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All of the stories surrounding the allegations surrounding Utah Attorney General John Swallow.

Acting Attorney General Faces Tough Challenge Replacing John Swallow

Brian Grimmett
File: Utah Attorney General John Swallow announces his resignation.

At midnight on Monday John Swallow officially became the former Attorney General of Utah. And while there are several Republicans vying to become the appointed replacement, the Governor won’t make that decision for another few weeks. Until then, Major General Brian Tarbet will be the acting Attorney General and dealing with the transition won't be easy.

Brian Tarbet has a pretty impressive resume. He started working in the Attorney General’s office in 1988, spent 12 years overseeing thousands of troops as the Adjutant General of the Utah National Guard, and until today, spent the last year as a Chief Deputy in the AG’s office. But Tarbet says even with his experience, taking over after Swallow’s departure will be like nothing he’s ever done.

“I left the best job in state government, as a commanding general of soldiers and airmen at war, and went to one of the more challenging," he says. "So, I will say that, but to compare them, you can’t.”

He says the office is moving forward with its work as normal, regardless of the changes, and that they’re doing their best to focus on the future.

“The work in this office gets done at the division level and its been done day in day out for the entirety of the last year," he says. "We’ve had some notable successes. People have done great work and we’re ready to move on and get back to what we do best, which is representing, you know, the people.”

Tarbet says he hopes he can provide a steady and stable influence for the office during the next few weeks until Governor Herbert appoints a more permanent replacement. As of Tuesday, six people have filed to run for that appointment.  On December 14 the Republican Central Committee will nominate three of those people to be sent to the Governor for his consideration. 

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