Last week, the big news from the campaign trail was that a handful of county commissioners endorsed Spencer Cox. Just as the federal government controls states by attaching strings to federal funding sources, states control counties by attaching strings to state funding sources. I’ve served as a county commissioner, and I believe the local level of government is crucially important. I believe in federalism. I oppose concentration of power.

I’m an accountant, and as I watched the news coverage of these county commissioners endorsing Governor Cox at the Utah Association of Counties annual gathering, my inner CPA had to ask:

Who was funding this event that Fox 13 reported was a major campaign event?

Phil Lyman for Senate

It turns out, the taxpayers of Utah funded this event and continue to fund a substantial portion of Governor Cox’s campaign activities.

This is unethical. This is corrupt. And it should be illegal!

Let’s break down all of the ways that Utah taxpayers are paying for Governor Cox to “hit the campaign trail.”

1. The Utah Association of Counties is a non-profit organization funded by counties paying dues – from taxpayer funds – to be members of UAC. I support UAC’s mission of bringing county commissioners together to solve the many problems they face in taking care of their counties. UAC shouldn’t undermine its credibility by using its taxpayer-funded annual gathering as a campaign stop.
2. It’s likely that Governor Cox considered this visit to UAC to be official business, yet from the news coverage a portion of the gathering was clearly a staged campaign event. Governor Cox should disclose who paid for his travel to the event, who staffed him for the event, whether Lieutenant Governor Henderson was there in her official capacity or as a candidate, and any other associated expenses that were paid for with official taxpayer funds.
3. All the county commissioners at this function were attending on the taxpayers’ dime, and I’ve heard from several commissioners that they didn’t appreciate their event being hijacked into a campaign event.

These are just the problems with this event. Of course we could also ask why the media dutifully reported this story without asking a single scrutinizing question about who was paying for it.

I know I’m biased, because I’m running an opposing campaign. But as an accountant, I have to tell you the truth about this. This is a major problem, but I care about you and your hard-earned money too much. We need to fix this.

If it is true that Governor Cox is using taxpayer funded resources and events to promote his campaign, his campaign should return that money back to the taxpayers of Utah.

Thank you for standing strong,

Phil Lyman