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SALT LAKE CITY — The story on former Attorney General John Swallow will be out Wednesday, at least as told by the Utah House Special Investigative Committee.
The bipartisan panel, which started delving into Swallow's campaign and business dealings last July, will present its 200-page final report to the House of Representatives and post an electronic copy online.
"It's a good narrative. It's actually a good read. It's not just a bunch of facts," said Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, the committee chairman.
The nine-member committee adopted the report at its final meeting Tuesday. Dunnigan said it's divided into four parts and has 3,700 pages of exhibits. It includes allegations against Swallow, leads investigators followed and recommended changes to state election laws.
"I think this is a good product, and I think it's fair," said House Majority Leader Brad Dee, R-Ogden, a committee member.
Dunnigan said there are some new bits of information in the report, but it largely reflects what the committee presented in a two-day hearing in December.
Committee attorneys and investigators accuse Swallow of hiding $450,000 in campaign contributions, using the money for political attack ads and engaging in pay-for-play to benefit himself and his friends. They also say he destroyed evidence and fabricated documents to impede the investigation.
Swallow, a Republican, has maintained his innocence and says he couldn't compete financially with an investigation — now estimated to cost about $4 million — designed to drive him from office. He stepped down Dec. 2 after 11 months on the job.
"This has been a waste of money, time and unduly destructive to a number of honorable and honest people," Rod Snow, Swallow's attorney, said in a recent email.
Snow said Tuesday that the committee wasn't interested in hearing Swallow's side of the story and wouldn't give him an advance copy of the report.
"How fair is that?" he said.
Snow submitted a brief response to the December meeting, which Dunnigan said would be posted online with the report. Snow said he might have another response after he reads the report.
House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, said she hopes the public will read the massive report "and agree with us their money was well-spent." Lockhart said she has not seen the report.
Dunnigan said the committee, comprising five Republicans and four Democrats, accomplished its charge to be even-handed, fair and thorough. He called the investigation complicated and intense but worthwhile.
"I think if we had not done this, this type of regime or program would have continued on to the detriment of Utah," he said. "The attorney general's office is the highest law enforcement office in the state. People have to feel like everybody is treated fairly and equally and that there are no nods or no special favors given."
Dunnigan declined to speculate about whether the committee's findings were grounds for impeachment. He described it as a fact-finding panel that was specifically forbidden from making recommendations about impeachment.
"People can draw their own conclusions," he said.
Dunnigan said he would also leave conclusions about whether Swallow misused his public office to the Salt Lake and Davis county attorneys, who are conducting a joint criminal investigation.
Gov. Gary Herbert said Tuesday that even though the investigation cost more than expected, it was worthwhile.
"We need to have a complete investigation. We wouldn't want to be partial and incomplete," he said.
Herbert said when it comes to enacting campaign and other reforms related to the Swallow case, the state is "on the right road and going in the right direction. I don't know that it's enough."
But, the governor said, there can be more done in the future.
Three bills aimed at tightening campaign finance law are working their way through the Legislature.
Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche
