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The Attorney General's office says there won't be a special investigation into an election complaint over the state treasurer's race and alleged bribery by Mark Walker.
After the polls closed Tuesday night, Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert announced the state should investigate allegations of bribery in the state treasurer's race. Richard Ellis says Mark Walker offered to let him keep his job and promised a 53 percent raise if he would drop out of the race.
On Wednesday, the Utah Attorney General's office said it wouldn't conduct an investigation. It says the penalties for a civil violation would be moot.
However, criminal charges are still possible. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff will pass the case to Weber and Davis County prosecutors since he endorsed Mark Walker.
Five lawmakers, democrats and republicans, are launching an ethics probe into Walker, including Representative Phil Riesen, who said, "It's time, I think, we take appropriate action to begin the process of setting the people's house in order."
Among the questions the group is asking is: Did Mark Walker bribe Richard Ellis to drop out? "If Richard Ellis is proved wrong, so be it. If Mark Walker is proved wrong, so be it. But we need to get to the truth of the matter," Riesen said.
The panel has another question about how did Walker vote for a bill that gave the treasurer an unusual pay increase and then ran for the office.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
