LOGAN – A forum for candidates running for interim Cache County Attorney at Utah State University on Feb. 12 provided a stark contrast between differing visions of that post.
“During my time as a prosecutor,” said acting County Attorney Dane Murray, defending his tenure with the attorney’s office since 2015, “I’ve focused on prosecuting violent crimes, crimes against women and children, drug distribution that poisons our community and fraud that affects our most vulnerable citizens…
“At the end of the day, it comes down to who do you trust? … I offer a clear choice of a county attorney who has helped make Cache County one of the safest and strongest communities in America.”
But rival candidate J. Brett Chambers emphasizes that administering criminal justice is only half the job of the county attorney, with civil administration being equally important.
“In the past five years,” Chambers noted, “we’ve had five different county attorneys. That’s not normal and it’s not good for the county to have that kind of turnover.
“When there’s that kind of turnover, we lose institutional knowledge that affects various cases, issues and road usage … So it’s important that we have stable leadership and that’s what I can offer to the county attorney’s office.”
Sharing Chambers’ previous experience in civil law, the final candidate, Chris Daines, agrees that the administrative side of the county attorney’s office also needs prioritization.
During the candidate forum organized by the Cache County GOP, Daines indicated that he believes that the role of the attorney’s office is fivefold: to ensure adherence to the law; to provide high quality legal service; to provide that legal service quickly; to improve morale in the attorney’s office and the county at large; and to conserve taxpayer funds.
The trio of candidates who attended the Feb. 12 forum will face off during a meeting of Cache County Republicans at Sky View High School in Smithfield on Saturday, Mar. 7. At that gathering, a straw poll will be conducted by GOP central committee members to indicate their preference among the candidates.
Then the names of up to three candidates will be referred to the Cache County Council to decide who will assume the role of interim county attorney until the end 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.
Polite hair-splitting regarding the role of the county attorney’s office occupied much of the discussion during the candidate forum.
While acknowledging the importance of the county attorney’s public safety role, Chambers argued that the unglamorous administrative law side probably affects more county residents on a day-to-day basis. Yet of 11 attorneys in the county’s office, only two were involved in administration law and one of those recently left public service.
Murray was also obliged to defend 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.
The acting county attorney explained that about 17 percent of the budget of the attorney’s office covers operating expenses, while the remainder funds attorneys’ salaries.
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.
“We actually have fewer attorneys now than we did in 2019,” Murray added.