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Legislator's conflict bares lax ethics rules

This editorial is just the tip of the iceberg at the legislature. Many legislators don't need pay raises, they enhance their income through their conflicts of interest.

A legislature who is a lawyer for developers aids their projects by getting funding for adjacent infrastructure projects. A legislator who is a contractor building private schools is a leader in the fight for vouchers. Oh, and pity the poor city, county or agency that doesn't comply with the legislator's whim or pet projects -- project priorities and funding get changed, your county's ability to effect zoning is changed, your city's form of government is forced to change, or where you thought you were voting your tax dollars to go is changed.

I believe that the root cause is incumbency. It appears that being in any elected office more than two terms makes a person think that they somehow endowed with more wisdom and knowledge than the average voter. And they think that the average voter is not smart enough to see the conflict and do something about it. They then use their ability to steer the ship of government to directly benefit their self interest.

Any one who usses electicity could be costrued to have a conflict of interest.

Somehow it's never a conflict of interest when state and local government employees are elected to the Legislature, right Davis? Only private sector employees have a conflict of interest, right?

So, when employees of school districts and universities (or their spouses) are elected to the Legislature, they get to vote on budgets and tax issues without having a conflict of interest. Nice deal.

I agree that this is a conflict. Rep. Tilton should have disclosed his new (possible) conflict immediately and let his colleagues decide. Instead it comes off looking like he was trying to hide things. He probably would have had to give up his committee position but in the end he would have looked much better and retained his good name.

This editorial is headed in the right direction.

Rep Tilton should step down from that committee. I have read that he has a silent partner in this. If that is true then that bothers me even more. It suggests that he is a front man. I have also read that it will cost up to $100million to get the license. If that is even twice the real cost, it means that Rep Tilton will need a silent parnter. I don't like that part at all! If he refuses to disclose his private partnerships I agree that he should simply resign from the legislature.

As for all of the conflicts of interest. I was told by a State Senator that the history is pretty recent. I guess in the mid-1980's two state employees were elected to the House of Representatives, as Republicans. For the 100 years prior to this it was never allowed. A vote was held and the legislature agreed to let employees of state government to vote on their own pay raise. Sine this line was crossed it has grown out of control.

I think it should be tightened up significantly. I am a conservative Republican.

Conflicts of interest are not inherently evil or bad. They just have to be disclosed immediately and fully. If it's appropriate to abstain from voting on a certain issue, then abstain. They happen all the time, just moral people choose to act appropriately instead of hiding them.

Now, in terms of the recommendation that voters get rid of Tilton, good luck trying to get Utah County to elect decent legislators.

Come on Utah citizens. GET INVOLVED. If you were watching a movie of this scenerio unraveling before your eyes on a screen, you couldnt help but know it's not only conflict or interest, but a typical political money machine. If you havent visited with the "local" folks of Kanab and heard there opinion, I suggest you do so and see who is to benefit from this unfortunate display of smoke and mirrors.

If the role of news is to educate and inform, perhaps all utah Newspapers need to explain the concept of Conflict of Interest so that the simpletons in the legislature literally born and bread on "the end justifies the means" can somehow grasp the concept of "divided loyalties". But is that asking for our LDS cultured legislators to "change their spots"? I think so. Gentile numbers are growing. Hopefully so will ethics in government and understanding of basic precepts of integrity also grow as non mormons replace the ethically challenged.

I'm not so fast to condemn people who dedicate so much time to the political process. It's easy to shoot arrows than to receive them. I expect there's not a legislator who doesn't have conflicts of interest. This situation with Representatives Tilton and Noel is one that needs to be addressed by Legislative leadership. They are the ones with the power to make committee assignments and should make sure to protect both the legislators and the public from situations where conflicts of interest may arise. However, we also need to think about the benefit of having folks with expertise on committees. For example, doesn't it make sense for a committee addressing agricultural issues to have farmers on it even though their decisions certainly benefit their businesses?