Utah’s 2009 legislative session opened Monday and will continue through the end of March.
Finalizing state budget cuts after Utah saw a $1 billion drop in revenue, reviewing liquor laws and gay rights bills and deciding how to make health care more affordable are all on the agenda, along with the issue of ethics reform. One bill is intended to create an ethics commission and another proposes to limit gifts from lobbyists.
Last year, there were three highly publicized instances in which legislators behaved unethically in acts of coercion, bribery and leaking information. Currently, lobbyist gifts less than $50 do not have to be reported.
Based on past behavior, it appears as though some lawmakers feel entitled to gifts from lobbyists and big business donors because of the position they hold. To be fair, last year only three out of the 104 members of the Legislature were involved in ethics violation cases that reached the media, which shows that the problem seems to lie with only a handful of politicians and not the majority. Or maybe everyone else is just better at hiding violations. Regardless, these problems should not have happened at all. The Legislature needs to reform.
We expect our legislators to vote their conscience and represent the will of their constituents. They should not be guided by lobbyists. Clear reform would include a bill that requires transparency, no gifts whatsoever and ensures unused campaign dollars go to reliable charities and humanitarian organizations within the representative’s jurisdiction.
Imagine a world, or a state, where the key focus of legislators was the establishment of laws that protect society and support programs that will create sustained economic growth, not pander to special interests. As citizens, we would hope and expect that our elected officials behave honorably, but with recent violations, that behavior needs to be outlined more clearly.
Liz Carlston