Having worked on many campaigns, I can safely say that it takes it toll on a candidate, especially when the candidate has a regular full time job.  Indeed, every single candidate I have worked for has, at the very least, started the campaign working and supporting a family – only to quit their job to work full time on the campaign, all while taking the pay-cut associated with that. In short, running for office is a large undertaking.

Now, let us suppose that you have a job that you really can’t quit – a government job, lets say.  Lets say you are the Attorney General of the State of Utah and you are running as a bit of an underdog to unseat Junior Senator Bob Bennett.

You do what all good campaigners do, you go, fight, and try to win.

Ah, but here is the rub. Having run Democrats in Davis County and in a statewide race, I can safely say that I know how to pick underdogs. In these cases, success in not measured in victory, rather it is measured by how much hell you give the opposition. In a local race this means, at minimum, 30 hours a week walking, making phone calls, and going to events – in a statewide race (say US Senator) this easily gets bumped up to 60 if only to factor travel time and a greater need on fundraising.

And so, I have to wonder, how much work is Shurtleff actually getting done as our Attorney General?

I must admit that Shurtleff and his campaign staff have done a great job getting him out there and branding him as an ultra-conservative who will stop death panels in their path and make sure that no new freeways are built with stimulus funds.  But at what cost?

Shurtleff has never seen a public speaking opportunity he didn’t fall hand over fist to speak at, and campaign events don’t always take place in downtown Salt Lake.  A quick check of Shurtleff’s Twitter page shows that Shurtleff was in Filmore on a Wednesday (about 150 miles each way), and it is probably safe to say that Shurtleff did not put in a full eight hours that day…and probably spent the night and arrived back to the office the next day.  These types of events only pick up as the campaign wears on and we have, at minimum, another nine months of a Shurtleff campaign. And what about those tweets? Shurtleff sure does tweet  a lot…I’m just sayin’

When I was working on the Welch-Hill campaign, one of my duties was to investigate Shurtleff’s schedule by making a GRAMA request to the Attorney Generals office.  Trying to gain this information was like pulling teeth, with some members of staff going so far as to question the public good that would be gained by releasing this information – indeed, what is the public good gained by knowing if public servants are actually at work?

In the end the campaign decided to go in a different direction, but I wish to place to the challenge to Attorney General Shurtleff – release your public calendar so that we know exactly how much time you spend doing the peoples business, and go back to the start of this campaign.  Please, prove me wrong.

UPDATE

I have been contacted by Shurtleff’s Campaign Manager (someone who I know personally and respect) and she informs me that Shurtleff’s calendar is avalable through the AG’s office by request.  I have asked to be placed on the list and will be watching carefully.