From Deseret News archives:

Officer escorts Hughes away from Capitol after argument

Published: Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 12:42 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Rep. Greg Hughes was escorted away from the Capitol this week after getting in an argument with the House speaker's chief of staff, according to a Utah Highway Patrol incident report.

Hughes, R-Draper, told the Highway Patrol he wanted to confront some House members about some political issues, but chief of staff Chris Bleak apparently didn't want him to and tried to keep Hughes from entering the building on Tuesday.

The incident report says the two men were yelling, poking each other in the chest and pushing each other in an underground parking lot. No charges were filed.

When an officer escorted Hughes, a former boxer, to his car, he overheard Hughes tell Bleak that the issue was not over.

Bleak told officers he and Hughes were not fighting and that he was just trying to get Hughes off of Capitol Hill.

"There was no physical confrontation or animosity. There was no anger between he and I," Bleak told The Associated Press Thursday.

A meeting was held Tuesday discussing legislative ethics in which several lawmakers were shown a complaint against Hughes that accuses him of attempted bribery of a former colleague and extortion of lobbyists.

Story continues below
Hughes told officers he was concerned about what Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake, who was one of the legislators who filed the complaint, had been saying about him and, the report said, that "things are being made up about him and his family because it is close to election time."

Hughes and two other Republicans filed their own ethics complaint against Riesen Wednesday, saying Riesen violated House rules by leaking the ethics complaint against Hughes to some members of the media before it was officially filed.

The incident report says Riesen showed up at the Capitol about the same time Hughes left the building. The report says an officer told Riesen to wait in the hallway until Hughes left, and Riesen complied.

Recent comments

Unbelievable!

I think he was escorted off so that he did not get...

Unbelievable! | Oct. 3, 2008 at 3:04 p.m.

Wonder how Hughes will vote, next time the State Law Enforcement...

Anonymous | Oct. 3, 2008 at 2:00 p.m.

Is there a way to get them ALL escorted off the hill?

start with a clean slate | Oct. 3, 2008 at 11:56 a.m.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

listen to all of you arguing.. it's the funniest thing in the world!...

My Prayers are extended to both Susan's and Josh's Families. They all must be...

House GOP won't take no-tax pledge

Anyone who raises taxes does not get my vote. Nationally when tax rates are...

I accessed this article because it was about someone in Arkansas. From what I...

Man lives in Moab cave

If everyone did it...or even 3%...they'd all starve to death from a dearth of...

Ute linebackers expect much

I am a cougar fan who says Utah has some great players including Mr....

Pacific storms dump snow on Utah

perhaps a spell check option should be automatic on your computer and frankly...

Gruden expects more out of Smith

Good luck, Alex! (Hey, I'll pull for ANY player from the state of Utah.)

Forget your tinfoil hat today?

I'm going to save this article and Mr. Gore can eat his words in 5 years....

Advertisements