Reader comments
Bernick article light on research, heavy on innuendo

Curt, Curt, Curt. Are you serious?

Well, yes we are dealing with expertise here. Does that change that there is a conflict of interest?

I remember back in the good old days where legislators with conflicts like the Police chiefs would ask another legislator to run the bill for them. Legislators would swap bills around to simply put one more layer between themselves and an open conflict. Seems petty and small but it worked. Sometimes you are too close to the trees to see a forest. And another legislators just as dedicated to an issue may see it more clearly due to their lack of a conflict of interest.

That simple method is no longer done.

What Bernick should focus more on is the profiteering bills. True most bills like the Police Chiefs are not going to make someone rich. What about the legislators that push bills on charter schools, then turn around and reap larger lease or rent checks. I heard a story of one charter school that saw a legislator who sponsored a bill increasing funding to charter schools, turn around and increase the lease on that charter school to a penny the legislative increase.

Any problems there?

I couldn't agree more with the two Senators. Given the whole Tilton mess the Deseret News needs to do detailed conflict of interest investigations on every single legislator between now and the November elections. Since Bramble and Dimitrich are so concerned about quality reporting, start with them. What bills have they sponsored during the past five years? What are the names of their major clients? Voters ought to know if there is anyone else in the legislature with huge conflicts of interest. Hopefully there are not any.

You know when bipartisanship shows its face, a reporter has struck a nerve. Bernick was right on.

If the legislature wants to appear clean then don't sponsor a bill related to your work field. Simple as that.

Used to be that the legislature worked in anonymity. Not any more. The good old boys are being watched and watched closely.

Time to clean up the act or get out.

The comments so far are garbage. BBking tells of the good old days when legislators would have someone else run their bills to put a layer between them and their "interests". All that was happening was the legislator was still crafting the bill, but then would have somebody else send it through. The only difference was this way you didn't know who actually created the bill. He mistakes integrity for more secrecy. The way it works now is simply the best way possible with a legislature that has careers. BBking then proceeds to commit the same sin of Bob Bernick, by telling a story he "heard once". How about not sharing smear stories that are rumors. The idea that things would be better legislators could only run bills that weren't in there "fields" would simply exacerbate the problem of a part time legislature who don't have time to be experts in many fields. This would lead to bad legislation and more reliance on lobbyists to understand issues.

For Bramble and Dmitrich to write as though they were selfless servants of the public trust, while at the same time blocking rudimentary ethics and lobbyist reform bills, is infuriating hypocrisy.

Please folks, vote 'em both out of office at the earliest opportunity.

... fleecing the public together.

Sen. Greiner wants more criminal laws on the books to grow the budget and power of his police department.

Public choice economics explains that things other than personal compensation can act as political and bureaucratic incentives.