Gone from the 2001 Utah Legislature will be Rep. Jordan Tanner, the long-time advocate of government ethics and campaign finance reform.

Who will pick up the reform banner?

House and Senate Democrats ran in 2000 on a 19-point plan of government reform. But how successful they will be in the 45-day session that starts Jan. 15 is questionable.

House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, says he wants to work behind the scenes to reach consensus on some issues long festering in the part-time, 104-member body.

But to do that he needs the help of the new GOP leadership in the Senate, even the new Senate Democratic leadership.

None of that is assured.

Tanner, R-Provo, is retiring this year. For a decade, year after year, he'd introduce one, two, three or more bills that had to do with reform: Lowering or prohibiting legislative gift-taking; limiting campaign contributions or sources; stopping lawmakers from becoming paid, registered lobbyists for a time after leaving office; and so on.

Almost all of Tanner's bills failed.

It became a joke, after awhile. A number of House members would stand up in floor debate, denounce Tanner's bills, say they couldn't be bought by a meal or Jazz ticket — and then the bills would (most often) narrowly pass, with even some of those denouncing them voting aye, and go to the Senate.

There, GOP leaders would say the bills would be taken up. But the bills would sit on the Senate daily calendar or in a committee and never move — dying when the session ended.

Tanner (who for being a retired State Department official was not the most diplomatic of representatives) would challenge his colleagues from the floor and in the media to act; to do the right thing. But in recent years many just ignored him.

Now a new crop of bills will likely surface in the 2001 session.

But Stephens and others warn if the reform issues become partisan — if Democrats bash Republicans — the bills will likely fail.

Stephens himself supports banning all gifts to lawmakers. But even that step, which seems obvious, could be tough.

This week I attended a Jazz home game with tickets I purchased myself. Down the aisle next to me walked a new member of Senate leadership with his wife; down to seats on row two or three behind the visiting team's basket.

These seats are in the $80 apiece range, and the lawmaker told me later they did come from a firm that has business before the Legislature. The current lobbying law says any gift of more than $50 must be reported by the lobbyist on his financial report along with the lawmaker's name.

But lobbyists, being smart people, have found a way around that requirement. Some — but not all — lobbyists are splitting the cost of a Jazz ticket, meal or other expensive gift among themselves, and then just reporting their less-than-$50-share on their reports, with no lawmaker's name attached. The best I can tell, upwards of $15,000 in Jazz tickets went out to lawmakers in 1999, the last full year of lobbyist reporting.

And bills to ban gifts, or lower the amount of gifts accepted, even to stop such gift-splitting costs, have all failed in the Legislature.

So, you tell me, what are the chances of those reform bills passing in 2001?

And in the upcoming session we will likely see former Utah House Speaker Mel Brown becoming a registered lobbyist; maybe even former House Rules Committee Chairwoman Susan Koehn becoming a lobbyist.

They would join former speakers Craig Moody and Rob Bishop and 30 other former lawmakers who are now part-time or full-time lobbyists.

And Sen. Mike Dmitrich, the new Senate minority leader, tells me he's retired from his long-time coal company job and is looking for clients as a "government consultant." While Dmitrich, D-Price, says he won't be a registered lobbyist at the Utah Legislature, he may still have close business connections to groups with interests in the 2001 session.

So, what are the chances we'll see any action on a "revolving door" bill that would limit when a former lawmaker could become a paid lobbyist?

View Comments

The conflicts abound when we start dealing with how legislators themselves are controlled, what they can take, who they can talk to, how they must act.

But you never know. With eight new GOP senators and a crop of new House members perhaps not wedded to anti-reform ideas, and House GOP and Democratic leaders saying strides should be made on government reform matters in the 2001 session, something could just happen.

Or the bills may die in committee or pass the House and sit on the Senate calendar. Sit and die, as the ghost of Jordan Tanner Past looks on.


Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com

Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.