From Deseret News archives:
Ethics complaints could tear Utah House apart
Cooler heads may prevail — but as of this week there are hard feelings, political retribution, and some public careers may end this November because of the infighting.
The latest: Both House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, could face separate House Ethics Committee investigations this summer.
If three House members — the number it takes to file an ethics complaint — decide to take action against one of them, most likely an opposing group of three will file a separate complaint against the other. And the bloodletting may not stop there.
The Utah Legislature, both House and Senate, has in the past been loath to take any ethics actions against one of its own.
Lawmakers would say that's because they don't have any ethics problems — so no complaints are filed.
The reality is much different.
In the old-boy club of the 104-member, part-time Legislature, it is "you leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone."
What's going on now is almost unprecedented.
Lawmakers can take any "intangible" gift from any paid lobbyist. If the gift is valued at more than $50 a day, the accepting legislator is supposed to have his name listed in the lobbyists' report. But being smart people, lobbyists have found all kinds of ways of getting around that naming requirement — from paying a portion of an expensive gift to get the lobbyist's share under $50 to many other kinds of dealings.
Lawmakers can raise campaign cash from anyone, in any amount, and spend it on anything, including just giving it to themselves. This has led to all kinds of things — like paying for car repairs, donations to their churches, clothing purchases, buying gasoline to drive around their districts and so on.
And nearly every incumbent legislator raises most of his campaign cash from special-interest groups — some getting 100 percent of their campaign cash from groups or individuals that want something from the Legislature. And some lawmakers hire family members to help them in their campaigns — so they are in reality paying family members with lobbyists' money.
