One of my great mentors in life was the late Albert N. Smith, otherwise known as Bert Smith of Smith and Edwards. I had the privilege of being his personal attorney before he passed away. No one better understood the principles of liberty, federalism (states rights) and property ownership as the hallmark of states rights. He would often tell me that the founding fathers would have rolled over in their graves had they seen the future and known that the United States could ever own and hold onto vast acres of land, rather than have the land owned by the sovereign states as originally promised when Utah became a State.

I know the legal arguments for federal ownership of the lands and I well understand Supreme Court precedent and the statute of limitations. However, in 2011, as then Chief Deputy Attorney General for Utah, I was authorized by the attorney general to lobby the legislature for new attorneys, controlled by our office, not by the Governor’s office, for fighting against federal overreach into access over federal lands. Why is the issue so important? Because if historic roads were not recognized under RS 2477 in the wild areas of our state, the designation could be changed to wilderness and limit any recreational access or other meaningful use beyond hiking by the physically able.

We have a problem in the fight over public lands. Those who side with federal ownership speak of the cost of managing public lands, which is now born by the federal government. They have conducted studies to discourage states by citing the cost to maintain lands that are not producing revenue. They argue that what Utah really wants to do is desecrate some of our geographic treasures. They argue that the lands belong to all Americans and that Utah cannot be trusted to care about Utah’s priceless and irreplaceable natural wonders.

I trust Utah. I trust that our legislature and our governor, whoever may happen to be in office, can manage our land resources cost-effectively and closer to home. I trust that through a political solution, perhaps encouraged by litigation, we can come to an understanding on how to systematically return ownership to the sovereign, as it was designed to happen when Utah became a state through our Enabling Act. I salute the legacy of people like Bert Smith, who, before he died, established and funded the National Federal Lands Conference, which is committed to the cause of state ownership of our public lands. As attorney general, I would promote continued work to solving the problem of federal intrusion into state resources and lands.

As attorney general, I also fought against federal control over our healthcare and stood for the traditional family. Also as attorney general, I envisioned how I could better help keep our most priceless assets, our children, safer from violence and the threat of tragic suicides through a providing tools for them to anonymously alert law enforcement and seek counseling when dangers or depression became apparent at school. Through my vision as a new attorney general, a working group was started, research was conducted, and great minds developed what has now become known as the Safe UT App. Using this App, every student can have law enforcement and a crisis counsel right at their fingertips, and it has saved many tragedies and lives.

Having promoted the safety of Utahns and the protection of our states rights against federal encroachment as attorney general once, I am running to return to office and finish the job I started. Now that I have been fully cleared of false accusations, having stood up to bullies and corruption, I have proven my resilience and will continue where I left off standing for our rights and our people as if I had never left. And I can hardly wait to get started!