Cox defends funds for security building at private residence

SALT LAKE CITY — (Updated: 4:40 pm 1/28/22)  Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is defending the use of $260,000 in state funds for the construction of a building for security personnel at his house in a rural town south of the state capital.

After lawmakers last year approved the funds without publicly discussing details about the proposed construction, the Department of Public Safety solicited bids from contractors for a $260,000 project at Cox’s residence in Fairview, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday.

Project plans posted on Utah’s public procurement website include renderings for a standalone 320-square-foot (29-square-meter) “security monitoring office” that includes a loft and an attached carport for the governor’s protective detail.

Cox spokeswoman Jennifer Napier-Pearce told the Tribune and The Associated Press that the plans were based on recommendations from public safety officials. She declined to answer additional questions.

On a personal social media account, Cox, a Republican in his second year as governor, said the idea to enhance security at his private residence originated in the Department of Public Safety. He said department officials rebuffed his requests to board security personnel in his home or fund the construction himself, and said it was normal procedure for sensitive security funding to be discussed with legislative leaders behind closed doors, rather than in public hearings.

“I’m sure there are some who will criticize me for spending time in Fairview when we have a secure home provided by taxpayers in SLC,” he wrote, referring to the governor’s mansion in a 10-post Twitter thread posted after the Tribune story published. “And it’s a fair criticism. I can only tell you that Fairview is the only place I can be me and feel connected to the soil and soul of our state.”

Fairview is a small town of about 1,400 people located about 82 miles (131 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City where Cox was raised as part of a farming family.

Government officials in Utah and throughout the United States have faced an increasing number of violent threats as partisan politics and pandemic have placed both Democrats and Republicans under newfound scrutiny.

Protestors broke through gates last year at the governor’s mansion in Washington state and Michigan strengthened security at Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s residence after 13 men were arrested for a plot to overthrow her.

Many states have beefed up security at publicly-owned governor’s mansions but, today, governors often live full or part-time at private residences, including in California, Colorado and Massachusetts.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf paid out of his own pocket to rent space to house security near his private residence in 2014.

In Utah, the Fairview project accounts for less than 1% of the roughly $350 million the Department of Public Safety spends in a year, according to Utah’s most recently published financial report. It was passed by lawmakers last year as part of a larger package to enhance security for top-ranking government officials.