CACHE COUNTY – Ignoring the recommendations of the local Republican Party, members of the Cache County Council appointed incumbent Acting County Attorney Dane Murray to the post of Interim County Attorney at their regular meeting on Mar. 10.
In that meeting’s public selection process, Murray came out swinging, quickly establishing his credentials as the most experienced candidate for the temporary position and demolishing many of the criticisms of the county attorney’s office leveled by rival candidates.
Murray’s appointment was confirmed by a 4-to-2 vote, with Chair Sandi Goodlander and council members Nolan Gunnell, David Erickson and Mark Hurd casting their votes in favor while JoAnn Bennett and Keegan Garrity voted “nay.” Vice Chair Kathryn Beus was absent from the meeting.
Erickson made the motion in favor of Murray’s appointment, saying that he based that decision on the incumbent lawyer’s more than a decade of service to Cache County. Erickson’s motion was seconded by Gunnell.
In her comments, Bennett said that she felt compelled to follow the lead suggested by members of the Cache GOP Central Committee who supported local attorney J. Brett Chambers in a straw poll conducted on Mar. 7.
In that non-binding balloting, Chambers won 46 percent of the more than 140 ballots cast, while Murray garnered 32 percent and local attorney Chris Daines captured 21 percent of the vote.
But Goodlander countered that the straw poll was irrelevant since Chambers hadn’t received a majority of those votes.
For his part, Garrity felt that the decision to appoint an interim county attorney deserved more discussion.
Murray was immediately sworn into the new post by County Clerk Bryson Behm, to serve in that role until December of 2026.
In January, former County Attorney K. Taylor Sorensen resigned his county post effective Feb. 8 to return to private practice.
To temporarily fill that vacancy, Murray was named acting county attorney by members of the Cache County Council on Feb. 10.
Under state law, the nominations of Chambers, Daines and Murray to serve as interim county attorney were affirmed by a voice vote of the members of the Cache County Republican Central Committee on Mar. 7.
While being vetted by county council members on Mar. 10, Murray easily dominated the question and answer session with his superior knowledge of the operations of the County Attorney’s Office.
While acknowledging that growth and land use issues were important, the incumbent lawyer cited public safety and criminal prosecutions as top priorities for the county attorney’s office.
Murray dismissed criticisms from the other candidates, especially those arising from the rapid growth of the attorney’s office budget since 2019.
Chamber had questioned the growth of the attorney’s office budget from $1.5 million in 2019 to more than double that amount ($3.5 million) in 2025, while Cache County’s population grew by only 17,000 residents (about 13 percent) in the same period.
But Murray explained that nearly 90 percent of the budget of the attorney’s office is allocated to cover attorneys’ salaries, with the remainder funding operating expenses.
He attributed that salary growth to a period of rapid turnover when the office was losing lawyers because Cache County had let salary levels fall behind those of attorneys in private practice and salaries paid by other counties.
Those salary shortcomings were eventually addressed by the members of the Cache County Council and the county’s Human Resources Department.
He added that it is easy to criticize the attorney’s office budget when “you’ve never been a prosecutor,” a subtle dig at his rivals’ primarily administrative experience.
In defense of his candidacy, Daines mostly quoted arcane points of legalese, while Chambers cited his posts for the county and state bar association and the endorsement of 38 local attorneys.
But Murray trumped them by citing the endorsements of more than 160 members of the local law enforcement community.
As Interim County Attorney, Murray will serve out the remainder of Sorensen’s unexpired term of office until December of 2026.
Cache County voters will pick a permanent county attorney during the midterm election balloting in November.
During the filing period for candidates in the upcoming 2026 election that closed Jan. 8, Chambers, Daines and Murray all signaled their intent to run in that countywide balloting.