Salt Lake City Weekly: Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation

Sodden Question: "Is there anyone out there in WCF Readerland who's the least bit surprised about this suspiciously odoriferous political scenario?"

Property even four miles away from the prison will see a huge upswing in value if the prison is relocated and replaced with a major commercial development. That does raise concerns that Niederhauser would be too closely tied to the prison relocation plan.

Buzz Welch, Director, U. of U. Ivory Boyer Real Estate Center
Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation
February 28, 2013

I haven’t even thought about how the prison might affect us, because prison relocation is so far down the road. We’ll be done and won’t own any property in that area by the time that happens

Wayne Niederhauser, Utah Senate President
Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation
February 28, 2013

We'll dirct our readers' attention to potential blockbuster Utah legislative conflict of interest story simmering on the Utah news front-burner this morning, as City Weekly carries a 2/28/13 story reporting that Utah State Senate President Wayne Niederhauser (R-Sandy) possibly stands to reap a substantial financial windfall if the state legislature ultimately decides to move the Utah State Prison, a prospect that's been floating around in the public forefront for the entirety of the 2013 legislative session. CW Reporter Eric Peterson's lead paragraphs provide the gist:

A bill passed favorably out of committee Wednesday to create a special board to consider the economic worth of relocating the Utah State Prison in Draper and developing the land underneath it. The bill would allow Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, to assign three senate members to that group, which raises ethical concerns, considering that Niederhauser operates a holding company that owns more than 30 acres of undeveloped property near the prison that could increase considerably in value if the board decides to move the prison. [Emphasis added.]

Get the full lowdown here, O Weber County Forum Legislative wonks:

•  Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation

"Under Senator Scott Jenkins’ SB72, Niederhauser won’t be able to stay away from his duty in appointing senators to the Prison Land Management Authority. Niederhauser says that, unfortunately, he can’t get around his own conflict of interest but says such things are unavoidable in a citizen-run Legislature," yesterday's SL Weekly story further reports.

Astonishingly, faced with an arguably blatant conflict of interest in this matter, Niederhauser nevertheless seems entirely unwilling to recuse himself from his prospective Prison Land Management Authority board member appointment role; and here's another eye-popping Niederhauser quote: 

“I don’t make a living being a legislator, and I don’t think the people want me to make a living being a legislator and, consequently, all of us have conflicts of interest and we try to deal with them the best way possible, by [merely] declaring all of our conflicts,” Niederhauser says.

Niederhauser evidently thinks it his overriding, unavoidable duty to act, you see, O Gentle Readers, despite his admittedly conflicted position. Thus, in our "blessed" Utah legislature, "duty to stack an legislative expolaratory committee" apparently trumps "scrupulous avoidance of the appearance of impropriety."

Complicating the narrative, City Weekly further reveals that Niederhouser's own "business partner lobbied" SB72's Senator Jenkins "for the relocation," even though Niederhauser claims, with a completely straight face, that he hadn't "even thought about how the prison might affect [he and his real estate development partner]." Jenkins, of course just goes right along with  the Senate President (with an equally straight face, we guess) and says that he didn't know "nuttin' from nuttin'" about Niederhuser's property interest prior to drafting his pending bill.

Adding further grist to the discussion mill, at least one other Utah blogger has also latched onto this story, and suggests that it's not just Niederhauser, but also Jenkins himself, who may sit in the conflict of interest hot-seat with respect to this convoluted legislative transaction:

• Bill sponsor and senate president could both profit from prison relocation

We'll be keeping a close on this story as developments continue to play out; but in the meantime we'll ask the sodden question:

"Is there anyone out there in WCF Readerland who's the least bit surprised about this suspiciously odoriferous political scenario?"

Whatever you do, don't let the cat get your tongues.