Jan Graham

{{Infobox officeholder

|name= Jan Graham

|image=

|caption=Jan Graham, 18th Attorney General of Utah

|order=18th

|office= Attorney General of Utah

|term_start= January 1993

|term_end= January 2001

|governor= Mike Leavitt

|predecessor= Paul Van Dam

|successor= Mark Shurtleff

|birth_name= Janet Ann Crump

|birth_date= {{birth date|1949|07|19}}

|birth_place= Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

|death_date= {{death date and age|2024|1|29|1949|7|19}}

|death_place= St. George, Utah, U.S.

|spouse={{marriage|Verl "Buzz" Hunt|1989}}

|children= 2

|profession= Lawyer

|party= Democratic

}}

Janet Ann Graham Hunt ({{nee}} Crump; July 19, 1949 – January 29, 2024), best-known as Jan Graham, was an American lawyer from Utah who served as State Attorney General from 1993 to 2001.[https://www.ksl.com/article/50864526/former-utah-attorney-general-jan-graham-has-died Former Utah Attorney General Jan Graham has died] Other than candidates for Lieutenant Governor running on a ticket with a male candidate, she is the only{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/56422842-82/women-utah-child-male.html.csp|title=Rolly: Lack of women in politics has real consequences, Salt Lake Tribune, June 8, 2013|publisher=}} woman ever elected to statewide office in the state of Utah.[https://www.uvu.edu/uwlp/docs/utahwomeninoffice2015.pdf UVU Utah Women in Office] She is the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Utah.

Early life, education, and legal career

Janet Ann Crump was born on July 19, 1949, and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah.{{cite news|last=Groutage|first=Hilary|title=Graham wins cliff-hanger race|url=https://www-newspapers.com/article/the-daily-spectrum/140068888/|newspaper=Daily Spectrum|page=10|access-date=February 1, 2024}} {{free access}}{{cite web|title=Jan Graham Hunt|date=February 2024 |url=https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2024/02/01/jan-graham-hunt/|publisher=St. George News|access-date=February 2, 2024}}{{cite web|title=Jan Graham: A private person in a public life|url=https://www.deseret.com/1997/6/5/19316011/jan-graham-a-private-person-in-a-public-life|date=June 5, 1997|last=Whitney|first=Susan|publisher=Deseret News|access-date=February 1, 2024}}{{cite news|title=Graham to speak at women's conference|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tooele-transcript-bulletin/140069399/|newspaper=Tooele Transcript-Bulletin|date=April 19, 1994|page=5|access-date=February 1, 2024}} She graduated from South High in 1967, and enrolled at Brigham Young University. While at BYU, Crump successfully bypassed BYU’s prohibition on women wearing jeans to its Testing Center by wearing no pants at all, which gave the impression she was wearing a hidden skirt.{{cite web|title=Testing Center unique to BYU|url=https://universe.byu.edu/2002/12/11/testing-center-unique-to-byu/|date=December 11, 2002|last=Lewis|first=Rachel|publisher=The Daily Universe|access-date=February 1, 2024}} She transferred to the University of Utah, and then to Clark University in Massachusetts, and graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Crump returned to Salt Lake and enrolled in the University of Utah's graduate school, where she got a master's degree in psychology in 1977. While in graduate school, she worked as a teacher at Franklin Elementary for one year, and as a counselor at the Northwest Multipurpose Center. In 1977, she enrolled in the University of Utah law school, and was awarded her J.D. in 1980. While in law school, she married, and took the name Graham. She subsequently divorced.

Graham was hired at Jones, Waldo, Holbrook and McDonough in 1980. By 1985, she had made partner, and become the first woman on the Board of Directors. In 1989, she married Verl "Buzz" Hunt.{{cite web|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/518355/GRAHAMS-VALUES-ROOTED-IN-WORKING-CLASS-FAMILY.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064546/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/518355/GRAHAMS-VALUES-ROOTED-IN-WORKING-CLASS-FAMILY.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2016|title=GRAHAM'S VALUES ROOTED IN WORKING-CLASS FAMILY|date=October 10, 1996|work=DeseretNews.com}} She was a founding member of Women Lawyers of Utah, and one of the first four women members of the Alta Club.{{Cite web |url=http://webster.utahbar.org/barjournal/2007/01/women_lawyers_of_utah_how_it_a.html |title="Women Lawyers of Utah: How it All Started," Utah Bar Journal, January 8, 2007 |access-date=September 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311184616/http://webster.utahbar.org/barjournal/2007/01/women_lawyers_of_utah_how_it_a.html |archive-date=March 11, 2013 |url-status=dead }}

Public office

She ran for the office of Attorney General in 1992, while she was pregnant with her first child. She had her baby two days after the State Democratic Convention. In the general election, she defeated Iron County Attorney Scott Burns, getting 49% of the statewide vote.{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=49&year=1992&f=0&off=9|title=1992 Attorney General General Election Results — Utah|author=David Leip|publisher=uselectionatlas.org}} She was re-elected in 1996 in a rematch with Burns with 52% of the vote.{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=49&year=1996&f=0&off=9|title="1996 Attorney General General Election Results — Utah," US Election Atlas|author=David Leip|publisher=uselectionatlas.org}}

Graham made the state of Utah a plaintiff in landmark tobacco legislation. The litigation included arguments over the Attorney General's power, both from the tobacco companies,[http://www.library.ucsf.edu/sites/all/files/ucsf_assets/ut_partialsummaryjudge.pdf PHILIP MORRIS INCORPORATED, et. al. vs. JANET C. GRAHAM, Attorney General of the State of Utah, et. al. DEFENDANTS' MEMORANDUM IN RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT, Civil No. 960904948C] and from Utah's Governor, Michael Leavitt.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-11-me-26390-story.html|title="'Unprecedented' Power Struggle Puts Utah Statehouse in Spotlight"|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 11, 1999 }} The struggle between Utah's only Democratic statewide officeholder and the state's Republican legislature and Governor resulted in passage of a law requiring the Governor's approval on any civil litigation. The Attorney General sued, a compromise was reached, and the law was ultimately repealed.{{cite web|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/708525/Graham-and-Leavitt-may-have-settled-feud.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001447/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/708525/Graham-and-Leavitt-may-have-settled-feud.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2016|title="Graham and Leavitt may have settled feud"|date=July 21, 1999|work=DeseretNews.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/56713983-82/tobacco-utah-state-smoking.html.csp|title="Rolly: Utah lawmakers' affair with big tobacco"|date=August 18, 2013|publisher=sltrib.com}}

At the end of her second term, Graham was one of two women on the Deseret News list of Utah's most powerful people.{{cite web|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/270019244/No-10--Jan-Graham.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223328/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/270019244/No-10--Jan-Graham.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 3, 2016|title="No. 10 — Jan Graham"|date=May 16, 2001|work=DeseretNews.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/55852346-82/utah-attorney-swallow-general.html.csp|title="Swallow and single-party voting"|date=February 19, 2013|publisher=Salt Lake Tribune}}[https://www.deseret.com/2016/1/16/20580547/utah-group-aims-to-help-more-women-win-public-office "Utah group aims to help more women win public office"], Deseret News, January 16, 2016.

Later life and death

Graham died at her home in St. George, Utah, on January 29, 2024, at the age of 74. She had been diagnosed a decade earlier with primary peritoneal cancer.{{Cite web |title=Jan Graham, Utah's first and only female attorney general, dies at 74 |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2024/02/01/jan-graham-utahs-first-only-female/ |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}