Huber Watch: Mountain Accord critic seeks expanded investigation

SALT LAKE CITY — A leading critic of the Mountain Accord planning process wants a federal investigation of its top leader and the Utah Transit Authority, which he said devised proposed land trades and transit hubs for the Wasatch Canyons under a cloak of secrecy.

That planning, asserts Norm Henderson, runs counter to a nonprosecution agreement Utah Transit Authority inked with U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber in April of 2017 that requires transparency.

"It appears that UTA and certain elected officials have not taken seriously the criteria" established in the nonprosecution agreement, Henderson wrote in a letter to Huber on Friday.

UTA spokesman Carl Arky said Tuesday its attorneys are reviewing the letter and their records and may issue a response later in the week.

Henderson contends UTA's financial entanglement with Mountain Accord and its subsequent violation of Utah's open meetings law by being a key player in the accord runs afoul of its legal requirements to the federal government.

UTA is being monitored by the federal government to avoid criminal prosecution for questionable financial practices. The agreement calls for it to hand over thousands of documents to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, who was Mountain Accord's executive committee chairman, said Henderson's letter is a long-festering complaint surfacing in the heat of an election cycle to rehash old news.

"This is information from a handful of people who want to enrich themselves financially and continue to criticize something that has been a good process that solicited input from thousands of people (over) how do we protect our water and our precious lands for future generations," said McAdams, who is in a hotly contested race with Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, for the 4th District seat.

It's been more than three years since the Mountain Accord was signed to develop a long-range plan to manage transportation and conservation interests in Utah's central Wasatch.

He said land owners like Henderson were included in the planning process, didn't like the outcome and continue to stir controversy.

"But not everybody is going to get what they want. And these individuals want permission to develop lands in our canyons, sensitive lands in our canyons for their financial benefit," McAdams said.

But Henderson and the Cardiff Canyon Owners Association argued the Mountain Accord — a collection of local government entities, transportation agencies and ski resorts — skirted the state's open meeting law, bringing suit.

Mountain Accord attorneys argued before a 3rd District judge that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the organization included private entities and formed as a result of its own charter, therefore falling outside of the law's requirements.

Henderson now contends that UTA, as a financial agent of Mountain Accord, is sideways of its agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office because it was part of a process proposing land trades between the U.S. Forest Service and multiple ski resorts.

"During discovery of the Mountain Accord lawsuit we found that UTA was not being truthful to you in its letters" that assert it complies with open meeting law requirements, Henderson's letter to Huber states.

"Unfortunately the facts do not support the claims made by UTA. In fact, UTA and Mountain Accord admitted in its response to our complaint that the Mountain Accord Executive Board did not comply with the Open and Public Meetings Act." Henderson's letter said.

Henderson said UTA administered $3 million of grants on behalf of Mountain Accord.

"Mountain Accord was proposing to construct direct transportation solutions in the canyons that reached into the billions of dollars. It was also facilitating what appears to be some of the most high dollar land trades in the state's history," his letter says.

Henderson names Jayme Blakesley, a prior attorney for the UTA, and McAdams in his letter.

Huber is doing his job as US Attorney for Utah in the news today. Provided as part of my ongoing series:

Huber Watch
U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber in the News

A lot is riding on the shoulders of John Huber, what is he up to, based on news accounts?

Some past HuberWatch highlights:

He is prosecuting vandals defacing rocks on national lands:

Idaho Falls man pleads guilty in Corona Arch graffiti case

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors say an Idaho man has pleaded guilty to defacing a sandstone arch near Moab by scrawling graffiti on the rock feature.
As part of a plea agreement, the 45-year-old Idaho Falls man will pay a $1,000 fine and restitution of nearly $860 to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the damage done at Corona Arch
...
"U.S. Attorney John Huber told the Tribune on Friday that Andersen’s actions were “troubling to us and anyone who values Utah’s beautiful public lands. People travel from around the world to visit these spectacular resources. Mr. Andersen learned a valuable lesson from this prosecution.”

He's working to bring down street-level drug dealers and throw the book at them:

A 22-year-old Utah man died from an overdose. Now, federal prosecutors want big prison sentences for those who sold him the drugs.
“We all share responsibility in helping our communities rise above this epidemic,” U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said in a Monday statement. “Within that space, surely the drug dealers and providers have culpability. Our efforts, like those in other federal districts, will track back from an overdose death to find those responsible for providing the drugs that led to the death. Drug dealers and traffickers will be held responsible.”

He is assigned to work with the OIG on the FISA warrant investigation, in this recent article

Of course this is the assignment that we are told is to form the key of bringing down the Deep State Coup plotters, but there is little evidence of any activity around it since this initial flurry of articles around the announcement by Jeff Sessions. <

Illinois’ congressional delegation spar over growing questions of surveillance abuse claims
Trump was roundly criticized (for his "tapped my wires" acqusationat that time for the unsubstantiated accusation, but congressional investigations over the last year lead by Republicans have unearthed what Republicans say was bias and wrongdoing by Obama administration Department of Justice employees involved in the process of getting warrants on a Trump adviser that allowed for surveillance on the Trump campaign.
The U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General investigation into the alleged FISA abuse is ongoing. A U.S. attorney from Utah, John Huber, also is investigating the claims.

That's all for now!

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