Ethics reform badly needed

The year's first-quarter lobbyist expense report, made public last week, is further evidence of the need for reform in Utah.

The list of Jazz tickets, theater tickets and expensive meals, among other things, is further evidence that money buys too much influence in a state that supposedly values a part-time citizen Legislature because it keeps lawmakers close to the people who elect them. But the reporting itself is so incomplete that it, too, begs for reform.

Ideally, we would like to see lawmakers ban the acceptance of all gifts from lobbyists. Naturally, politicians will continue to receive campaign donations from interests who hope to buy influence or who merely want to help a like-minded leader. But there is something unseemly about the stark exchange of things of value for immediate face-time with a public servant whose votes can affect that person, business or interest.

Barring that, however, lawmakers should at least remove the $50 threshold on reporting. As it is now, lobbyists are required to report only those expenditures on lawmakers that exceed that amount. Some lobbyists have found clever ways to split costs so that no single client is listed as spending more than $49.99 at any one time. That practice is insulting to the public.

We also would like to see a more user-friendly report of disclosure forms on the state's Web site, www.elections.utah

.gov. To the average voter, this site is difficult to peruse in any meaningful way. The public ought to be able to search the reports by lawmaker, rather than by lobbyist. The theory behind the public reporting of such gifts is that is allows voters to see which groups or individuals are influencing which politicians. That helps those voters make intelligent choices at the ballot box. Now, however, voters have to piece together information from a long list of lobbyists.

Some of these reforms have been presented again and again during recent legislative sessions, with little chance of passage. We applaud those sponsors who keep introducing such bills. Until Utah voters make ethics an Election Day issue, however, real changes aren't likely to happen.