OGDEN -- A public hearing Tuesday night at Mound Fort Middle School provided the unofficial kickoff for a petition drive one group hopes will put legislative ethics reform on the ballot in November 2010.
Utahns for Ethical Government wants to create an independent ethics commission and a code of conduct for state lawmakers. The group got a green light earlier in the day from Lt. Gov. Greg Bell, who released signature-gathering packets necessary to get the measure on the ballot.
Bell, a lawyer and former state senator, previously expressed concerns the initiative might be unconstitutional because the state grants the Legislature the authority to regulate itself.
Utahns for Ethical Government needed to hold seven public hearings to meet state requirements. Tuesday's meeting in Ogden, with approximately 25 people in attendance, was the eighth and final hearing as the group now waits for the petition papers to roll off the printing presses later this week.
UEG officials responded to questions and comments from the public, including Reps. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden, Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, and Brent Wallis, R-Ogden.
To get the initiative on the ballot, 95,000 signatures must be gathered by April from registered voters in 26 of the state's 29 Senate districts.
UEG Chairman Kim Burningham, a former Bountiful High School teacher and state legislator who now sits on the state Board of Education, made the case for an independent process.
"The place sometimes seems as though it's for sale," Burningham said of the state Legislature.
There is so much interdependence among legislators, Burningham said, it's too difficult for them to sit in judgment of their peers because of fear of political retribution.
Among other things, the initiative calls for prohibiting legislators from spending campaign funds on personal expenses, bans gifts from lobbyists and limits campaign contributions to $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per political action committee in any two-year election cycle.
Many lawmakers, including Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, have been critical of campaign contribution limits because they say it limits freedom of speech and would allow only the wealthy to run for office.
Utah is one of just a handful of states that place no limits on who can donate to a campaign or how much can be donated.
UEG lawyer Alan Smith felt that many of the issues raised by Bell were insubstantial, but "what I saw in the process was this," he said Tuesday in Ogden. "I saw a lieutenant governor who is new on the job, and he said so, who is taking his office seriously. That's something that I applaud. He's not just going to be a potted plant."
Material from the Associated Press is included in this report.
Related link: This article is a topic of discussion at Weber County Forum.
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