When former Tooele Mayor Bob Swan passed away in February, Dan Tuttle stepped up to the plate on Capitol Hill as Tooele County's lone local lobbyist, keeping track of bills that could impact the county. His work pinch hitting in the middle of the session impressed county commissioners enough to give him the job permanently last week.

Tuttle, the director of public and government affairs for US Magnesium, was officially hired to do a similar job for the county last Tuesday. His compensation has been set at $7,500 a year.

"Dan just kind of took over during the last legislative session and did a great job," said Tooele County Commissioner Jerry Hurst. "I was just amazed he was on top of things so well."

"I told them initially when they asked me to do it that I'd just do it for free, and they said 'No you can't do that,' so I said 'OK,'" Tuttle said. "It doesn't matter what they pay."

Tuttle, a former state representative in District 22 for 14 years, lives in Magna. He said the biggest thing he hopes to accomplish in his new position with the county is to "let people know Tooele's alive and doing well, and that we have some concerns about Salt Lake dictating what happens throughout the state."

Tuttle has served on various legislative committees, including natural resources, higher education, health and human services, and business and labor. He has also lobbied for Desert Power, the Utah League of Credit Unions and US Magnesium.

Tuttle's duties for the county will include monitoring issues that could impact it, and making the county's points to legislators.

"It's an interesting job for me and hopefully it pays off for the county," Tuttle said, adding he's inadvertently been doing stuff for Tooele County for quite a while.

"Working for US Magnesium, you deal with a lot of people from the state, and when we've had meetings and client tours, we've just always included Tooele County," he said.

Tuttle said his position with US Magnesium fits well with lobbying for the county.

"I do the same thing for US Magnesium, and they just go good together," he said. "It's just all the same issues -- natural resources, taxes -- and we all more or less share the same interests. What looks good for US Magnesium works for Tooele County."

However, Vanessa Pierce, executive director of HEAL Utah (Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah), said she doesn't necessarily think that industrial interests go hand in hand with public interests.

"I think often if you look at that company's track record, what was best for their bottom line was emitting huge amounts of dioxins and pollutants into the air, which put workers and residents at risk," Pierce said. "Hopefully they've turned over a new leaf, but saying that commercial interests or business interests are always in line with the public interest is naive at best and disingenuous."

Hurst said because of Tuttle's position with US Magnesium, he has a good perspective on countywide issues.

"I think they're [US Magnesium] a good partner in Tooele County," Hurst said.

In terms of the challenges of influencing the Legislative process, Tuttle said all he can do is talk to people.

"You can't demand things," he said. "All you can do is give your side and hope they like that side."

swest@tooeletranscript.com