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There's a new development regarding the alleged ethics violations on Utah's Capitol Hill. Last week a group of lawmakers filed an ethics complaint that included allegations that a representative was offered thousands of dollars in campaign money to change her vote on school vouchers. Then another complaint was filed against the representative who leaked the complaint to the media. And now there's another action in the case.
The latest action is called a request for dismissal. It was filed electronically Saturday night. Basically, Rep. Phil Riesen and his attorneys are trying to bring the focus back to the actions of Rep. Greg Hughes, whose lawyer told us tonight that this latest tactic is not going to work.
Patrick Shea, the attorney for Riesen, said, "What he's trying to do in my judgment is muddy the water so much that nobody will understand how unethical his behavior was."
Shea is referring to the ethics complaint filed by Hughes against Riesen for allegedly leaking documents to KSL. Shea is one of the attorneys representing Riesen as he moves forward with his fight on ethics reform.
"The complaint against me is nothing more than an attempted sideshow," Riesen said.
The back-and-forth began last week when a group of lawmakers delivered a 16-page ethics complaint to house Speaker Greg Curtis. In a list of alleged ethical violations, the complaint claims that in 2006 Hughes twice offered former GOP Rep. Susan Lawrence $50,000 in campaign money to switch positions and vote for school vouchers.
Hughes denies the allegations. On Wednesday he said, "At no point did I ask her or infer that she should change her vote specifically for filthy lucre, for a certain amount of money, or that she should go against her conscience or anything like that."
Now Riesen and his attorneys argue the complaint Hughes filed against Riesen, "fails to allege facts that constitute a violation of the Legislature's Code of Official Conduct or any other rule of law." In their request for dismissal filed last night, Riesen's attorneys also claim that since the original ethics complaint was made public, there have been attempts to persuade those filing the complaints to retract their statements.
Sunday the chair of the ethics committee said he will take a look at the request for dismissal Monday. They will meet regarding the complaints on Wednesday.
The attorney for Hughes late Sunday evening told KSL he has not seen the request for dismissal yet, but he's sure his client will be 100 percent vindicated.
E-mail: wjohnson@ksl.com
