SALT LAKE CITY — House Speaker Mike Schultz told FOX 13 News on Thursday he is asking the Utah Attorney General's Office to conduct an independent investigation into allegations that Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, altered checks and attempted to leverage his position in the state legislature to secure a government contract for a company to pay off debts.
"We take these types of allegations very seriously," Speaker Schultz, R-Hooper, said. "It’s very important to us to look at it, to maintain public trust with the House of Representatives. We’ve asked the AG’s Office to do an independent investigation to determine their accuracy."
Rep. Lee calls the accusations, which appeared on a website called stoptrevorlee.com, that emerged on Wednesday, a "political hit job."
"I think it’s politics. I mean, the timing, right?" Rep. Lee told FOX 13 News in an interview, referencing this weekend's Davis County Republican convention where he is seeking re-election.
But Jason Walton, the CEO of Moxie Pest Control, who created the website, is blunt about his motives.
"I for sure do not want Trevor Lee to be elected. When people say the timing is suspect? I don’t know what’s suspect," he said Thursday. "I don’t want him to win the Davis County convention and if he does? I don’t want him to win the primary."
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The site accuses Rep. Lee of altering checks during his employment at the company more than a decade ago.
"When confronted? He denied it. But he didn’t just deny it, it got to the point where he was getting angry with me and playing the victim," Walton said.
Walton acknowledged he did not press charges, something he said he now regrets. Rep. Lee said he regrets his actions at that time.
"I definitely made a big mistake a long time ago, a decade ago. It’s something I learned from, moved on," he said. "Most people have issues in their lives they’re not happy or proud about. That’s definitely one of them for me. I’m just glad to have moved forward, made right what I did wrong and moved on from that."
The site also features a video of Enevive CEO Trent Spafford, making allegations that Rep. Lee suggested he could use his position on Utah's Capitol Hill to secure a government contract as a means of paying off a $93,000 advance from the water purification company.
"I never leveraged my position. I told the company that I wanted to help them get a government contract. That included going out and finding a good lobbyist who could help them with that. It didn’t pan out. They had other issues so they tried to come after me legally which all got dismissed this week," Rep. Lee said. "That’s because there was nothing there. There was nothing that we did that was wrong. I didn’t do anything that was wrong. Everything was completely frivolous, malicious, that’s why they dropped their suit."
Court records show a federal lawsuit was dropped by Enevive this week that alleged in part Rep. Lee had been doing sales calls for a rival company while being employed by Enevive.
Rep. Lee, considered one of the Utah State Legislature's most conservative lawmakers, sponsors bills that often draw controversy. This year, he proposed legislation that sought to rename Harvey Milk Boulevard in Salt Lake City to "Charlie Kirk Boulevard;" roll back legal protections for transgender people in the state; strip undocumented immigrants of access to some forms of public assistance; and make Ivermectin available without a prescription.
Both Walton and Rep. Lee told FOX 13 News they welcome investigations.
"I think that the truth needs to be heard here," Lee said. "If someone’s trying to come after me and do something that I believe is wrong? They need to be held accountable for that and justice is served when people are shown the truth."
Rep. Lee is preparing for Saturday's political convention, where Davis County Republican delegates decide if they will nominate him for the upcoming election. But if he emerges, he will still face a primary because his intraparty opponent, Bob Stevenson, has gathered enough signatures to earn a spot on the ballot. Rep. Lee expressed confidence going into the convention, despite the campaign against him.
Walton said he wants to inform voters.
"If the people in Davis County want Trevor Lee? Then by all means vote him into office. It puts a pit in my stomach, but people should elect who they want. They just need to know who they’re electing," he said.
