This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sim Gill has been in front of a lot of cameras lately. Detailing his decisions on the justification (or lack thereof) of high-profile police shootings. Announcing felony charges against two former Utah attorneys general. Informing employees at the Salt Lake County Clerk's office that they should grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples during the brief period that was allowed.
It seems he's everywhere but in court, and that's where his opponent says he should be.
That opponent, Steve Nelson, is a prosecuting attorney who has spent 12 years in the DA's office handling prosecutions of some of the county's most notorious criminals. Nelson has more felony prosecution experience than his boss, and he thinks Gill is letting too many criminals walk.
Nelson's top priorities are to restore the DA's dedicated domestic violence team and pull back on "early case resolution," which Gill has championed to relieve the backlog in the courts and jails by pushing non-violent offenders through the system faster. Nelson says these efforts have resulted in abusers and thieves re-committing crimes.
Gill admits change has come with pains, but he says he's not putting more dangerous people on the streets and the courts have reduced their backlogs so that everyone sees swifter justice. He respects Nelson's prosecutorial skills, but he is adamant that the job of Salt Lake County District Attorney means more than throwing the book. Packing the jail doesn't work, particularly when the jail gets overcrowded to the point where inmates have to be released anyway. He would rather control that at the front end than the back.
Gill says he had to disband the domestic violence team four years ago because he inherited budget problems from predecessor Lohra Miller and needed those attorneys to take other cases. He says now there are more attorneys handling those cases (though not exclusively), and he points to his work with the YWCA to establish the Family Justice Center, where abuse victims can be safe while weighing whether to cooperate with prosecutors.
Politics is one explanation for Gill's face time in the news, but the other one is transparency, which is apparent to anyone who watched him carefully walk through his decision on the latest police shooting this week. He has shown wisdom and courage in both pursuing justice and explaining that pursuit.
Sim Gill gets our endorsement for another term not just because he's willing to make the tough calls. He's also willing to make sure his constituents know why.