Salt Lake Tribune: Legislative Leadership is Bought and Sold on the Hill

Contributions from one legislator to another are not illegal under current Utah law... the law needs changing.

Enlightening guest commentary in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune, wherein former Utah legislator and current Utahns for Ethical Government Chairman Kim Burningham spills the beans about the grubby Utah legislative leadership selection system, wherein Utah legislative leadership positions are sold to the highest bidder, via a sleazy, lobbyist-financed payoff racket worthy of a Baghdad street bazaar:

• Legislative leadership is bought and sold on the Hill

This morning's SLTrib article has a bad link to the Lieutenant Governor's Campaign Finance Disclosure site, so we'll provide here a working link, for those readers who'd like to dig in and prowl around:

• Lieutenant Governor's Office Disclosures

For a representative example of what you'll find there, here's House Speaker David Clark's most recent disclosure form, which is mentioned in Mr. Burningham's article:

• David Clark - 2010 primary

We believe that Mr. Burningham hits the nail squarely on the head with this:

Where lobbyists supply money, and leaders use that money to increase influence, much power is transferred to a few leaders and the lobbyists who influence them. [...]
Contributions from one legislator to another cited above are not illegal under current Utah law. The law needs changing. The safest approach would be to prohibit such exchanges of money. The Utahns for Ethical Government initiative petition does precisely that. If would-be leaders want to help their friends, they should do so from their own wallets, not somebody else’s.

One more reason to sign the UEG petition, folks! (Scroll down the page to find a petition location within your own county.)