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It's common for politicians to blame the media for their troubles. It happened in dramatic fashion last Thursday during a committee meeting on Utah's Capitol Hill.
The issue: ethics reform!
A group of lawmakers again shot down legislation designed to bring greater ethical accountability to those elected to represent the people. Senator Howard Stephenson of Draper, who is also a registered lobbyist, took direct aim at the media for creating what he called "the appearance of graft and corruption" among lawmakers.
In KSL's view, though, the desire to see meaningful ethics reform enacted is not driven by the media as much as by the shenanigans Americans are seeing at every level of government.
Indeed, it's the people who elect their legislators, not the reporters who cover the legislature that are pushing for more accountability among politicians.
The lone Senator on the committee who voted for ethics reform, Greg Bell of Fruit Heights, asked a couple of relevant questions: "If gifts don't matter, if we gain nothing, why are we unwilling to disclose it, and if lobbyists gain nothing by these expenditures, then why do they do it?"
The bottom line is somebody is getting something and the public deserves to know who and what and why? And journalists have a responsibility to report it.
