Audio of the meeting George Daines had with Jennie Christensen and myself is at the end of this post. I removed two sections from the recording where George requested to go off the record and we agreed. One of the times he requested to go off record was regarding the “FBI investigation” and the other was involving an ongoing case.
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Sometime Wednesday morning, Cache County Attorney George Daines will hand his resignation in to Cache County Executive Lynn Lemon.
This will end Daines’ six years as Cache County Attorney. Tony Baird will serve as interim county attorney until a replacement is found. The Cache Republican Party’s executive committee will be called and will submit three names to the Cache County Council of potential replacements, in the next little while, and the Cache County Council will select a new Cache County Attorney.
In an interview with Jennie Christensen and myself this week, Daines was extremely candid about his time in office, but insisted that the timing of this resignation has nothing to do with recent news events including a stirring of the pot with the Greg Lamb death and the Michael Starks controversy at USU. He said he’s been thinking about resigning for “two to three years” but wanted to tie up some loose ends and get some things done, most recently, getting charges filed against those involved with the alcohol related death of Michael Starks.
Daines took a lot of heat last year due to rumors of an FBI investigation into his dealings. Details of what the investigation was about were never revealed, and Daines eventually was vindicated when the FBI dropped the investigation, finding nothing.
Although Daines’ office oversaw the successful criminal prosecution of several prominent cases, and he also helped strengthen the county’s attorney presence on civil matters, he listed the development of the County Block and roads advances countywide as some of his greatest accomplishments while in office.
Daines said he will return to private practice after returning from a sailing vacation near St. Martin. He leaves tomorrow, just hours after resigning and having a farewell party with some of his coworkers in the CCAO.
On a personal note, for the better part of five years now, I’ve been responsible for covering the Cache County Attorney’s Office in some form or another, sometimes more in depth than others, and I’ve seen a great deal of criticism levied at George Daines. Despite not always agreeing with his decisions or his moves, I can honestly say, looking back, that he always has acted ethically and a great deal of the criticisms levied against him, not the least of which was the bogus FBI investigation, have just been personal attacks on the part of people who crossed Daines’ office in the criminal justice system and were “looking for their piece.”
George, we wish you well.
