So the guy sent in a note; the senator didn't come out for half an hour, and when he did a bunch of lobbyists glommed onto him as he tried to walk to his visitor in the hallway. It took the senator 20 minutes to work his way to the constituent, then the bell went off for a floor vote, and he said he had to get back in to vote.

"I was disgusted," the man recalls. "I'd wasted an hour of my time" and hadn't gotten to adequately make his case to his legislator.

Out of session, he probably could have sat in the legislator's front room and talked to him for an hour some evening. He couldn't even get a minute in a crowded hallway during the general session, however.

An aside to this incident is that if the fellow had been a big contributor to the legislator's campaign, he probably would have gotten the time. One former Senate president once said that he returned the telephone calls of people that he knew, before working his way down a list of unknowns. And if the caller had given him a contribution, he probably would have remembered his name and called him back.

In any case, one can see why more and more businesses, groups and even individuals are turning to expensive professional lobbyists to carry their cases before the Legislature — it's just too confusing and intimidating for an everyday citizen to go up there, fight the hoards, and in some cases, suffer the indignity, in seeking redress from your government.

The new world of electronic communication provides some interesting opportunities for legislative communication. E-mails, unfortunately, have already become cumbersome. So many "group" e-mails are sent to legislators (a mass mailing, if you will, to all 104), that legislators see them as meaningless. Few read them, I'm told.

You can't telephone into the desks of legislators — the numbers are closely kept secrets, most citizens not having access to them. And the new House Chambers are underground, and few cell phones work there.

Accordingly, says Sen. Lyle Hillyard, co-chair of the Legislative Process Committee, which is looking into ways to make lawmakers more accessible, complaints are being heard about how citizens and lobbyists just can't get to legislators to talk about their concerns.

If you think access is difficult now, wait until legislators move back into the newly remodeled Capitol for the 2008 Legislature. Tunnels will connect the soon-to-be House and Senate office buildings with the Capitol; all legislators will get their own private offices, most of which will be in areas closed to the public (unless you are individually invited back).

Private elevators will whisk legislators from private parking areas up to their offices and chambers.

It may be a hassle walking out into crowded hallways talking to paid lobbyists, newspaper reporters and regular citizens. Maybe new technology can help out.

But there does need to be some new thinking about how regular citizens can learn who their legislators are and find easy and friendly ways to talk to them.

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Deseret Morning News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com