Reader comments
Utah's sorry campaign law

Let anyone donate anything they want. Has to be published and public data the day it is done. If the candidate does not publish it within 24 hours they are dropped from the political race or office.

What is wrong with people buying politicians? Let them do it openly instead of sneaking abound like they have to do now.

The knowledge of instant removal from a race or office for failing to disclose campaign donations would have them reporting quickly.

Amen to both the DN and Mahonri.

I agree completely. Remove limits on donations. I don't even see the benefit in limiting how politicians or retiring politicians spend their campaign money. If donors want to give knowing the recipient is free to spend the money on personal items, so be it.

All we need is FULL, timely, and easy to read disclosure. And I like the idea of identifying the employer of donors. If 10,000 government employees are supporting a candidate, that tells me something, just it does if large numbers of donors are employed by one private company or another.

I don't much care what "gifts" or niceties are offered or accepted either. If someone wants to take a politician to a Jazz game, fine. Just report the full value of ticket.

I might set a threshold of $5.00 for incidental items (no splitting of costs to get below the limit) like school kids placing an apple on legislators' desks, or someone handing out pencils with a logo on them. But otherwise, just report it. If they are not ashamed to take it, they should not have any problem reporting it.

It's even worse. Candidates for county and municipal races, and PACs that contribute to them, are completely exempt from Utah's disclosure law. Yeah, some municipalities have their own disclosure ordinances, but these tend to be even weaker than the state law.

In the recent Ogden municipal election, two city council candidates (Blain Johnson and Royal Eccles) set up a PAC to launder about $18,000 in anonymous contributions. Voters have absolutely no way of finding out where that money came from.