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A hearing to follow up on an ethics complaint at the state Capitol ended before it even began. Rep. Mark Walker resigned his House seat just hours before the ethics probe was to begin. That stopped the hearing into a possible bribery case.
The question is whether anything improper happened during the recent primary race for state treasurer. All along, Walker has said nothing did. Today, an appeal for answers at the Legislature fell flat on its face.
Mark Walker's resignation stopped the House Ethics Committee hearing short. No witness testimony. No questions or answers for those concerned about a possible breach in ethics.
Rep. Phil Riesen and four other legislators signed an ethics complaint against Walker. They allege an improper pre-election offer from Walker to Richard Ellis. A legislative attorney says the committee doesn't have the power to pursue the complaint now that Walker has quit.
"Rep. Walker said for himself publicly that he wanted a thorough investigation to prove himself innocent. That's what we were trying to accomplish, and obviously that won't get done now," Riesen said.
The ethics complaint says Walker offered a big salary boost to Ellis to drop out of the race. It also alleges that another, unnamed member of the Utah House implied treasurer's office budget could be "adjusted" to make the raise happen.
Attorney David Irvine says the hearing would have exposed that person's identity. "It is clearly a move that has been coordinated with House leadership, and an effort has been made, in chess terms, to sacrifice a pawn to save the king. That's all that this is about."
In his resignation letter, Walker cited pressure on his family over the ethics probe, writing, "I find myself in the crossfire of a political battle that seems to have an intensity completely unrelated to me or anything that I have done. "
But one of the lawmakers who signed the ethics complaint, Rep. Steve Mascaro says he's felt consequences from the case in another way. Allegations of a sexual harassment case broke last week, a tip Riesen says was leaked to the news media in retaliation.
Co-chair of the ethics committee, LaWanna Shurtliff, says she isn't surprised, based on what she's seen in her final years in office.
"I do think we've seen some things happen in the last couple of years that are not really ethical as far as some of the bills that are passed and that," she said.
From here, it will be up to independent investigations by the Davis and Weber county attorneys to determine if, in fact, something unethical or illegal occurred.
Ellis beat Walker with 59 percent of the vote in the Republican primary last month. Although the campaign was over, the investigation was just beginning.
Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert forwarded a complaint to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who appointed the Davis and Weber county attorneys to investigate whether the state's bribery laws were violated. Shurtleff had endorsed Walker in the treasurer's race.
Ellis said he was surprised to learn that his former opponent had resigned.
"I guess they made the decision they needed to make," Ellis said.
The Utah Republican Party will pick a successor to be approved by Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman for the remainder of Walker's term.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
