"There are things you can control and things you can't control," said Last, a member of House GOP leadership. "If it was one House member alleging against another, you could control when it goes public."

But Senate Minority Whip Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake, said that internal ethics rules "can't take away anyone's right of free speech." In other words, if a legislator made a complaint against another member and then talked to the media about it against legislative rules, how could he be punished for that?

Romero hinted at the defense of Sen. Chris Buttars, R-South Jordan, last session, when Buttars' critical comments about homosexuals were defended as his exercise of free speech.

And, Romero said, it is completely appropriate for a legislator to make public his ethical concerns about a fellow officeholder right before an election so the public can have that information to make an informed choice at the ballot box. "If we have information that is meritorious, we should be able to bring that forward" no matter the election timing.

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