Robert Gehrke

News columnist

Robert started his journalism career at age 8, banging out stories on his parents’ manual typewriter about Little League sports and video games. It wasn’t until years later that he went to work for The Associated Press and actually started getting paid for it. He has spent more than 20 years primarily covering government and politics in Utah and the West, including seven years in Washington, D.C. He joined The Salt Lake Tribune in 2004. His work on the Crandall Canyon coal mine collapse in 2007 was praised by a U.S. Senate committee investigating the disaster and he collaborated on an investigation into corruption in the Utah Attorney General’s office in 2012-14 that forced the attorney general to resign. Since January, he has transitioned into a role as a political columnist. He enjoys hiking with his dogs and two children and rooting for hopeless underdogs in every sport.