Ethics struggles on tape

A review by the Deseret News of a number of hours of the testimony (which can be found at le.state.ut.us), gives further arguments to both sides — those who accused Hughes of improper actions, and those who support him, saying he's a victim of a mean political attack.

Hughes has said before that he believes Allen "perjured herself" in her committee testimony. She denies it. "Greg takes 2 plus 2 and adds it up to 7," she said. "I answered honestly."

Hughes said Tuesday that if he had the money, he may try to pursue that charge in court (Hughes reportedly has nearly $40,000 in legal fees he's still trying to pay off.) "I'm still thinking abut it," Hughes said about his complaint against Allen. "And now that the (testimony) tapes are public, I suppose that anyone could bring that charge based on the facts."

Monday, GOP House leaders released their four bills on ethics reform for the 2009 Legislature, which starts Jan. 26.

Both Allen and Hughes said they are disappointed that GOP leaders want to wait a year to study internal ethics complaint processes. The pair said changes should be made now.

"We must have an independent ethics commission," said Allen on Tuesday. "There are plenty of good, working models out there — Kentucky has one. We shouldn't wait."

Hughes said he'll go forward with his bill (not endorsed by GOP leaders) to set up an independent Office of Inspector General that could quietly review all complaints against state employees, including legislators, and proceed to public ethical conduct hearings if cause is found.

Tapes show that a number of attempts were made to avoid an official ethics investigation, from meetings with GOP leaders last summer to a "deal" that if Allen would remove her name from a separate lawsuit over an omnibus education funding bill and not push an ethics investigation, leaders would back some kind of reforms, to Democratic and GOP leaders deciding privately on their own whether Hughes violated ethics rules. All ultimately fell apart when Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Millcreek, gave the ethics complaint draft to KSL-TV.

Tapes also show much of the questioning of Allen by Republicans on the Ethics Committee didn't have to do with trying to get at the facts as to whether Hughes tried to bribe former Rep. Susan Lawrence, R-Millcreek, in 2006 to change her vote on a controversial private-school voucher bill, but rather why Allen and the Democrats who filed the Hughes complaint were doing such a thing — and why Allen specifically didn't trust GOP House leaders to privately take care of any concerns about Hughes' alleged actions.

"You're getting sidetracked" with the time frame of the investigations, she said. "You need to look at the substance" of the charges against Hughes.

But timing was completely relevant, Hughes now says. Testimony shows that Lawrence believed ethics charges would be filed in the spring of 2008 against Hughes, and not held until October.