Rep Roz McGee: Is it time for a legislative ethics advosory commission?

The Utah Legislature is proposing a mechanism to evaluate the performance of judges, and, most important, on how to present solid information to voters for judicial retention elections.

I serve on the Judicial Retention Election Task Force, which will be recommending creation of an independent commission. The commission would use responsible, nonpolitical processes for evaluating the performance of judges. It is my belief that public confidence in government is fostered by such scrutiny and reporting.

Perhaps legislators should take a similar approach for legislators.

During the past decade, efforts to expand ethical safeguards (examples include campaign finance reform or an election commission) have met with resistance. A Salt Lake Tribune editorial and lobbyists have added fuel to a "fire of discontent," and a conflagration could come at any moment if we don't soon act on ethics reform. It is better for us to be prepared than to act only in a crisis.

An example might be last month's Utah State Board of Regents' internal review of former Utah College of Applied Technology President Robert Brems and then of Mountainland Applied Technology College President Clay Christensen, which raised serious ethical questions. One of the findings questioned actions by some legislative leaders.

Some may view revisiting this reported indiscretion, which may or may not have been undertaken by "two unnamed state senators," as a red herring. Instead, this offers us an opportunity to quell public mistrust by finding ways in which citizens can work together with officials to keep us on the up and up instead of allowing this cloud to continue to hang over our members.

The Utah Constitution limits the establishment of an independent enforcement commission. Only members of the Legislature have the authority and the responsibility to oversee and hold to account fellow members. Establishment of an ethics advisory board or commission, however, could provide comforting transparency to our constituents and could certainly pass constitutional muster.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, such commissions exist in some form in 39 states and have jurisdiction over the legislative branch in 33. Most commissions are composed of citizens or public officials appointed by the governor or other leaders. Twenty-four states forbid public officials from serving on ethics commissions.

Currently, an official investigation of a Utah state legislator can only be initiated when a minimum of three members from that legislative body request it. These complaints have been few and far between, as there are understandable challenges to policing our own colleagues.
Perhaps we legislators have opened ourselves up to mistrust by not finding a way for the public to help review possible ethics breaches.

Instead of taking umbrage at the suggestion of such an independent board or commission, we as legislators might take comfort by involving members of the public, ethics experts and others in this opportunity for mutual education and dialogue in the arena of ethics.

An understanding of the positive role of interest groups as advocates for the public should also be a part of the discussion.

I believe that the public and legislators alike would be well served by becoming partners in ethics reform.

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* REP. ROZ MCGEE represents House District 28, Salt Lake City, in the Utah Legislature.