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Let’s get personal for a moment. Here are two names we want to call to your attention: Parley Hellewell and Bill Hickman. Both men are Republican Utah State Senators who serve on the Senate’s Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee.
So what, you say! Well, here’s what. Because Senators Hellewell and Hickman voted “no” in a recent committee meeting, a reasonable effort to enact a degree of ethics reform this year likely won’t see the light of day. You see, another senator introduced a bill to require lobbyists to let you, the public, know of any gift or freebie in excess of ten dollars given to a legislator. As it now stands, for example, we hardly know who benefited from the $150,000 spent by lobbyists last year on our lawmakers. We’re all a bit curious about who is wined and dined, and where, and by whom, and how that might influence the public’s business. It’s the kind of thing, you, the public, have repeatedly, in a variety of public opinion polls, said you wanted.
So, yes, to get a bit personal, KSL singles out Senator Parley Hellewell and Senator Bill Hickman because we thought you’d like to know who the most recent stumbling blocks were to some of the legislative ethics reform you’ve been looking for.
