Utah Capitol office space debacle: is State Auditor Tina Cannon getting kicked out?

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A bill that would shuffle two Executive Branch offices out of the Utah State Capitol has the state auditor, Tina Cannon, alleging she was “blindsided” and kicked out of her office to make way for members of the Senate. But top Senate leaders say that’s not what happened, nor is it a legislative takeover.

The bill, S.B. 143, being run by Assistant Majority Whip Mike McKell (R-Spanish Fork) was amended on the House floor Thursday to include language that has Cannon’s office, currently in suite 260, move — once “a substantially similar” space is found “on Capitol Hill.”

The language is significant because that means her office could be moved anywhere on the Capitol complex when the bill previously said her office would be “in the State Capitol.” It also has her sharing a reception space with the state Attorney General.

Similarly, it moves the state elections office, a responsibility of the Lt. Governor which houses her staff, to the Senate building once “a substantially similar space in the Senate Building is assigned to the executive branch.” According to the bill both Cannon’s and the elections office would then be controlled by the legislature.

Cannon says that on Tuesday, she was summoned to a meeting with Senate leaders where they discussed the office space.

“I expressed my desire to follow the (current) law for a study of the space, and that I have a seat at the table,” said Cannon. “I was told to ignore that statute and that I would not see the (new) legislation coming.”

The meeting apparently got tense, and Cannon said after disagreeing about moving, President Stuart Adams (R-Layton) dictated to her that her office would be moved and that she wouldn’t know it was happening.

“And that’s what happened,” she said.

Later, she sent a letter to President Adams obtained by ABC4 dated Tuesday, March 4.

“During our meeting this morning, our personal passion for our individual needs put us in a place of opposition,” it reads. “My purpose now is to suggest we work together toward a win-win solution, rather than as opponents.”

She went on to outline her role as an independently elected, Constitutional officer of the state and argued that the architects of the Capitol envisioned the building as a symbol of separate but equal branches of government.

“Your expressed desire to relocate myself and members of my full-time staff, possibly to the basement, and passing an eleventh-hour bill outside of the normal public process in order that the space be made available for part-time legislators was not an acceptable solution.”

Senate President Adams (R-Layton) said that they were transparent about the amendment which is why they set up the meeting. Adams said that Cannon also made an allegation that request for funding was being held up because of her unwillingness to move.

“During the meeting when Auditor Cannon asked if funding requests and office space were connected, I specifically stated that they were in no way tied together,” said Adams.

As the sponsor of the bill, Sen. McKell was also in the meeting. He called it a “mischaracterization” for Cannon to say she was blindsided by the legislation because the purpose of the meeting was to discuss moving the bulk of her staff to the Senate building.

He admits that the discussion got “vigorous,” and that the wording of the amendment was not in the original bill at the time they met, but said that they discussed keeping her with a ceremonial office in the main Capitol.

Mckell argued that it makes more sense for the “six or seven” Senators currently in the Senate building to be in the main capitol since they often have to get to the Senate chambers for floor votes.

Cannon said she was told in the meeting that the Senators wanted to move because they felt like “second-class citizens.”

The bill needs one more vote in the Senate before passing the legislature. If the Senate agrees with the changes made by the House, the bill will head to Governor Spencer Cox’s desk to be vetoed or signed into law.