Utah Legislature: Ethics hearing fails to reduce heat

SALT LAKE CITY — In a small Capitol hearing room Monday, there was a taste of what a November battle over legislative ethics may look like.

Some GOP legislative leaders could hardly contain their disdain for backers of the Utahns for Ethical Government citizen initiative.

And UEG supporters passed out a tough point-by-point comparison between how their independent ethics commission would work and how SJR3, a bipartisan independent ethics commission set up by lawmakers themselves, is woefully inadequate.

"Just answer the question, yes or no," barked House Majority Whip Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, to Dixie Huefner, communications director of UEG.

Huefner answered Dee's question by explaining her remarks, not with just "yes" or "no."

House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, wondered out loud if the UEG backers just plain disliked legislators.

On the other hand, UEG's 26-point comparison between its initiative — now out gathering voter signatures — and what legislative Republicans and Democrats are proposing puts lawmakers' work in poor light, the document complete with frowny faces and "no provision" stamps with a strike-through.

SJR3 by Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, and two companion bills passed the House Ethics Committee with unanimous votes. The ethics work in both the House and Senate has been some of the most bipartisan efforts in recent years.

And, as even UEG supporters said, lawmakers' efforts this year are producing the most far-reaching ethics reform in state history.

Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake, complimented UEG's initiative efforts, saying without them legislators wouldn't have "moved significantly" on ethics this session.

Still, Kim Burningham, UEG chairman, said lawmakers' work falls well short of what really needs to be done.

First, it is just wrong, said Burningham, a former GOP House member, for lawmakers to adopt a constitutional amendment setting up its own ethics commission and passing SJR3, which sets up the rules for such a commission. That's because both actions would pre-empt UEG's initiative, and thus keep citizens themselves from having any real say in setting ethical standards for legislators.

Second, SJR3 doesn't deal at all with lawmakers' code of ethics, as the UEG initiative does. And without a standard for ethical conduct, setting up a process to judge that conduct is meaningless, said Burningham.