Lawmakers' jaunts to Taiwan raise questions

Eight of Utah's 104 part-time legislators got back this week from a trip to Taiwan paid for by the Taiwanese government.

Apparently, a select number of legislators, usually new members of leadership, usually the majority Republicans, have been taking these trips every two or three years (with their spouses) for 20 years.

Recently, the trips have been organized by former Senate President Miles "Cap" Ferry, a well-known lobbyist. Ferry, the father of current House Majority Assistant Whip Ben Ferry, R-Corinne (who went on the trip two years ago), says he himself has never been paid to take the trip — although his airfare, hotel and expenses are paid for by the Taiwanese government.

"I'm not paid to lobby for the (Taiwanese) government, that's why I've never filed" a lobbyist report showing that he does lobby for the government. Since he himself has never paid for the trips, he didn't list the lawmakers who went or the costs on his public lobbyist reports.

"In that sense, I'm like a PTA lobbyist; I volunteer my time" and so he doesn't have to list the Taiwanese government as a client and doesn't do so.

Ferry says he hasn't tried to keep the trips a secret, and he's a bit bemused that this year's trip has made headlines.

"They were never a secret. People talked about them." Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George, who went on this year's trip, "mentioned it in the House (GOP) caucus," said Ferry this week upon his return.

It has been known that some legislators have taken some pretty nice trips, both inside and outside of the country, over the years.

I've reported a number of times that a former Senate president, not Ferry, when he was the head of a national legislative organization, took a two-week fishing tour of Alaska paid for by a big oil company. He told me at the time that it was a trip of a lifetime, and he proudly displayed a large stuffed fish that he caught on the trip in his Senate office. His wife didn't want to go on the outdoor trip, so he took his then-majority leader with him.

That trip likely would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Ferry recalls that when he was Senate president, from 1979 to 1985, and the head of a national legislative group, he took trips to Israel and Australia, paid for by those governments.

Ferry doesn't know what this latest trip may have cost the Taiwanese government. But for eight lawmakers and their spouses, it was probably more than $100,000. Something like 100 lawmakers and their spouses have gone with Ferry over the years.