Developer charged with pot possession files as Dem

Brock Vergakis

SALT LAKE CITY -- The first person to file for election against popular Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman is a registered Republican who was charged with marijuana possession in January and is seeking the Democratic nomination.

Monty Nafoosi, 53, is a Bountiful real estate developer who said Monday he's willing to spend at least $100,000 on his campaign.

He was charged by Bountiful police Jan. 2 with possession of less than 16 ounces of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Nafoosi, who lists his nickname as "Millionaire" on the lieutenant governor's Web site, said he uses marijuana for medical purposes. He said he suffers from muscular dystrophy and is in a wheelchair. When President Bush opposed federal funding for stem cell research, he said he stopped considering himself a Republican.

Nafoosi said police found two marijuana joints and rolling papers at his home after they responded to a burglary call there. He said he had been attacked by four men.

The disabled should be able to legally buy marijuana, Nafoosi said.

"In California, you can buy it in vending machines. In Utah, they break your door down," he said. "I believe if the federal government declares you to be disabled, which I am, then you should have access to whatever meds you need."

A pretrial conference on the charges was scheduled for Thursday.

For his campaign, Nafoosi said a cleaner environment is one of his goals.

"By the end of my first term as governor of Utah, my goal is to have an electric car in every garage," his Web site says.

Utah Democratic Party spokesman Bill Keshlear said Nafoosi isn't someone party officials are backing in their bid to unseat Huntsman, who has said he will seek a second term.

"He's a marginal kind of candidate," Keshlear said of Nafoosi. "This is not the guy we've recruited."

Keshlear said the Democratic Party has recruited a candidate to run against Huntsman, although that person won't be announced for several more days.

The deadline to file for office is March 17.

For whoever wins the Democratic party's nomination, defeating Huntsman won't be an easy task. Huntsman won election in 2004 with 58 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Scott Matheson.

Since then, Huntsman has guided the state through a time of unprecedented economic growth and his approval ratings have remained high.

However, even in one of the state's most conservative states, Huntsman has weaknesses that Democrats will try to exploit.

Huntsman supported the creation of the nation's broadest private school voucher program last year. His support for vouchers is part of what helped him win the Republican nomination.

But Huntsman was noticeably silent about the voucher issue when opponents gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the program, which was defeated by a wide margin in November.

Huntsman also helped broker an unpopular deal to buy land for a professional soccer stadium in suburban Sandy.

Support for those initiatives has made House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, vulnerable this election. In 2006, he won re-election by 20 votes and is facing the same opponent this year.

• On the Net: Utah Elections Office http://elections.utah.gov