Riesen case dies in ethics committee

To the clear displeasure of some of its GOP members, the Utah House Ethics Committee, on a partisan vote, stalemated Wednesday morning on whether to proceed with a hearing on possible disciplinary action against Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake.

It takes a majority vote to move into the secret testimony phase of any ethics complaint, and the eight-member committee split 4-4 on whether to even hear testimony that Riesen violated ethics rules by leaking an ethics complaint against Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, to KSL-TV half a day before it was formally filed earlier this month.

The four Democrats voted not to proceed with secret testimony; the four Republicans voted to go forward.

The complaint against him was filed "absolutely in retribution," said Riesen after the vote. "I did nothing unethical, glad the committee so voted."

Hughes, contacted by the Deseret News, said he would not file a new complaint against Riesen, even though some Republicans on the committee hinted he could refile by claiming a violation of state law. "I'm disappointed the Democrats won't even hear this case," said Hughes.

"To anyone who believes my complaint is frivolous, or not with merit, I say I allege the same violations of legislative conduct as were applied to me — and the committee should certainly hear it," Hughes added. "But I need to get back to my constituents, back to campaigning, and I won't file another complaint."

After a week of secret testimony on six charges against Hughes, the committee found Hughes innocent of all counts last Friday night — although there were 4-4 partisan split votes on a few of the counts against Hughes. And all committee members signed a letter saying Hughes did act inappropriately in some instances, but his actions did not rise to the level of a formal ethics violation. Hughes should apologize to some people who felt they were intimidated by Hughes, the committee suggested.

After a weekend of serious consideration on the Riesen matter, committee member Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, said, "I just can't find any factual violation" in Riesen's actions as alleged in the complaint against him. In other words, even if Riesen did everything in the complaint that Hughes filed against him, it doesn't violate any House ethics rules.

Some of the allegations against Riesen made by Hughes "are so outlandish I find it hard to take them seriously," said Litvack.