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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Associated Press has learned that Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert has been receiving unauthorized protection from state troopers for more than two months.
A security detail was first dispatched to protect Herbert on May 16, when President Barack Obama announced he was nominating Gov. Jon Huntsman as U.S. ambassador to China.
The Office of Executive Protection is only authorized to provide protection for the governor and his immediate family. Other public officials can only receive protection for 15 days without the approval of legislative leaders. That authorization never occurred in Herbert's case.
Senate President Michael Waddoups says he wasn't contacted to approve Herbert's protection until the AP began making inquiries on Thursday.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
