make Utah government more accountable to you, the voters. Napier-Pearce will take questions from the audience, getting answers from the journalists who continue to lead on this important story.

If you can't make it to the library, go to sltrib.com, where the event will be live-streamed, or listen to a live broadcast on KCPW 88.3/105.3 FM..

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This week's town hall is part of an ongoing series we are planning for coming months. Recently, I asked for suggestions for topics to be explored. Overwhelmingly, readers asked for forums to discuss health care and Medicaid expansion, issues that we touched on in a town hall last fall when looking at the Affordable Care Act. Other suggested topics included air and water quality — and the effects on our growing population. Another issue that popped up is income disparity and providing residents a living wage.

All are excellent topics that we will consider for later this year, and early next year, particularly as the 2015 legislative session approaches.

Terry Orme is editor and publisher. Reach him at orme@sltrib.com. —

'Anatomy of a Scandal'

The Salt Lake Tribune will host a town hall forum exploring the scandal involving former Utah Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Main Library, 210 E. 400 South. The event is free to the public and will take place in the library's Nancy Tessman Auditorium. It also will be live-streamed at sltrib.com and broadcast live on KCPW 88.3/105.3 FM.