Pop Quiz—How would your vote for attorney general impact your everyday life?  It’s an important question that I’ve asked myself many times.  When it comes right down to it, why should we care about the attorney general? I’d like to discuss that question from the perspective of both a former lawmaker and attorney general.

This office is constitutional in Utah because at statehood, many believed what I believe--that someone in government, who is answerable to the people, needs to stand up and represent us against those who would take license with our liberties. That’s right. As much as the attorney general is an executive officer of the state and is charged with a list of supervisory and leadership obligations, the attorney general is the one person who stands between you and the government’s ever reaching tentacles.

George Washington said it best when he described government as power. It is human nature that every agency is run by people who want to grow their influence. Government seduces us, often through eye-popping incentives, and once they grasp their power, they guard it with a vengeance.  That’s why I created the Public Lands Litigation team to take the government to court and that’s why I led the Utah fight to overturn the Obamacare health care act all the way to the United States Supreme Court.  Increasingly, the federal government is in places it does not belong, placing a stranglehold on healthcare and binding education with Common Core and MOUs that make the federal agenda the Utah way. Healthcare and education are core state issues and as attorney general, I can listen to your voice on these and other issues of federalism (states rights), stand up for you and for us, and fight for federalism through advising the Governor and the legislature, and through fighting in the courts.

As attorney general, I can fight crime and promote programs, technologies and strategies to keep us and our children and families safe. As attorney general earlier, I fought child predators and helped protect teenagers from sex trafficking. One of my initiatives has saved hundreds of high school students. Even before I was elected I was focused on how we could better protect our school children from random acts of violence and from the scourge of senseless teen suicides. I met with my team and shared my concern and an idea. That idea led to additional discussions resulting in the development of the acclaimed Safe UT App. It allows students to anonymously connect to law enforcement and crisis counselors directly and has saved hundreds of lives, thanks to the leadership of people like Senator Daniel Thatcher, who built on my vision, suggested and perfected the technology, and brought it to life.

John Swallow 2.0—Even better than version 1.0.

The last time I served, I didn’t know what I know today. Because I’ve been on the other side of an unfair government attack, I learned more of our system’s flaws.  As I endured the process of defending my liberty and clearing my name, I saw what the absence of checks and balances can do to threaten all of us.  To better protect our rights from abuse by our own government, I’m introducing a preliminary plan to provide accountability to state agencies and to prosecutors, who hold awesome power to investigate, arrest and charge even innocent people. With the fundamental principles of accountability, I will work to make us safer than ever before. Those who worry today about being able to speak up and participate in conservative causes will be better able to sleep at night without fearing that the government will try to silence their voice or deprive them of liberty or property.

I am privileged to share ideas with you—I call it a plan, but it’s a fluid document because you have not yet weighed in and I need your thinking.  In the end, I hope to be in a position once again to stand up and protect and work with others to protect our rights but I need your help. That is why I’m trying to call every single delegate. I need you on the team, the Utah liberty team, and I promise you that I’ll listen and defend our constitutionally protected, God-given liberties as your attorney general, like I did before. That is why the attorney general position can impact your daily life and why your vote on April 25 is so important.

Your friend in freedom,

John Swallow

Your Rights. Protected.

(801) 949-9450

www.JohnSwallow.com