Common Cause's Musci said it's hard to explain why legislators continually refuse to change how they conduct their own activities when year after year so many Utahns want reforms.

"It's a complicated answer. Part of it is that power corrupts — not that these people are lawbreakers. They aren't. But controlling power is the underlying theme" in resistance to change, he said.

"There's also the sense that something is owed them."

The part-time legislators have little pay, and perks of office are one way of justifying the sacrifices they make. Undervaluing a public official's work is always a dangerous thing, said Musci, as recent scandals in local government have shown.

"Finally, they don't want to change a system that nurtured them into office, nurtured them while in office," he said.

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Contributing: Wendy Leonard

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com