From Deseret News archives:

Lobbying loophole lets some avoid list

Lawmakers pay enough to keep gifts under $50

Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:46 a.m. MST
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About a dozen legislators went on the early March trip, two lobbyists said. "There were a few new" legislators attending, but mostly it was the same group of "legislators who like to golf," said one lobbyist who has attended for several years.

New lobbyist financial disclosure reports were due Monday night. And it may take a day or so for all the reports to trickle in and totals of gift-giving to be made.

Once again, it appears that the University of Utah provided the most to legislators and other government officials — just over $10,000. That total includes almost $7,000 in basketball tickets and meals to lawmakers and their spouses, no single gift exceeding the $50 limit.

The U. also gave away seven sets of Fiesta Bowl tickets, but none went to legislators.

A difference in lobbyist gift-giving in the 2005 Legislature appears to be closure of the Capitol itself. Over the past 15 years, various groups held receptions in the Capitol rotunda at lunch or dinner time.

But there is no large space to hold such gatherings in the temporary House and Senate facilities in the new west office building on Capitol Hill, and the Capitol is closed for four years for remodeling.

Some groups, it appears, had to spend more money to host receptions in downtown hotels, providing vans or other transportation for legislators from Capitol Hill.

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Rural lawmakers, for example, were treated to six breakfasts, each costing $102, courtesy of Michael Peterson of the Utah Rural Electric Association. The powerful Utah Education Association's lobbying tab, though, hit just $59.66, for a lunch, breakfast and reception, while the Utah Public Employees Association came up with almost 10 times that amount, $573.21 for meals, candy and pens.

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a contributor to a number of legislative campaigns, said it spent no money to lobby lawmakers, despite a controversial bill that would have banned smoking in private clubs. That bill failed to win legislative approval.

John T. Nielsen, who lobbied against a bill that initially threatened to tax Intermountain Health Care, bought dinner for 155 legislators and their family members at the Hale Center Theater in mid-February at a cost of nearly $2,000.

The Deseret Morning News reported spending $3,375 to supply lawmakers with 150 copies of the newspaper daily throughout the session.

And even though freshman Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said during his election campaign that his top executives and staff would not be accepting gifts, some apparently have. Currently, the governor's office does not have a policy on accepting gifts, Huntsman's spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi said.

"It wasn't an issue this session," Kikuchi said. "We are reviewing the possibility of a policy."

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