Demos offer ethics plans

Even Democrats can't agree on how to fix the legislative ethics process.

Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, introduced SR4 Thursday, a resolution that would create an ethics committee of sitting senators from both parties to confidentially investigate complaints filed against senators.

Their findings would become public only if guilt is found, Davis said, to protect the innocence of the accused. "A rush to judgment in this process hurts innocent people," he said.

But Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, is drafting his own version of what the ethics committee should look like. McCoy said his ethics investigation panel would be made up of retired judges and lawmakers, appointed by the governor.

They, too, would meet behind closed doors, but would release their findings even if a complaint is found to be without merit. "With something as sensitive as these complaints, what's the point of everyone knowing every detail every step of the way," McCoy said.

Both Davis and McCoy did agree that anyone, not just senators, would be allowed to submit complaints — and able to make them public.

Senate Minority Leader Pat Jones, D-Holladay, said her personal preference would be to hold ethics committee hearings in public, not in secret. "I think this should be made public once there's merit," Jones said, suggesting the accusations stay private unless an investigatory panel determines they're worth pursing.

She had hoped to introduce legislation that would create yet another type of ethics committee along with an independent redistricting committee but said she was told by the majority party it would never be considered.

Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, is putting together his own ethics investigation bill that he has said would set up an independent panel to investigate complaints, as are Republicans and Democrats in the House.

The interest comes after a contentious ethics committee hearing in the House last year that cleared Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, of allegations he offered a fellow lawmaker campaign contributions if she were willing to shift her position on school vouchers.

The hearings were conducted in secret, with only the results made public until recently, when tapes of the committee's deliberations were released. The ethics committee refused to take up a complaint filed by Hughes against Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Millcreek, claiming Riesen leaked the complaint filed against Hughes to the news media.

Riesen has introduced HB93, which would establish a state ethics commission that would be required to hold its meetings in public. His bill is sitting in the House Rules Committee.

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