Panel set to meet in ethics probes

The House Ethics Committee will meet twice next week to sort out accusations made in two complaints filed earlier this week.

The meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, both starting at 9 a.m. at the state Capitol. No agendas have been posted for the meetings.

The committee will be looking at a complaint filed by a group of legislators against Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, whom they accuse of attempting to offer a fellow legislator, former Rep. Susan Lawrence, campaign donations if she would switch her vote on school vouchers in 2006. Their accusations are backed by a letter from Lawrence, who writes that Hughes made the offer to her and repeated it by suggesting that if she did not want to change, she could at least skip the vote.

Hughes, who denies the allegations vehemently, said Friday that he is pleased the hearings are moving forward "quickly, expeditiously." But he still had issues with House rules that mandate the committee hearings be closed to the public. At the very least, he wants every legislator allowed to remain in the hearing, so they can see that the accusations are nothing but dirty politics and an "October surprise" that is intended to help unseat him in next month's election.

After all, he said, the Utah Attorney General's Office was told about these charges 18 months ago, but nothing formal was ever filed by the accusers. Now, just weeks before Election Day, they see fit to make the charges formal and, worse, public.

"All of the accusations are being made against me publicly," he said. "But the chance to vindicate myself is going to be private."

Hughes filed a separate complaint Wednesday against Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake, accusing him of leaking the Lawrence letter to KSL-TV — which Riesen admits to doing but said it broke no ethics rules — prior to it being formally filed. Riesen is one of those who signed the complaint against Hughes.

Riesen also applauded the committee for scheduling the hearings next week.

"I'm very glad to see it move this quickly," he said. "I'm especially glad to see mine (the complaint filed by Hughes) moved to Wednesday, so we can move past that one and get to the real complaint."

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com