A $10 gift threshold?

More than $140,000 was spent last year by lobbyists entertaining Utah's part-time Legislature and other state executives, year-end reports show.

But the public doesn't know who got most of the meals, entertainment tickets and rounds of golf because state law says the 550 or so registered lobbyists only have to name who gets the gratuity if the gift costs more than $50.

And more than a few lobbyists have become wonderful shoppers — spending just under $50 a day on items provided to the state public officials they seek to influence.

Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, has a bill filed for the 2005 Legislature, which convenes Monday, that would drop that naming threshold to $10. Similar attempts at greater disclosure — or outright bans on lawmakers taking lobbyists' gifts — have failed in recent years.

But Bell says that after the scandals suffered by top Salt Lake County officials last year, "the public wants more disclosure" in local and state government. With incoming Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. talking about ethical reform in government, "it's time to take this step forward," Bell said.

"I'd like to overhaul the whole (public official reporting) system," said Bell, a former Farmington city mayor. "But you have to start somewhere."

The feeling among lawmakers, said Bell, is since they aren't crooks, why make public service any harder? "But that belief is not in sync with the public — I'm being told that we shouldn't be taking any gifts" from lobbyists and others who want to influence state policy.

Bell says he does not at this time want to ban all gifts to lawmakers, a move suggested, and killed, before. But by lowering the naming threshold to a $10 gift, "at least we'll know who is taking them."

Indeed, anyone who pores through the hundreds of lobbyists reports will find few names of lawmakers and other top state executives listed, because the gift was less than $50.

Some highlights of the reports:

• Former state senator Blaze Wharton, now a lobbyist in the Tetris Group, is the king of careful spending. Wharton spent $4,608 entertaining legislators last year, but not once did he spend more than $50 on an individual in a day. His report has no names. Most of Wharton's expenses went to meals, several costing $49.39, 61 cents short of having to name the well-fed legislator.

• As has been the case in recent years, the University of Utah leads the gift-giving pack. Reports show the U. spent $16,553.24 on legislators, U. trustees, Board of Regent members, state executives and other public officials.