This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Last month Ogden activist Dan Schroeder scored a weak win before the State Records Committee, which ruled he could have access to some documents in his fight to shed further light on the now-defunct Envision Ogden's campaign finance activities in 2007.
Now Schroeder is ready to do battle in 3rd District Court over still-protected bank records that he believes would reveal who operated Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate, a nonregistered entity that received more than $20,000 in funds from Envision Ogden and then made sizable donations to the city council campaigns of Blain Johnson and Royal Eccles.
A probe of Envision Ogden, launched in March 2009, examined allegations of fraud and money laundering. The Utah Attorney General's Office shut down its investigation in March 2011 without filing any charges.
"We should also get a clearer picture of what evidence the [Utah Attorney General's Office] had in hand when it decided to close the investigation," Schroeder said in an email Tuesday.
The A.G.'s Office also filed suit Tuesday against Schroeder and the State Records Committee, contesting its Aug. 11 decision to release four of six sets of protected records from the probe.
At issue are a Post-It note, a Quicken financial summary, and close to 300 bank records that the A.G.'s Office deems attorney work product, privileged or protected.
"The privileges, privacy interests, and public policies favoring restriction of access to the protected records in this case outweigh any interest favoring access," Assistant Attorney Generals Scott Reed and Patrick Nolan argue in their brief.
In 2010, Schroeder obtained records from the State Bureau of Investigations concerning its probe into Envision Ogden. The organization was established in early 2007 to boost economic development in Ogden's downtown. Corporate donors interviewed during the course of the investigation said they had no idea the funds would later be used to fuel political campaigns.
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