SHURTLEFF IN THE SHADOWS

Whose side is Attorney General Mark Shurtleff on, anyway? The citizens
of Utah voted in a 69-percent landslide to approve Initiative B back
in November of 2000. Now Shurtleff has worked in the shadows to draft
legislation to overturn the clear will of the people. He has recruited
a misguided Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, to carry his Senate
Bill 175 before the Legislature.

If they succeed, the police will be able to confiscate property first,
and require the citizen to prove innocence before he can get his
property back (asset forfeiture). Once confiscation has occurred, the
agency that cooperated with the federal police in transferring the
seized property can receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds from it.
That's not the American way.

SB175 would create dangerous incentives that would all but guarantee
some police mischief. If our attorney general wants to make laws he
should run for the Legislature. Otherwise, he should spend his time
upholding the law, not trying to create new ones that appear to be
self-serving fund-raisers.

Ken Cromar

Cedar Hills