Governor undecided on creation of ethics panel

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. says he will wait until after the 2009 Legislature — and his review of what lawmakers do about their own ethics — before he decides whether to form an independent state ethics panel to study such concerns, raised this year by unhappy voters in legislative elections.

A Deseret News review of bills being drafted by the 104 legislators shows that at least 28 bills on ethics and campaigning are being drafted by 19 separate lawmakers — and those are only the public bills. Several legislators say they are drafting "protected" bills on ethics that are not public.

In addition, the new House GOP leaders have promised that ethics reform will come out of the 2009 Legislature, which convenes next month.

Huntsman, in Philadelphia attending a meeting of the National Governors Association, said Tuesday that while he originally planned to form an ethics study group between the Nov. 4 election and January's general session, after talking with the new House speaker, Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, he has decided "to see how comprehensive the legislation is (that comes out of the general session), what it covers, and (then) see what more might need to be done, really in the name of enhancing democracy."

Huntsman's decision to give the Legislature a shot at ethics reform first comes after Clark, on the evening he was elected speaker last month, told reporters that legislative ethics should be a matter of the Legislature itself, considering that the legislative and executive are separate branches of government.

Huntsman said he wants to see what lawmakers do on "overriding" broad political problems that some say are driving down voter participation.

"Why aren't more people voting? Why are they apathetic?" asked Huntsman, who last month won the largest majority victory (78 percent) in Utah history for a statewide office.

"Personally, I think it has to do with campaign finance rules, or lack thereof; ethics; redistricting; the convention process" — where in heavily Republican or Democratic areas, the nominees picked in party conventions are almost automatically elected to office.

Huntsman said if he's not satisfied by lawmakers' actions, then he will consider a commission "to take a good, thorough look at these issues."

The new emphasis on legislative ethics comes after a rough 2008 election season for legislators. That included three different ethics investigations in the Utah House, which produced three different votes for innocence but did not resolve lingering issues.

For one, there were bad feelings generated between House Democrats and GOP moderates and House conservatives. And one investigation may still go before a state grand jury.