Business as usual gets us nowhere in ethics reform

Former Salt Lake City Commissioner Jim Barker had it right — if you want to kill a good idea, appoint a commission; it will never see the light of day, or if it does, you will never recognize it. Ethics reform is one of those types of ideas.

As Utah state legislators continue agonizing over ethics reform, I keep thinking about Jim's sage comments and wonder, how could good people not do the right thing? As individuals, you cannot question their interest in conducting business ethically; it's just when they get together that they seem to lose sight of doing things right.

Three years ago, a Dan Jones poll found 85 percent of Utahns wanted ethics reform in the Legislature. Numerous legislative committees have studied the matter and they are still struggling to figure out how to "do" ethics reform and trying to decide if it's a noun or a verb. They keep talking about changes here and there, though at times it seems they are more concerned about placating the public than making the tough choices.

That same year, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. formed the Governor's Commission on Strengthening Utah's Democracy (www.strengthendemocracy.org). It was supposed to examine campaign financing and lobbying laws, and recommend ways to restore public trust in government. One usually expects commissions to act independently in order to bring a sense of trust to their findings. However, this commission had many of the usual suspects, including lobbyists. Unfortunately, with the passing of Larry Miller, whom the governor appointed as chair of the commission, and the governor's departure, the commission seemed to founder.

The new chairman decided to work out a compromise with legislative leaders on one critical part of the commission's mandate — the review of campaign financing laws. He seemed to figure that half a loaf was better than none. While some on the commission wanted contributions to a legislator's campaign funds limited similarly to those Utahns for Ethical Government wants — $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per PAC in any two-year election cycle — the chairman compromised and agreed on $10,000 over a two-year cycle or $20,000 for a gubernatorial race (www.utahnsforethicalgovernment.org).

In doing so, he not only gave away the "key to the bank," but also lost whatever confidence the public had regarding independent commissions, this one in particular. Needless to say, some legislative leaders are now only too happy to take the deal and cash in on it. They are now eager to push a bill with that large threshold. The governor's commission ended up giving legislators the cover they needed to do business as usual; this was best expressed by Senate President Michael Waddoups, who said those limits were so high it "really is not a big thing."