Brown promises transparency as he becomes Utah’s new attorney general
Jan 3, 2025, 8:03 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah will soon have a new attorney general in Derek Brown.
Brown will be sworn in on Monday and take over an office that’s often been tainted by scandal and controversy over the years.
As he prepares for his first days on the job, Brown said he has one top priority.
“My goal,” he told KSL TV in an interview Friday, “is to create a transparent office.”
Brown said that will make him more accountable as the state’s next attorney general.
“One of the things, for instance, we’ll be doing is releasing our calendar publicly so that people know what we’re doing,” Brown said.
That’s a change from outgoing AG Sean Reyes, who fought to keep his calendars secret. He finally released them late last year after settling a lawsuit with KSL.
“I’ve always been very in favor of more transparency as opposed to less,” Brown said.
Derek Brown has worked as an attorney and lobbyist. He led the Utah Republican Party and served in the Legislature. Since winning the attorney general’s race, Brown assembled a mostly new executive team. At the same time, he thoroughly reviewed how the office of nearly 600 attorneys and staff is run.
“My goal is to run a really efficient and effective law firm,” Brown said, “and I want this to be the most well-respected law firm in the state of Utah.”
That hasn’t always been the case. Former AGs John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff both faced corruption allegations. Eventually, criminal charges against Shurtleff were dropped, and Swallow was acquitted after a trial.
Reyes himself has been criticized for his extensive travel and for his association with former Operation Underground Railroad founder Tim Ballard, who’s accused of misconduct.
Please read the full story and more from reporter Daniel Woodruff on KSLTV.com.
