Herbert gives up his S.L. condo

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert said Monday he'll make the long drive home to Orem every night now that questions have been raised about an arrangement he had to use a luxury condo in Salt Lake City.

"It was a place to crash," Herbert said of the condo, located in The President's Club development at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. "It didn't cost taxpayers one dime. It was a good thing to make me more efficient and more effective at my job."

The lieutenant governor said he spent only four or five nights a month there, usually when he had worked late and had an early meeting the following day. The condo was offered to him by a friend of a friend while it was on the market, he said.

The arrangement became public after the Governor's Special Initiatives Offices filed a disclosure statement on Sept. 15 that listed a contribution of $1,750 in monthly rent for the condo from January through August.

Herbert, who said the condo has been sold, won't be accepting any similar offers in the future.

"If it's going to cause somebody to think something inappropriate going on, then I just don't want to do that," he said. "It's not worth it."

Plus, Herbert said, construction delays on I-15 that stretched his commute to an hour or more each way have eased.

"I'm counting the days until the construction in Utah County is finished," he said.

It was the combination of that construction and the start of the annual legislative session shortly after the new administration took office in January that made the offer so attractive, Herbert said.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. understood the condo was used only as a "temporary fix," the lieutenant governor said. Huntsman's spokeswoman, Tammy Kikuchi, said if anyone in the administration made a similar request now, "the answer would be no."

Both Kikuchi and Herbert questioned the value of the contribution as listed by the governor's political action committee, since the condo was not used on a regular basis. The contribution totaled $14,000.

Herbert said the condo's owner, Preston Miller, did not benefit from the arrangement. He said the condo, which he described as furnished with just a couch, bed, dresser, television and bar stools, was also used by others in recent months.

Salt Lake County assessor records show the condo is valued at $278,000.

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