Buxton, who owns a home inspection firm, has since resigned his legislative seat to become Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s director of state buildings. Buxton knew he was going to take that post during the 45-day general session. So besides Buxton's conflicts of interest in the construction trade, clearly he also had a conflict with any legislation Huntsman either wanted passed or killed — since Buxton wouldn't want to anger his soon-to-be-boss.

It is those kinds of "unofficial" or "personal" conflicts of interests that may or may not be known to the public or fellow legislators through conflict of interest forms.

One bill introduced by Buxton amended laws that govern the state's building division, which he would soon oversee. The other bill allowed the division to oversee borrowing through new bonds for new facilities construction. Buxton routinely carried that bonding bill because he was also chairman of the Legislature's building board budget committee.

So one can see the possible conflicts of wheels within wheels within wheels that is often seen in legislators' private lives.

Others with high percentages of bills with conflicts of interest included Rep. James A. Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, an insurance agent, who had 89 percent of his bills dealing with the insurance industry; Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, a family-law attorney, 83 percent; and Rep. Patrick Painter, R-Nephi, a car dealer with 80 percent.

Again, nothing may be harmful at all with some such conflicts of interests. The questions being asked: Were all such conflicts properly disclosed? And is it proper for lawmakers to vote on bills where they have such conflicts?

Timely disclosure is also important. Yet in the Utah Senate several senators didn't bother to file their disclosure forms until the 45-day session was half over. And a few, like Sen. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley, didn't update their previous year's forms until the final days of the session.

It does little good to list your possible conflicts after you've already made most of the session's votes, critics say.

Toward transparency

House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, says he has considered several ways to make conflicts of interest more "open and transparent" in the Utah Legislature. But each time he has made proposals, he has met with resistance from colleagues and abandoned his efforts.

"It's a given that a part-time Legislature will have conflicts. We have to accept that," said Becker, who this year is running for Salt Lake City mayor.

As a citizen member of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission several years ago, Becker said he pushed new conflict of interest rules for commissioners. "If you had any interest" in a pending commission action, "you had to declare it, and then you left the room. You didn't discuss the change with anyone, you didn't debate it, and you didn't vote on it. Those tough rules served us well. And I think similar rules could serve the Legislature well," Becker said.