A submission to Caucus Corner:

As a state alternate delegate, I went to the presentation of Derek Brown as Attorney General. I will go to other candidate meetings once I learn of them. The reason I was not at the caucus meeting was I arranged to be out of town before learning the date of the caucus.

Here are my notes. Any misinformation is the fault of the note-taker.

Duties of the Attorney General:

• We have 29 counties in Utah each in control of its own justice organization. They can ask the Department of Atty. Gen. for legal help when needed.
• In Utah we have five constitutional offices. They check balances for the prosecution of the county attorney. They are elected.
• The Atty. Gen. is like running the largest law firm in the state.
• They are counselors for the Board of Missions department.
• They answer questions.
• They are also involved with criminal laws. It also supports County law agencies.
• -If the county has questions or needs resources, they come to the Atty. Gen.
• They also work on fraud on Medicare and Medicaid fraud against children online. There was a court case on Obamacare. It states that you’re required to buy Obamacare if you don’t have insurance. Justice Roberts agreed. he said, “the states or independent sovereigns and they need to act like it.

General notes:

• The 10th Amendment states that the government has designated powers in Article 1. It defines national defense, trade, immigration, and post offices. All other responsibilities go to the power of the state.
• Currently, the federal government and states play: Mother May I.
• the Utah state legislator passed a bill SB 57. The bill says that when the federal government makes a change. such as EPA rules like turning off coal power plants). Utah State has to agree first.
• Trigger law is when the state sets up a law that is triggered when the federal government enacts a law that the state is against.
• Tick-tock: The government has banned tick-tock on all government infrastructures. It is being decided if banning tick-tock is a constitutional First Amendment right.
• if men were angels, you would not need government. We built the government with checks and balances. (Federalism number 51)

Agencies:

• The Biden administration is using agency roles to push the climate agenda. They are forcing companies to use less water, plus other restrictions.
• During the Obama administration, the agencies provided over 60,000 pages of law changes. Much of Utah’s lands are controlled by the federal government.
• 66% of Utah state land is owned by the federal government. They control the opening and closing of roads and grazing rights.
• The office of president personnel determines who gets appointed to agencies. There are 4,000 positions in the government. They have control over commerce, EAP, travel etc.

Obama:

• President Obama created Bear Lake’s monument at the end of the term. Utah State has no control over it other than to do rescue missions for missing people etc.
• President Trump could not disband the monument and could only reduce the size of it.

Derek says, why vote for him?

• Reason for running: He could push back on agency control. He’s already done several lawsuits to push back what the federal government has done.
• The job of Atty. Gen. requires legal experience, needs an understanding of federal and state interactions, provides leadership over 290 attorneys and 5000 employees, and has a track record.
• Worked for two firms in the Third Circuit Utah is in the 10th circuit.
• When on the Hill, he worked with the phrasing of law and how it would be interpreted.
• He fought against the federal government for their overreach.