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Richard Piatt ReportingThe race is for the Salt Lake County District attorney. The candidates are Lohra Miller and Sim Gill. On their behalf, county party leaders are filing complaints against the candidates, each claiming improper campaign finance violations.
The mud-slinging is all going on behind the scenes in a race that the candidates want to voters to focus on prosecuting crime. Now it seems technicalities in the campaign finance law are an issue as well.
Salt Lake County Democrats say they plan to file a formal complaint against Republican Lohra Miller, claiming she benefited from 'proxy campaign contributions'. Democrats say Miller got a total of 36-thousand dollars in campaign money from employees of Wasatch properties.
The complaint is expected to allege 18 individuals each got 2-thousand dollar bonuses from the company, which were directed to Miller's campaign to skirt contribution limits. Today, Miller rejected the claim, saying she has nothing to hide.
Lohra Miller, (R) Candidate For District Attorney: "It's outrageous that they would resort to this. They know they're losing on the issues and they're trying to distract the public."
From Seattle, Wasatch Properties CEO Dell Loy Hansen also denied the claims, calling them a 'fabrication', that doesn't make sense.
Miller's Democrat opponent, Sim Gill, declined an on camera interview, saying he wants to focus on what he called a 'serious campaign for a serious office'. But County Republicans upped the ante, countering with a complaint of their own. It claims Gill's campaign filed incomplete disclosure forms.
James Evans, Salt Lake County Republican Chairman: "Either he knew the law and willfully violated it, which is unacceptable, or he unknowingly violated the law, which is also unacceptable for someone who wants to be the top prosecutor."
Gill says the omissions have been corrected.
The tit-for-tat complaints are evidence of a hard-fought race. The latest Dan Jones poll for KSL and the Deseret Morning news shows the race is a dead heat right now. A Democrat has held the office for 8 years. It's clearly a race both parties want badly.
