Salt Lake City Weekly questions Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's decision to hire Seigfried & Jensen to pursue the makers of the controversial drugs Zyprexa and Vioxx in a class-action suit to recover millions paid out by Utah Medicaid. Patients say drug companies hid serious side effects of the drugs from users.

The City Weekly's Eric Peterson writes:

With experienced law firms to choose from in Utah and across the nation, ultimately Shurtleff didn’t need to look any farther than the back of the phone book. Shortly before Siegfried & Jensen’s Steele secured the contract, the firm hired Ambra Gardner, Shurtleff’s daughter, to work as a paralegal. She came to the job with no previous experience, sources say.

CW points out that Sigfried & Jensen, who will get a generous cut of the money recovered, has been especially kind to Shurtleff in campaign contributions:

Campaign finance disclosure forms show the firm donated $30,000 since 2006, when the state contracts were granted. Another $5,000 came to Shurtleff in the months just before the contracts were formally signed—approximately the same time period his daughter was hired.