Now while campaigning as U.S. Senate candidate, Trent Staggs has attacked a Utah Republican primary election opponent for allegedly using their position in Congress to profit personally.
Just over a year after defeating the longtime incumbent mayor of Riverton, a city tucked in a fast-growing corner of the Salt Lake Valley, Staggs stood in front of the group that oversees the use of Utah’s trust lands to benefit public schools. A spokesperson for SITLA confirmed to The Tribune that Vivakor “did not make any payment whatsoever that would have made the lease active.”before Vivakor went public in 2022 indicates. The form says the Riverton mayor received $84,704 and $48,605 in 2019 and 2020 “as payment for consulting services.”
“The state of Utah doesn’t have really strong laws in that area,” said Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the University of Utah. “Part of that is for practical purpose. There are a fair number of people … who are only part-time elected officials” U.S. Rep. John Curtis, left, reacts to a statement made by Trent Staggs, right, following the Utah Senate primary debate for Republican contenders battling to win the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney Monday, June 10, 2024, in Salt Lake City.submitted to the county in March of that year. In September — less than two months before he lost to Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson — Staggs was hired as a director of Vivakor.