|
Forfeiture
History:
Learn How it All Started
How did the forfeiture battle
with the county attorneys and Shurtleff begin? Read the
back-and-forth letters between AU team member Daniel Newby
(see Sutherland Institute disclaimer
below) and the State Auditor and State Treasurer:
[Note: These letters are in .pdf format. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you will
need to
download a free copy.]
Initial
request to State Treasurer (11/26/02): A legislative
committee hearing revealed that 154 forfeiture cases were
decided in FY 2002, yet no confiscated proceeds were deposited
to the State Treasurer as required by Initiative B. Why?
Initial request
to State Auditor (11/27/02): Making the same request
for any information the Auditor can reveal.
Initial response
from State Auditor (approx. 12/1/02): No confiscated
proceeds were deposited to the Treasurer's office. (We
believe the date of the letter was incorrect, as we received
it on December 2, 2002.)
Third request to State
Auditor (1/23/03): Ok, so they are breaking the law.
What is required to ensure the State of Utah's compliance with
Initiative B? And how about a breakdown of the cases and
judges that were complicit in violating the law?
Second request to
State Treasurer (1/24/03): Again, did the Treasurer's
office receive $100,000 to handle confiscation proceeds?
What did it do with that money?
Initial response from
State Treasurer (1/27/03): The Treasurer affirms that
no confiscated proceeds have been deposited with his office,
and that monies his office was allocated for handling
forfeiture proceeds were not spent and were returned to the
general budget. Notice the little testy barb in the
postscript.
Second response from
State Auditor (1/23/03): The house of cards begins to
fall. The Auditor reports that county attorneys and
judges have violated the law.
Disclaimer: Newby was employed with the Sutherland Institute
during the time of these letters; hence its logo is on his
letter stationary. Newby left the Sutherland Institute
on January 28, 2003, and has conducted all his efforts since
that time as a private citizen. The Sutherland Institute
has officially and publicly disavowed and distanced itself
from Newby's political views, tone, and activities. As a
courtesy to the Sutherland Institute, we have posted
their e-mail on the
matter.
Top
If you have comments or suggestions, please
email us at info@accountabilityutah.org.
|
.jpg)