No end to lobbyists' gifts?

In 2007, Lockhart spent $1,600 on Jazz tickets for legislators, his report shows. That's down substantially from other years. In 2001, Lockhart took 37 different legislators to Jazz games, some to more than one game, at a cost of more than $11,000. That was more than one-third of the entire Legislature.

Lockhart and Daniel Francisco, a Boise-based Micron public relations official, declined to answer Morning News questions about the firm's Utah legislative entertaining unless the newspaper submitted written questions. Morning News editors, after more than a month of trying to interview Lockhart, decided not to set a precedent of giving written questions to politicians and/or lobbyists for such stories. So Lockhart, who is both, was not interviewed for this story

The actions attributed to Lockhart do not break any Utah lobbyist reporting laws but would be yet another example of lobbyists working around current restrictions to avoid reporting gift-taking legislators' names.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who has accepted priced tickets from Lockhart before but said he knew nothing of suite passes or nonprofit tickets, said he continues to argue for "100 percent disclosure" of gifts to legislators within the current rules.

"Let the (voters) know who is taking what," Valentine said. "The (media) reports that this (legislator) is taking $1,200 in Jazz tickets — and some ask: Is he still doing his (legislative) job? That is a fair analysis. And then (voters) can decide if they want to send (legislators) back" in re-election, Valentine added.

Bramble, who also said he doesn't know of any funny business with Micron tickets, said he doesn't believe lobbyists who provide gifts have any undue influence on legislators. He said lobbyists also don't get special access to him, since he personally meets with anyone who has an interest in legislative actions.

The Provo legislator also blames the media for stirring the gift-giving pot year after year. He said Colorado has gone to a no-gift policy, but the local media still take out after legislators' character. And now Colorado lawmakers can't accept "even a plane ticket" to attend an event that may be critical to doing an adequate legislative job.

Top gift-givers

The newspaper analysis also shows which lobbyists and which groups give the most gifts to lawmakers and other state officials.

For gifts to lawmakers by organizations that could be clearly identified, the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce reported giving the most, $16,339. That expense was part of the $100,000 cost (Salt Lake County gave $25,000) lobbyists and businesses spent on hosting a legislative tour of the county last August.