Most Utahns in favor of ethics-laws reforms

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said other states that banned all gifts found it caused unexpected problems, such as not allowing a lawmaker to eat at a dinner where he was the guest speaker. He said he personally would instead favor disclosure of gifts, and allow voters to judge whether gifts accepted are appropriate.

Other concerns have been raised about campaign funds raised by legislators, which come mostly from special interests. Of the $827,000 that legislators raised in such funds last year (a non-election year,) the Morning News reported that about a third was converted to personal uses.

That included paying for new clothes, dry cleaning, car repairs, high-occupancy vehicle lane passes, passports, baby-sitting, travel, Utah Jazz games, wedding or birth gifts, parking tickets, concealed weapons classes, repaying tens of thousands of dollars in earlier personal campaign loans or even paying themselves for regular wages lost during the general session.

Of those surveyed, 76 percent said conversion of campaign funds to personal use should be banned, and 20 percent said it should be permissible only if fully disclosed.

Valentine said he favors banning conversion of campaign money for personal use. He said that is one area in which some reform is possible in coming years. But he said his Republican caucus is currently split on the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said, for example, that he does not consider paying back old campaign loans as a personal use of money, although it was counted as such in Morning News figures. Working out definitions of personal use could be problematic, he said.

Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, ran a bill this year to limit use of campaign accounts to just political spending only or uses related to public offices. But it died in committee after a tie vote.

The Morning News also reported this month that one of every four bills introduced in the current Legislature creates an apparent conflict of interest for sponsors.

That is not too surprising since Utah's 104 lawmakers work only part time in the Legislature, but full time as lawyers, teachers, dentists, Realtors, developers and at other jobs. Many push bills in their areas of expertise. While that can take advantage of their knowledge, it also can benefit their professions or businesses.

Utah law now requires lawmakers to vote whenever they are present, even if they have a conflict of interest on a bill. Bramble abandoned work on a bill to allow legislators to vote "present" if they had conflicts, with approval of a body's top three officers. He said it was difficult to write "bright line" distinctions defining conflicts of interest.

Valentine said abstentions could create problems if lawmakers wanted to sidestep difficult votes on volatile issues such as immigration. He said a business owner might claim a conflict because the bill affects immigrant workers. "Others could make the same claim and pretty soon we may not have many people left to vote on the bill," Valentine said.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com