I was asked recently what my top priorities would be if re-elected as Utah's Attorney General. My answer is still the same as it was when I was sworn into office last December:
Accomplishments Already Paying Off
When it comes to increased performance and public trust, our efforts are paying off already. A recent client satisfaction survey of state agencies conducted by the State Auditor showed that nearly 90% of our clients are now satisfied with the performance of the AG's office, with 31% indicating they are more satisfied now than prior to my administration. With those kinds of results in nine months, imagine what my team can do over several years. Everywhere we go in the state, people comment (even those that don't agree with certain positions our office takes), that they appreciate us restoring faith and confidence in the office.
My vision from the time I was appointed by Governor Herbert was: "focusing on becoming a great law firm serving the people of Utah." To achieve this vision, a few of the things we have accomplished in short time include: wholesale leadership changes at the top, asking for resignations of all middle management and hundreds of hours of interviews to appoint or re-appoint new division and section leaders; creating a Constitutional Law section to take on some of the most significant cases of our day; creating a white collar fraud division; implementing critical technology upgrades; helping the legislature through a busy session; creating infrastructure in areas where there was none before—like mandatory performance evaluations; refining areas sorely needing improvement like document and email retention; conducting ethics and conflicts of interest training and instituting a new ethics committee; commissioning audits and investigations of prior conduct; creating a public corruption investigation team; and standardizing our
communications policies.
Qualifications and Experience Matter
Many are asking, what makes you qualified to lead the State's largest law firm. I am pleased to be able to answer that I've spent my entire 17-year legal career in Utah winning cases on behalf of Utah citizens and businesses at every level of federal, state and administrative courts at trial and on appeal. Moreover, I spent 14 years at the largest law firm in the state, where I was a partner handling some of the biggest and most high profile cases in Utah (both civil and criminal), during which time I was also named Young Lawyer of the Year for Utah and Most Outstanding Young Lawyer for the United States by my peers. I also served as General Counsel for a technology company. Over my career, I supervised large teams of lawyers, paralegals and other professionals and won respect from judges, lawyers and my teams.
In addition to legal teams, I have always been a leader. Whether it was on the athletic field, in the boardroom, or in community and faith organizations, I have found success surrounding myself with talent, providing a clear vision and then finding the resources to put my team in a position to win. I have managed large and small organizations, always successfully, making them more profitable, more efficient and more effective. I served on boards of directors, as chair and as an officer of for-profit and non-profit organizations. I was appointed by two governors to serve on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the largest district in the state, served on the State Bar Commission (the governing body of the State), as a Commissioner appointed by the US Congress and as a small claims judge for ten years.
All of the skills I developed in leadership have helped me hit the ground running and manage complex issues and cases from Day One. We don't need a fourth AG in four years to undo the positive progress we have made and we certainly don't need someone unproven who wants to experiment with leadership on the job when we have an AG who is already leading from a solid foundation.
On the Radio
If you weren't able to listen to last week's radio interview on KCPW (click logo below), please take the time to listen now and learn more about me and my position on various issues:
Your Vote Will Make A Difference
The race is far from over. We still have about seven weeks to go and I have much to do to get my message of leadership and vision out statewide to constituents. If you believe I am the right leader and lawyer for the job, please sign up as a volunteer today by clicking on Volunteer Today — there are many ways you can support the campaign within your schedule!
If you don't have time to support as a volunteer, I ask you to please do everything you can to vote (early or on November 4th). My opponent's best chance to make this race competitive is if good Republicans like you stay home because you think my race or any other is a foregone conclusion. While I am confident of victory, I would like to have the widest margin of victory possible. Lastly, once you are ready to early vote or make it to the polls, I kindly ask for your support to maintain the tremendous momentum we have built to assure the highest levels of integrity and legal excellence throughout the Attorney General's Office. To learn more, please visit seanreyes.com.
