America's Most Comical Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, Pimps Usana

The State Seal of Utah, which Shurtleff used to hawk a dental product

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, the nation's most comical and least effective attorney general, has put himself in the spotlight again with a Youtube video hyping the loathsome corporate cretins at Usana Health Sciences. So reports a Salt Lake Tribune blog.

Shurtleff, let us not forget, is the flaming clown who has put up a "for sale" sign on his office, and the less reputable elements of Corporate Utah have gladly taken advantage. Shurtleff is being investigated by the Lt. Governor's office after the Trib discovered "he wrote an endorsement for a private company under the state seal. That the company, Digital Bridge, donated $10,000 to his campaign two weeks before he wrote the letter is just a coincidence, says Mark." (Misusing the state seal is a felony in Utah, I am told.)

Now KUTV 2 News uncovered a hysterical YouTube video of Shurtleff huckstering for Usana:

It is now time to change the name of our state. From now, on we will be known as Utahna. Woo-oo!

(I am not making this up — not even the idiotic "woo-oo!")

Shurtleff goes on to endorse Usana, a multilevel-marketing-company-none-dare-call-it-a-pyramid scheme.

Another big, fat coincidence is Shurtleff smearing corporate crime fighter Sam Antar after getting a big, fat, coincidental campaign contribution from Overstock.com.

I've never understood why the voters of Utah reelected this clown as its attorney general. Apart from being a Republican in a jet-red Republican state, his only qualification for top law enforcement officer seems to be his propensity for pushing public officer ethics to the limit. With a buffoon like this as attorney general, it helps explain why Utah has a reputation as a happy breeding ground for securities fraud.

UPDATE: Salt Lake Weekly has more on details on this gag-inducing imitation of a public official. To be read only on an empty stomach.

Here's a Google Cache version of the letter, which was removed from the Digital Bridge website.

© 2008 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.

Did the Utah Attorney General Succumb to a Payoff?

White-collar crime fighter Sam Antar knows crookedness from the inside, as a reformed crook himself who masterminded the Crazy Eddie stock fraud. Sam now goes around the country at his own expense to lecture law enforcement agencies, and he had the misfortune of including in his itinerary the Attorney General of Utah, long a happy hunting ground for crooks of all stripes.

I say "misfortune" because of the episode detailed by Sam in his blog here. As a Salt Lake Tribune blog put it, Sam is contending that "Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is little more than an attack dog for Overstock.com's Patrick Byrne."

Yup, my favorite corporate crime poster child has an ally in the Utah attorney general, fueled by an interestingly-timed campaign contribution. Byrne, who likes to portray himself as a champion of the little guy, is the biggest campaign contributor in Utah. He likes to bully the locals, often to disastrous effect -- as when he went berserk at a meeting with Utah pols.

Seems that Byrne doesn't have to throw a tantrum to get Shurtleff's attention. Five thousand bucks will do nicely. Tracy Coenen spells out the incriminating details.

Actually Sam is doing more than throwing around allegations, since his story is backed up by what appears to be taped telephone conversations with suitably shamed members of the Utah AG's office.

Shurtleff is running for reelection in an overwhelmingly Republican state, but this is a Democratic-leaning year, and it will be interesting to see if the people of Utah react to the foul odor emanating from their highest state law enforcement officer.

© 2008 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.

Utah Attorney General Caught in a Lie

In a blog item a few days ago, I described how Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff participated in a PR stunt for the Utah-based, SEC-investigated corporate train wreck Overstock.com.

No big surprise. He has done that before, after all, for another sleazy Utah company, Usana Health Sciences.

What is startling, if not surprising, is that it appears that Shurtleff's entire P.R. stunt was predicated on a lie. See Sam Antar's blog today.

This is now the second time that the Utah attorney general has acted on behalf of a disreputable Utah company, and the facts in this one are even more damaging than his "endorsement" of Usana. I'd say that the people of Utah deserve an explanation.

Their tax dollars pay this man's salary. If he is wants to work for bad companies, and not the people of his state, he should quit his job and go into corporate flackery. I know one third-rate internet retailer that would be only too happy to put him on the payroll.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



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Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site, gary-weiss.com.

Utah Attorney General Kowtows to Overstock.com

It's pretty clear that Patrick Byrne's name is mud in Utah.

Utah voters rejected overwhelmingly a school voucher proposal that had been heavily promoted by Overstock.com's wack-a-doo CEO -- who reacted with a series of condescending and insulting public remarks. Byrne has been excoriated in the blogs and newspaper letter pages of Utah.

Byrne's antics, combined with his previous history of making nutty stock market conspiracy allegations, has destroyed what was left of his company's, and his own, reputation.

Still, the SEC-investigated Byrne and his SEC-investigated company have one big fan left in the state: Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

The whole tawdry tale can be found on Sam Antar's blog.

Seems that Shurtleff let himself be used in a PR stunt by Overstock in its ceaseless campaign to smear and defame Sam, who has been raising serious questions about Overstock's accounting practices.

I'd say that Mark Shurtleff has some explaining to do.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.



-----------

Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site, gary-weiss.com.