Despite this morning's news that the the Lt. Governor's office now considers the matter moot, the bribery beef swirling around the recently resolved GOP State Treasurer primary election race is apparently far from dead. This morning's Salt Lake Tribune reports the matter will now be investigated as a possible ethics violation by the state legislature. We incorporate Cathy McKitrick's opening paragraphs below:
An ethics complaint, signed by five state lawmakers and filed Wednesday on Capitol Hill, calls for an investigation into one of their own - outgoing Rep. Mark Walker, R-Sandy.To characterise such an action by the legislature as "unusual" would be a gross understatement. According to this morning's Tribune story, Utah Legislators haven't taken a member of their own body to task on an alleged ethics violation for at least ten years:
Republican Reps. Sheryl Allen, of Bountiful; and Steve Mascaro, of West Jordan, joined Democratic Reps. Neil Hansen, of Ogden; Roz McGee, of Salt Lake City; and Phil Riesen, of Holladay, to ask that the House Ethics Committee probe recent bribery allegations against Walker.
"They're empowered by the state Constitution to look into the character of its members and determine if there's cause to expel a member," said attorney Alan Smith, who has teamed with David Irvine to bring the charges forward.
It takes the request of at least three lawmakers to initiate a legislative ethics investigation. The last such charge was a decade ago, when then-House Speaker Mel Brown was accused of improperly discussing a job prospect with a lobbyist.Grab a bag of popcorn and pull up your barca-loungers, gentle readers. We haven't gotten this much pure entertainment from the State Treasurer's Office since... Forever.
Brown was cleared of wrongdoing by the panel of his peers.
4 comments:
Ah, Utah under Republican rule. The Lt. Gov. says he cannot investigate a charge that one candidate for treasurer offered a big raise to his opponent if he'd pull out of the race because the very fact of his investigating might affect the election. Now the Lt.Gov. says he can't investigate the matter because the election is over.
That's some catch, that Catch-22.
When will the people of Utah realize that when you give one party absolute power that it will and I say it will corrupts absolutely. I hope that this will bring on more of the things that I have watch go one in the state house some twenty or so years that I have been involved in the state business. Get after it democrats and lets really shed some light on the matters at hand.
Forgive me for saying it again, but..
Yeeeeeeeaaah right.
Whatever happened to that investigation and audit of Godfrey's swindling the American Can property? Nothin. Hansen is lik
I have pretty much impervious respect for Neil Hansen.. anyone who can get up and go to work each day knowing that he's one of just a handful of people in the state capital bldg who doesn't drag his knuckles along the floor.. anyone who continues to ceaselessly shout common sense despite those words being heard as easily as if they were cast into the (metaphorical) howl of a Wyoming snowstorm.. deserves major kudos, IMHO.
Sorry.. don't know what I did, but I managed to cut off that one sentence, "Hansen is lik.."
I was trying to say "Hansen is likely to have his efforts annulled by our ever-brilliant legislature yet again."
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