Lawmakers pledge to tackle campaign-funds expenditures

Ethics reform in the Utah Legislature historically is not a popular subject — kind of like a skunk at the picnic.

But the "Mainstream/Reagan" House Republican Caucus and a GOP senator believe some steps can be taken this year on several ethical fronts.

Led by Reps. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, and Mel Brown, R-Coalville, the self-styled House Reagan Caucus of 20-or-so less right-wing Republicans in the House want to pass several ethics reform bills this year.

They hope to be joined not only by their more conservative party colleagues, but by House Democrats as well.

"There is a keen interest in doing something with ethics this year," Allen. All 75 House members and half of the 29-member Senate are up for re-election in 2008.

Unknown to each other, the House Republicans and Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, are moving along the same lines, both independently told the Deseret Morning News.

"We want to look at gifts" from lobbyists to legislators, "expenditures of campaign funds" by legislators and whether it is appropriate for "legislators to give campaign contributions from their own accounts to other legislators," said Allen.

She said the Reagan Caucus is considering whether legislators themselves should be responsible for listing which lobbyists give them gifts and the cost of those gifts. Now, lobbyists must file financial reports listing how much they spend on lawmakers.

That is a different approach than Bell's, who still wants lobbyists to report their spending on legislators, but to lower the naming of gift-taking-legislators from the $50 threshold to $15.

Bell has tried variations of ethics reform before, once seeing his gift bill summarily killed by a Senate standing committee after a 10-minute tirade from one Republican senator about how the media mistreats legislators.

"Maybe I'm stupid, but I'm optimistic this year," said Bell.

He wants to make it clear that a legislator or candidate, upon election defeat or retirement from office, can't just give his leftover campaign funds to himself — now a perfectly legal action.

"Between some governors and a few legislators — (outgoing officeholders) have some real dough when they are finished," Bell said. One House leader has more than $330,000 in campaign cash, while a Senate leader has around $130,000 in campaign funds.

Bell's bill will list a range of options where legislators closing out their campaign funds could spend the money — give it to the state, or any political party or PAC, or to any nonprofit entity and so on. Just so long as they didn't give it to themselves.

Allen said it has become common practice over the past 10 years for some legislators seeking leadership posts to raise large campaign accounts and make large donations from those accounts to fellow party members — clearly with the intent of getting those legislators to vote for them for leadership.

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