New locale urged for convention: church center

Some Utah lawmakers want to host the National Conference of State Legislatures closer to Temple Square rather than at the state Capitol.

GOP leaders of a bipartisan legislative committee charged with putting on the convention in July have asked the LDS Church if they can hold an opening reception in the church's Conference Center.

The new locale would solve two concerns:

First, "it would be obvious" that the Utah legislative hosts couldn't serve alcohol in a building owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says Sen. Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, Senate co-chairman of the NCSL host committee. The church teaches abstinence from alcohol.

Second, the guests at the Conference Center reception could "just walk across the street" to Temple Square to hear a special performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the Tabernacle — the site the church has offered for the concert, which would be only for the 6,000 visiting lawmakers. So transportation costs could be saved.

"Nothing is decided, we're just looking at options," stresses Knudson.

But what Knudson doesn't say is that if no alcohol is served at the opening reception, Utah legislators don't have to worry about some visiting lawmakers perhaps having too much beer or wine at the social and then teetering onto Temple Square tipsy. The committee had already decided not to serve mixed drinks at the event to avoid the possibility of problems on Temple Square.

The issue of being good hosts and being sensitive to locals has dogged the committee for months. A majority of the Legislature are members of the LDS Church.

But the latest proposal isn't being couched in those terms.

"Alcohol is not the driving factor here" in picking the Conference Center, said House Majority Leader Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, House co-chairman of the hosting committee. "It is ease of moving people around; we could have inside and outside seating at the center, all-around advantages."

But Rep. Ty McCartney, D-Salt Lake, also a NCSL planning committee member, says it's important to serve alcohol at all official social events at the four-day conference, which is expected to bring more than $7 million into Utah's economy.

"People are coming to Utah with a bias you can't get a drink. Now if it turns out at the opening social for this large event that you really can't drink, I think it will start the convention on a very unfriendly note," he said.