City Weekly reporter Eric Peterson made no bones about what he was seeking when he requested records from the Attorney General's Office concerning the call-center business Mentoring of America (MOA).
"I'm looking for what might be a quid pro quo situation," Peterson told the state Records Committee on Thursday as he appealed the A.G.'s denial of his March 16 documents request.
Peterson also sought notes or correspondence that would indicate whether Shurtleff knew of alleged widespread drug and alcohol abuse the alternative newspaper has reported on at the American Fork business.
After all, MOA donated generously to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's re-election campaign in 2008 -- three checks totaling $32,500. A.G. spokesman Paul Murphy told Peterson that Shurtleff returned $20,000 of it.
Since 2004 the company had been under scrutiny by the state's Division of Consumer Protection due to consumer complaints about deceptive practices. The Attorney General's Office represented the division as it pursued legal action against MOA.
That attorney-client relationship between two state agencies placed several records out of Peterson's reach, argued Assistant Attorney General Blaine Ferguson.
"It would have to be an exceptional circumstance to justify disclosure," Ferguson said. "Our relationship with every state agency would be jeopardized and there would be a strong chilling effect."
Peterson had a simple counter-argument.
"There's a larger client disconnected from those two state agencies," he told the committee, "and that's the public."
Over the next month, members of the committee will privately view the records in question and, at their Aug. 13 session, render a decision.
According to Francine Giani, state Commerce director, a 2008 settlement required MOA to pay restitution to its Utah victims in lieu of a fine.
The company operates in other states as well.
On June 30, the Federal Trade Commission filed several charges against MOA in central California's U.S. District Court for allegedly bilking thousands of people out of millions of dollars.
