Thursday, January 21, 2010

Sim Gill Running for DA

As I cross-posted on my new political blog, Utah Capitol Dome, a story today in the Deseret News, Sim Gill announced today that he will be running to be the Salt Lake County District Attorney. In the story, Gill is quoted as saying that he will work to restore public confidence in the District Attorney’s Office.

Mr. Gill is a democrat and is seeking his party’s nomination to run against the current District Attorney, republican Lohra Miller. Greg Skordas, a former member of the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, has already announced his intention to seek the democratic nomination as well.

Sim Gill was my boss when I worked as a Salt Lake City prosecutor for over a year. While I don’t know Mr. Skordas or Ms. Miller personally, and I cannot judge very well their qualifications to be DA, I believe that Mr. Gill would be an excellent District Attorney. While I worked with him, I found him to be an extremely ethical, professional leader. He has the vision to see that in many cases, traditional incarceration is neither cost effective nor a good way to prevent the repetition of criminal behavior. His initiative has brought mental health and drug courts to Salt Lake County and he plans to expand those programs.