Who is Randall Gaylord?

Who is San Juan prosecutor Randall Gaylord, who brought the case against the Washington talk show hosts for speaking in favor of an initiative to repeal a gas tax increase, on the grounds that their broadcasts opinions were campaign contributions? Most disturbing, Gaylord appears to have acted on the recommendation of a law firm, Foster, Pepper, that is active in the effort to defeat the initiative.

According to his resume, Gaylord is a 1980 graduate of Utah State, and a 1985 graduate of University of Utah College of Law. He then clerked for Justice Christine Durham of the Utah Supreme Court, an appointee of former Democratic Governor Scott Matheson. Prior to being elected Prosecutor in 1994, he was an environmental law attorney in Spokane, and then ran a general practice on Orcas Island in Puget Sound. A Democrat, he claims to be an avid cyclist and birder. He is married with two teen-age children. His major reported cases appear to be the type of run of the mill litigation - criminal appeals, environmental regulation disputes - that one would expect a county prosecutor to handle. It's hard to find an ideological agenda there.

In short, nothing unusual jumps out in his career prior to this time. He will be up for re-election in 2006, and this case alone is grounds to defeat him.