Utah law benefits lavish donor

When Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wanted lawmakers meeting in special session last month to adopt a new law targeting stock trading abuse, few considered it urgent, and Wall Street officials say the law will hurt publicly traded Utah firms.

But Patrick Byrne wanted it. And the CEO of Overstock.com, a Utah-based online retailer of excess inventories, gave $75,000 to Huntsman's 2004 gubernatorial campaign — by far the most that any individual gave him.

Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower said Huntsman did speak briefly with Byrne in a telephone call on the subject during the 2006 Legislature, but not since. And Scott Blevins, spokesman for Byrne, insists the big donations did not grease enactment but rather "the importance of the issue alone got lawmakers' attention."

But many bills that failed in the 2006 general session didn't get the special treatment of going on the May 13 special session agenda.

Mower said the bill "was not placed on the (special session) call for any one business. It is disingenuous to give that as an example" on how the special session agenda was set by the governor.

"We also put $2 million for Medicaid dental on the call, and we got no donations" for the campaign on that issue, said Mower. "You would be hard pressed to find one instance where the governor has acted on behalf of any special interest. It's his practice to weigh what is in the best interest of the state, make a decision and move forward."

Byrne is not only the top individual donor to Huntsman, he even gave more than the Huntsman Corp. (which provided $63,634), or any of the governor's family members. (Brother David gave the most from the clan, $40,000.)

Byrne is the state's largest individual political donor, having given at least $676,500 since 2003, a study by the Deseret Morning News last month showed. He is the state's fourth largest donor to Republicans, and the state's fifth largest donor to Democrats. His father, Jack, is the state's third largest political contributor, tipping the donation scales at $510,800.

Taking no chances

Under the Utah Constitution, only the governor can call a special legislative session, and he alone decides the session's agenda.

While the stock trading abuse bill that passed in a May 13 special session, sponsored by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Orem, had barely failed the last day of the regular 2006 Legislature, many bills died the final night of the general session and were not placed on the special session's call by Huntsman.

That bill was headed for passage the last night of the 2006 Legislature, Mower said. "It was like third on the House (bill list) board when time ran out; and had passed the Senate" unanimously, he noted.