Lobbyists gave $125,000 to legislators

Lobbyists bestowed gifts of food, Utah Jazz tickets, clothes, plays, concerts, travel and other bounty amounting to $1,200 per Utah legislator during the first quarter this year — when the Legislature held its annual 45-day general session.

Lobbyists reported providing just over $125,000 total worth of gift items to the 104 legislators that quarter, according to Deseret News analysis of lobbyist disclosure forms filed last week.

The analysis shows which lobbyists and industries gave the most, what gifts were most popular, and which legislators took the most. However, who received exactly what is, as usual, still largely a mystery.

Because of loopholes in Utah law, lobbyists did not disclose by name who received about 89 cents worth of every dollar they spent on gifts. That is because lobbyists must name recipients only when they spend more than $50 a day on a specific lawmaker.

Often, gifts will cost just under that amount. For example, at least eight lobbyists reported spending a few cents less than $50 on dinners with individual unnamed legislators, and some of them did it many times. Also in the past, lawmakers sometimes have agreed to pay part of the cost of the gift to keep under the name-disclosure requirement.

Allowing lobbyists to give gifts to Utah lawmakers has sparked debate for years about whether they are buying extra influence or access with their money — which most lawmakers and lobbyists deny.

But Karen Crompton, head of Voice for Utah Children, a nonprofit group that cannot afford to wine and dine lawmakers, says, "It makes a difference of whether you have two minutes to talk (with a lawmaker) in the hallway or an hour and a half at lunch."

She adds, "Obviously, the more time you are able to spend with a legislator, the more time they have to get to know you and to build a relationship — and the more time to talk about an issue. That can make a difference," she said.

But Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo — who took the most in identifiable lobbyist gifts of any lawmaker at $1,447, largely because of a Delta Air Lines-paid trip to Atlanta — said lawmakers do not favor those who give gifts.

For example, he told about a lobbyist-paid trip a year ago for some lawmakers to tour a privatized state mental hospital in Florida, but Utah lawmakers decided against similar privatization in Utah. "A legislator going on a fact-finding trip doesn't always result in what the lobbyist was hoping for or expecting," he said. He adds he is willing to talk to anyone, and his door is open to all citizens.