On behalf of Team Reyes, thank you for your continued support of the Utah Attorney General’s Office and General Reyes. Many of you have asked him to publish more frequent updates on the Utah AG’s Office. While we post many successes of the office on the state website or political site, we will try to share more notable achievements, like these, when they arise. With Sean attending a funeral for his mother, Annette Maeda Reyes, who passed suddenly and unexpectedly on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, we are providing this update for him.
Reyes Honored as Best Public Official in Utah
Prior to his appointment in December 2013, the important work of the Attorney General’s office was mired in allegations of impropriety and suffering from a general lack of trust from the public. Today, we are proud that so many of you have supported General Reyes in re-establishing trust in the State’s highest law office. Armed with a top-flight executive team largely recruited from the private sector and dedicated expert attorneys and staff who make up the backbone of the office, General Reyes has regained the trust and confidence of Utah’s leaders in law, education, business, politics and, most importantly, of Utah citizens.
The rapid turnaround in the AG’s Office has not gone unnoticed.
We are excited to share with you — many of Team Reyes’ strongest supporters and dear friends — that General Reyes has been selected as winner in the Best of State – Elected Official category. Having worked tirelessly to reestablish good policy and procedures and to instill a leadership style that fosters confidence among Utah citizens, as well as a collaborative, more transparent environment among assistant attorneys generals and their staff, it’s truly an honor for General Reyes to receive this recognition. He wanted to emphasize that it is in large part due to the hard work of the entire office and all team members that he is being honored with this award.
In his own words, over the past 18 months, we have strategically turned our attention on returning the Utah Attorney General’s office into a premier law office instead of a political one. We have focused on legal excellence, professionalism and our duty to defend the citizens, businesses and laws of Utah.
AG Investigative Team honored as Best Public Safety Organization in Utah
While General Reyes has worked hard to protect the rights of citizens by abolishing use of administrative subpoenas, pushing criminal justice reform and implementing/supporting policies to preserve freedoms and liberties, it has not hindered his team from excelling when it comes to investigating and prosecuting violent crimes and white collar cases. For example, the AG’s Office has led or taken part in the largest heroin bust, synthetic marijuana (spice) bust, human trafficking arrests and second largest investment fraud case in the history of the State. The number of investigations and prosecutions of sexual predators by the AG’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit has also increased under the Reyes administration. Our investigators and prosecutors have brought cases against public officials, among many other successful cases. All of this hard work is being recognized with a Best of State Award for the Best Public Safety Agency in Utah.
AG Office Also Honored for Best Web-Based Community Resource
Yet another win for the AG’s Office comes with the recognition of ID Theft Central. This AG website is a deterrent database and education program and won Best Web-Based Community Resource. This award-winning program helps protect children from the misappropriation and illegal use of their social security and other ID information. Coupled with the tremendous work of the AG investigators who have more than doubled the amount of investigations and arrests of fraudulent identity mills, General Reyes is striking a crippling blow against the most rapidly growing white collar crime that the US Postal Service calls the “Perfect Crime” for its difficulty to detect.
Operation Underground Railroad Honored as Best Non-Profit
in Utah
We also congratulate our close friends at Operation Underground Railroad for their big win as Best Non-Profit in Utah. They and the newly merged Elizabeth Smart Foundation (now one entity with O.U.R.) have been tremendous partners in the fight against Human Trafficking. Tim Ballard and all the brave men and women of O.U.R. deserve your congratulations too.
Gala May 9, 2015
In just a few weeks, Team Reyes (campaign team and office co-workers) will celebrate with Utah Best of State organizers and judges at an awards gala at the Salt Palace. We hope you will take a moment to congratulate General Reyes and his office team for their historic wins.
With deep appreciation,
Team Reyes
In 2016, Attorney General Reyes will have run four campaign cycles in five years, the most of any public official in the United States. This is not only unprecedented, but it requires an enormous amount of resources. Please consider donating today to ensure that AG Reyes can continue to restore trust to the AG Office and build on the policies, procedures, and technology improvements he's already instituted to protect all Utahns. No contribution is too small or large
