Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Peter Corroon tried to tap into public resentment over a lack of legislative ethics rules Monday as he outlined his proposals for the state in an effort to gain some political ground on Republican Gov. Gary Herbert.
The popular Salt Lake County mayor is widely seen as the Democrats' best chance in 30 years to win the governor's race. But recent polls show Corroon trailing by more than 20 percentage points.
Republican lawmakers who control the Legislature have repeatedly killed ethics-related legislation, saying it was wrong to infer that legislators were somehow behaving badly and needed to be reined in.
"We've heard a lot of talk about ethics reform over the years, and it has been just that -- talk," Corroon said.
But this year, there's growing momentum for that to change. House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, highlighted a package of ethics bills in his opening remarks Monday. On Tuesday, Herbert will talk about ethics in his State of the State address and highlight some new policies, spokeswoman Angie Welling said.
"It's something he knows the people of Utah are interested in, and they want to see ethics reform," she said.
GOP leaders have said they'll pass ethics legislation this year, including some of the same restrictions Corroon is seeking.
Corroon outlined five proposals Monday that he says Herbert should put into law. They include banning lobbyist gifts, capping campaign contributions and eliminating the personal use of campaign funds.
Utah is one of a handful of states that place no limits on campaign contributions and allow that money to be spent on whatever a candidate or office holder wants.
Corroon also wants to require legislators to wait two years before being allowed to become registered lobbyists, and to create an independent ethics commission to police legislative behavior.
But some of his proposals lacked specifics. For instance, Corroon didn't provide a detailed plan for who would sit on the ethics commission or exactly what its powers would be.
Also, while Corroon proposed barring companies who contract with the state from donating to political campaigns, it was unclear what would keep a company from promising a campaign contribution if lawmakers awarded them a contract.
Corroon suggested companies would be allowed to donate to a campaign six months after a contract was issued.
He also failed to specify what would be considered personal use of campaign funds, saying each candidate would have to decide that for themselves.
"It should be fairly obvious what is a campaign expense and what is not," he said. "I don't have a list off the top of my head, but I can certainly come up with one."
Herbert, who has received campaign contributions as high as $50,000, has said he favors rapidly disclosing campaign contributions to capping them.
Herbert believes having unlimited campaign contributions allows less affluent people to run for office. But he has not said he would veto a bill that includes contribution limits.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
