This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah Attorney General-elect John Swallow announced his leadership team Tuesday, naming Kirk Torgensen chief deputy attorney general and former Utah National Guard Adj. Gen. Brian Tarbet as general counsel for the office.
Swallow defeated Democrat Dee Smith 65 percent to 30 percent in the bid to replace outgoing three-term Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Swallow was appointed chief deputy attorney general in 2009.
He will be sworn in Jan. 7.
Torgensen has been a familiar fixture in the Attorney General's Office for more than a decade.
Appointed by Shurtleff in 2001, Torgensen oversaw the office's criminal divisions, plus child protection, child support and commercial enforcement divisions. He also helped launch a website designed to allow victims of identity theft to help repair damaged credit through the state's Identity Theft Reporting Information System.
Torgensen will take over the job currently held by Swallow.
"My objective has been to build an executive team with tremendous legal, institutional and life experience," Swallow said in a statement. "I am thrilled at the prospects of moving forward with quality leaders and quality attorneys in this office as we together work to serve and protect the people of Utah."
Tarbet led the Utah National Guard for 12 years, before retiring as an adjutant general in September. The University of Utah law school graduate worked in the Attorney General's Office as the division chief of tax and revenue in the late '90s. He is also a retired major general in the U.S. Army.
Ryan Bruckman, spokesman for Swallow, said "it was a fairly specialized pool" of candidates considered to fill the slots.
Twitter: @davemontero