As I was putting together my most recent “Status of Bills to Watch” post, I noticed something rather interesting – ethics bills that have not moved since the start of the session suddenly had been resurrected from a quite and undignified death only to…not…move. So why bother? Simple: it is an election ploy. Let us [...]
Archive for the ‘ethics and corruption’ Category
The Status of the Various Ethics Bills
This past Thursday I was spending my time up on the hill doing a little bit of lobbying for the Young Democrats. While up there we sat in on the House Democrats caucus meeting and delivered a letter to the governor urging him to veto S.B. 16. While there we also lobbied for ethics in [...]
Bills to Watch: H.B. 159 – Ethics Provisions – S. Allen
So, remember a while ago when I was talking about Representative Phil Riesen’s ethics law and how it needs to pass? Well I have come across what I feel is an even better law concerning ethics and our legislature. As proposed by Sheryl Allen (R – Bountiful, District 19), H.B. 159 not only establishes an [...]
Bills to Watch: H.B. 268 – Legislator Reporting of Gifts and Other Items – M. Wheatley
So this is the thrid gift bill I have discussed on my blog, and the principal reason I keep bringing these things up is to show that there are some legislators out there who are trying to address this issue. H.B. 268 by Representative Wheatley (D – Murray, District 35) is uniquie in that it [...]
Bills to Watch: H.B. 103 –Revolving Door Limitations for Public Officials to Become Lobbyists – C. Spackman Moss
H.B. 103: long title, simple concept. As proposed by Representative Carol Spackman-Moss (D- Holladay, District 37), H.B. 103 is designed to force a sort of “cooling off” period between the time one is in office and when they are able to lobby on behalf of a particular cause. As it stands today, any elected official [...]
Bills to Watch: H.B. 84 – Campaign Financing and Gift Regulation – S. Mascaro
Having run or been involved with numerous state races, I can tell you that the system currently in place is woefully lacking in regards to actual disclosure. Furthermore, having interned on the hill, I can also tell you that lobbyists love taking legislators out to lunch or give them nice little perks. It is for [...]
Bills to watch: H.B. 93 – Establishment of State Ethics Commission – P. Riesen
So usually I start these posts with some silly, dumb, or insightful comment. I am going to start it with these simple words: this bill needs to pass, and it probably will not make it to the floor of the House. H.B. 93 by Representative Phil Riesen (D – Milcreek, District 36) is a very [...]
All’s well that ends well…right?
Many of you may have seen this bumper sticker floating around your city: So this leads me to the question, how low will gas go once Bush leaves the White House on January 20th? The national average right now is around $1.72 and dropping fast, at the current rate of reduction at $1.44 less per [...]
Political Corruption, Part II – Phil Riesen
The Deseret News reported yesterday that Representative Phil Riesen has been accused by Representative Greg Hughes of ethics violations. Hughes alleges that Riesen unethically leaked the possible ethics complaint to the media and using outside attorneys to draft ethics documents without listing them as in-kind contributions on his financial disclosure statements. Before I continue, allow [...]
