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All of the stories surrounding the allegations surrounding Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

Acting Attorney General Brian Tarbet Seeks to Make His Position More Permanent

Brian Grimmett
Acting Attorney General Brian Tarbet

Three people remain as options to replace John Swallow as Utah’s next Attorney General. Governor Gary Herbert now has the job to select one of them to fill the vacant spot.

Of all the remaining candidates Brian Tarbet is the only one with experience inside the Attorney General’s office. Early in his career he spent more than 10 years working in the office as the division chief of the Tax and Revenue section. Then, after serving for 12 years as the adjutant General of the Utah National Guard, he joined the office again as one of Swallow’s Deputies. While other candidates have used this to attack him, Tarbet says he’s always done what’s best for the office, not Swallow.

“And our response as an office to the House Special Investigative Committee to date, we’ve provided 28,500 documents," he says. "We’ve worked arm and arm with the special counsel for the committee. We’ve tried to be as open and as transparent as possible.”

Tarbet is also the only one of the three candidates that, if appointed, says he won’t run in the November general election.

“It’s not a time for politics it’s a time for leadership," he says. "I don’t intend to be a caretaker, I’ll lead. I have a solid record of providing results in difficult and stressful times. I never intended to run a political race and I assure you after this week I’m not going to run another.”

Tarbet only narrowly beat out Bret Rawson in the last round of voting to become the third and final candidate selected by the GOP State Central Committee. Governor Herbert is expected to appoint a new AG before Christmas. 

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