Prosecutors in Utah charged a former attorney general candidate with bribery Wednesday and accused him of offering a job to a political opponent in exchange for that candidate’s endorsement.
Frank Mylar was charged with one count of bribery in elections in connection with soliciting fellow Republican Trent Christensen’s endorsement in exchange for a job in his office if he were elected.
A detective in Murray, Utah, said in a court filing Tuesday that Christensen told the local police department in May that Mylar had sent him a text message asking for his endorsement ahead of the state’s Republican nominating convention on April 27.
In the text message, Mylar allegedly said that his campaign had “picked up more steam,” before urging Christensen to back him.
“If you could endorse me before the convention I would definitely include you in my office. Think about it for a few days,” Mylar wrote, according to prosecutors.
Christensen did not respond to the text message, and that same day, Mylar sent a follow up message asking Christensen to disregard his earlier text, saying he hadn’t intended to send it and that “It is not an offer etc.,” according to court documents.
Attorneys for Mylar — Nathan A. Crane and Rick Van Wagoner — said their client denied the allegations and would not be entering a guilty plea.
“Frank adamantly denies the allegations that have been made against him. Frank did not bribe or attempt to bride anybody. Frank was simply seeking support for his campaign,” they said in a statement. “Shortly after sending the text message, Frank followed up with the recipient to ensure his original text was not misunderstood.”
In an interview, Christensen told NBC News that the text message “speaks for itself,” and that he would not have acted differently if the outcome of the convention and primary had been different.
“When I ran my campaign, it was based on trust and accountability, how I think Utah needs an attorney general that is more focused on trust and accountability to the public, and that means accountability on all sides,” Christensen said. “I trust that the system will do its job correctly, and that justice will be had.”
Christensen did not advance to the June 25 primary after he was eliminated at April’s nominating convention. Mylar was defeated in a three-way primary by Derek Brown who obtained 43.59% of the vote.
Rudy Bautista is the Democratic nominee for the November election.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a Republican, dropped his re-election bid in December.
