Capitol watchers and workers in for change

Utah legislators will hold their first official interim day in their new digs next week.

As the state Capitol undergoes a three-year, $200 million retrofitting, executive offices have been moved to a new office building east of the plaza behind the Capitol, while legislative offices and chambers were moved to a building just west of the plaza.

And with the move comes new restrictions on public and media interaction with legislators.

Access to public officials these days, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is cloaked in security.

And legislative leaders and the building bosses who work for them have, over the past year or so, used security and the smaller office space of the temporary legislative headquarters as a reason for a number of changes that will mark — not for the best, I believe — how the public interacts with and learns about legislators and their actions.

Some changes really can't be helped.

Others can, or could have been, avoided, but were changed on purpose to limit public and media access to legislators.

Some examples of each:

Can't be helped: Lobbyists and trade associations will no longer have the large, beautiful rotunda in which to entertain lawmakers. Likewise, in the new building there is no large open area for groups to protest or hold rallies indoors during the general session.

As more time-pressure is put on lawmakers, and as the media and others have become more critical of freebies taken by legislators from lobbyists, more and more often groups who want to host a lunch for legislators did so in the rotunda. Legislators could drop in for a few minutes and grab a bite, lobbyists had access to bend a few ears, and it was done relatively in the open and on the cheap — no $90 Jazz tickets or $150 meals at the New Yorker here.

But now there's no place for such a large gathering. And legislative employees are guessing that come the 2005 Legislature there will be more such functions down at local hotels — more expensive for the lobbyists, more difficult to attend for the legislators, with the byproduct being that the minglings will be out of the eye of media reporters and Capitol Hill watchers/workers.

Can be helped: It's understood that all legislators, at times, don't like to be bugged by pesky reporters, lobbyists and citizens as they walk around the Capitol. In the old building, legislators had to come out of private areas to get to hearing rooms and elevators.

The new legislative office, however, has private elevators for lawmakers. They can come from secure underground parking, up to their chambers and up to their fourth floor staff offices without having to meet the public.