The governor's own transition team advised that Flowers "show his commitment to the department by relocating his home to the Wasatch Front," calling his current residence a concern "especially if air traffic and ground mobility were restricted by a major event."

But key members of the Legislature agree with the governor that Flowers shouldn't have to move. "The fact is, the state goes beyond the Beck Street overpass and Point of the Mountain," Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said.

Bramble did say he believed it would be appropriate for lawmakers to take another look at who is allowed to use state vehicles for personal use. "It's an issue of tax dollars and public perception of the personal use," he said.

Still, Bramble said he doubted such a review would lead to any changes.

Legislators may not be enthusiastic to re-examine state bosses' use of vehicles for several reasons.

First, several legislators, including House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, recently went through their own unpleasant vehicle-related issues as outgrowths of a vehicle scandal in Salt Lake County.

GOP officeholders throughout the state — especially in the county — were tarred with the same brush over that incident. And Democrats won the county mayorship and another County Council seat in part because of that bad publicity.

Secondly, there is still a honeymoon going on between Huntsman and legislators. Lawmakers from both parties say they have had access, conversations and updates from the Huntsman administration on a scale they didn't find in the two previous GOP administrations.

In short, there is no reason to pick on Huntsman and his top aides, at least not now.

Curtis said he has heard of no plans to formally review the executive branch's use of taxpayer-funded cars or gasoline purchase cards.

"As I understand it, these have been given as part of their compensation," which is set by law by the Legislature, said Curtis.

Only a handful of top executives get cars and gas paid for private use. "We would hope they would be judicious," he said, in how they use those vehicles.

A bigger question, said Curtis, is how many cars the state is buying and how they are used.

"For example, we hear about large fleets used in higher education" colleges and universities. Some vehicles may not be used very much.

"The idea behind all state vehicles should be 'use a mid-size passenger car.' If you need a four-wheel drive SUV (as a number of the top state executives have), anyone should have to justify why they need that kind of a vehicle," Curtis said.

Tony Musci, chairman of Utah Common Cause, a government watchdog group, says as long as top executives believe the cars and gasoline are part of their compensation, it will be difficult to adequately monitor that use. "It is ripe for abuse," without adequate monitoring, he said.

A better plan is to adequately compensate the executives through salaries and restrict their state car use to official business, with appropriate expense accounts that are routinely examined, he said.

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