In the midst of the debate of SB102 and HB101, the Utah bill that would regulate gifts to lawmakers, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, attacked the news media for making lawmakers look bad. The bill was defeated. The measure would have lowered the dollar threshold for lobbyists to report gifts to legislators.
“We are giving an irresponsible media more fodder to demonize the Legislature,” he said. “We are giving them too much fodder to destroy us.”
The media consistently paints lawmakers, he said, “as crooks on the take.”
Stephenson, the only sitting legislator who is also a registered lobbyist, said, “The problem is ethics in the media, not ethics in the Legislature. . . . We have a media that is about making money.”
No one wants to run for the Legislature because of the yellow-journalism media, causing a direct “threat to representative democracy,” said Stephenson, who is president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, one of the most active lobbyists groups on Capitol Hill. (The UTA itself doesn’t spend money entertaining legislators.)
The media are “like a swarm of killer bees,” said Stephenson, “using snide innuendo and invective to attack their prey.”
A Deseret News headline in today’s Utah Legislature section reads Legislators say gifts make up for sacrifices
In explaining the sacrifice made to serve in the Legislature, [Darin Peterson, R-Nephi]Peterson choked up with tears as he said he missed the smell of his beautiful wife’s hair and the companionship of his six children as he had to spend 45 days away from them during the general session.
45 days, making around $18,000 (including stipends).
Candidates for the House and Senate offices know well what the duites are for being elected to office. By creating this big fuss over “sacrifices” and extra “gifts”, these lawmakers are telling us that it’s not enough that they perform their duty as a service to their constituents and the citizens of this state. Lawmakers like Stephenson and Peterson insist that the “sacrifices” they make warrant receiving gifts.
I, for one, did not vote for my legislators to receive gifts on top of what they already received. I voted for them to perform the duties expected of them to represent the citizens of their districts, knowing that my tax dollars are funding their salaries for 45 days of work (and beyond if warranted).
If teachers (like me) were to begin receiving gifts above their salaries that tax dollars pay, I wonder if our lawmakers would deem that “o.k.”?
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 