Hearkening back to the days of Marion Barry and his tryst with with former girlfriend, Rasheeda” Moore, in a sting operation Rep. Jon Stanard, Utah (R), has been caught with his pants down. Stanard, who was elected in 2012, resigned citing “personal and family concerns,” and later texted to the Associated Press that he was leaving to spend time with his terminally ill father. But according to sources, Stanard had allegedly paid a woman for sex on two occasions during business trips in 2017. Further, it was suggested by a state House of Representatives official, taxpayer funds were used to pay for the two hotel rooms. House Chief of Staff Greg Hartley told the Associated Press in a text message that Stanard was reimbursed for hotel stays in Salt Lake City in June and August 2017 when Stanard was attending legislative meetings at the state Capitol, four hours from his home in St. George. The Daily Mail of London said call girl Brie Taylor alleges Stanard paid her for sex during two business trips to Salt Lake City in 2017. Taylor asserts he paid her $250 for each of the one-hour sessions in June and August — on dates when the Legislature held interim meetings. Stanard is married and voted for stricter laws against pornography. He also said on his website, which has since been deleted, “I am a strong advocate for conservative family values. I am pro life, as well as for traditional marriage.” Republican House Speaker Greg Hughes told The Associated Press Thursday night, he didn’t yet know if the House would ask Stanard to return the hotel reimbursements. “If there has been an abuse of public funds or if public funds were used in a way that’s inappropriate, we would. I don’t have solid answers for those things. I would need to have a way that I would know conclusively that is the case.” It was unclear if the House would be able to check whether Stanard used a state-issued cellphone to text the prostitute and arrange encounters because someone electronically wiped the phone and it no longer contains his text messages. The House Speaker said he assumed Stanard erased his phone, not House staff, and Hughes said he didn’t know if there was a way to recover text messages from the phone. Officials later said that Stanard was not facing any kind of legislative investigation or disciplinary action. After resigning his seat, Stanard released the following statement, “It has been a great honor for me to serve the constituents of District 62 and with so many colleagues that I’ve grown to love and value. I know many will be concerned, but I would appreciate respecting our privacy at this time.”
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