WinterSports2002.com - Lawmakers showered with lobbyists' gifts

WinterSports2002.com, Wednesday, April 03, 2002

Lawmakers showered with lobbyists' gifts

SLOC is at the top of the list by giving $92,270

By Jerry Spangler
Deseret News staff writer

From free baseball caps to Utah Jazz tickets, lobbyists showered Utah lawmakers with $172,077 in gifts during the 2002 legislative session — an average of $1,654 per lawmaker.

At the top of the gift-giving list was the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, which gave $92,270 in free Olympic tickets, despite a promise before the Games it would not give free tickets to lawmakers.

A change of heart occurred the day before closing ceremonies when SLOC was left with 7,900 unsold tickets it then gave to lawmakers, volunteers and others. SLOC indicated the unsold inventory had no face value and therefore it did not have to report the gifts.

But that approach — reported Feb. 26 by the Deseret News after lawmakers took the free tickets — has put SLOC in hot water with the state elections office and Lt. Gov. Olene Walker, who fired off a letter March 7 informing SLOC it was "required to disclose these expenditures, even though all lobbyist registrations were canceled in December."

SLOC complied with the request, but not fully, because they did not indicate which lawmakers accepted the free tickets, as is required by law, said Amy Naccarato, director of the state elections office.

That prompted a March 20 letter from Walker demanding SLOC amend its lobbyist report to disclose the names of each public official and the official's immediate family who attended Olympic events.

The elections office is still waiting for the amended report, and Naccarato said another letter will be mailed if SLOC does not comply.

SLOC gave 100 tickets to the social arm of the Utah House and Senate for distribution to lawmakers who wanted to use them.

It then gave tickets to Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies and an Olympic cultural event.

"We gave the tickets because they helped bring the Games here to Utah — they gave us their support, and we wanted to show them our appreciation," SLOC chief financial officer Fraser Bullock said at the time.

SLOC spokeswoman Caroline Shaw said because the tickets were unsold inventory, they had no value. "Rather than have those seats go empty, we gave them to people," she told the Deseret News in February.

According to lobbyist disclosures, SLOC gave the Legislature 100 closing ceremony tickets valued at $885 each, 24 Paralympic opening ceremony tickets at $100 each, 11 Paralympic closing ceremony tickets at $50 each and 82 tickets to the Chihuly Exhibit, part of the Cultural Olympiad, at $10 each.

Utah Power also reported giving lawmakers free Olympic tickets.

Not reported to elections officials were discounted tickets that lawmakers purchased to attend events at Soldier Hollow, a sleigh ride and trip aboard the Heber Creeper, a cowboy hat and tickets to a dinner and musical show at Wasatch High School.

The $114 package deal was sold to lawmakers for $75, the difference being picked up by the local Chamber of Commerce, Midway City and Heber City.

If SLOC fails to comply with state reporting laws, the state could impose fines.

But Naccarato said the situation is unique.

SLOC gave the money not to specific lawmakers, but to the social arms of both houses — called the Third House — that distributed the tickets.

In other instances where gifts have been made to the Third House, the value to individual lawmakers typically has been less than $50 and therefore the identity of the individual recipients was not required.

"That is not the case this time," Naccarato said, while adding it is up to SLOC to contact the Third House and find out who accepted the tickets and then file a report with that information.

E-MAIL: spang@desnews.com