| Salt Lake City |
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| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
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| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
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| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
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6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
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| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
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| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
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| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
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| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
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| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Leaders say yes to free tickets
By Jerry D. Spangler and Bob Bernick Jr.
Deseret News staff writers
HEBER CITY — Roughly 60 state lawmakers and 390 of their family members on Wednesday boarded the historic Heber Valley Railroad for a day of Olympic fun at the biathlon competition at Soldier Hollow.
But for many, the Olympic gravy train started shortly after opening ceremonies.
Many Utah lawmakers admit, some sheepishly, they have accepted Olympic tickets purchased by lobbyists for corporations like Utah Power, Blue Cross and the Utah Association of Realtors. And others plan to attend future events.
"I don't have a problem with it," said Sen. Leonard Blackham, R-Moroni, who accepted tickets to Monday night's pairs figure skating from Utah Power. Blackham did not know how much the tickets to the coveted event cost. (Lobbyists for the above three entities provided around $8,000 in gifts to lawmakers last year, records show.)
However, tickets still available to the public were going for between $300 and $400 each. "They were pretty good seats," Blackham said. "Not the best, but pretty good."
The pricey Olympic gift giving comes amid increasing pressure to tighten Utah laws regulating ethical conduct by lawmakers, including the acceptance of free gifts from lobbyists.
House Majority Whip David Ure, R-Kamas, whose district includes Park City, said he hasn't accepted free tickets, at least not yet, but he might before the Games are over.
"It's tempting, real tempting," added Sen. Bill Wright, R-Elberta.
Many lawmakers were skittish about talking with the media about the free tickets they had been offered, and some, like Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Sandy, refused to even say who had offered the tickets.
Others made no apologies, excuses or denials. "I have been offered and I have accepted" tickets to men's figure skating and ice hockey, said Senate Majority Whip John Valentine, R-Orem. Utah Power also picked up the tab for Valentine's tickets.
Speaker of the House Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said no one has even offered tickets to him. "But yes, it is happening," he said.
Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt isn't paying for any events. Leavitt, who also sits on the executive board of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, has a pass that gets him into any event, any time. He attended biathlon events Wednesday with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and various European royalty.
For many, if not most, of Utah's 104 lawmakers, Wednesday's excursion to Soldier Hollow will be their one and only Olympic experience.
Sen. Beverly Evans, R-Altamont, and Rep. Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt, organized the event, which included a ride on the Heber train to a depot near the Solder Hollow biathlon venue, a sleigh ride from the depot to the venue itself, general admission tickets to biathlon and, after the competition was over, a ticket to a barbecue and Wild West show at Wasatch High School.
And they all got a free felt cowboy hat, "the official cowboy hat of Soldier Hollow."
"We paid for all our own tickets," insisted Evans.
But the $75 they paid is well under the $114 per ticket that John Q. Public would pay for the same experience.
The $39 difference — or $17,550 total — is being picked up by the local Chamber of Commerce, Midway city and Heber City.
"We negotiated it so we would pay cost," said Evans. "We are paying what the cost of the meal is, what the cost of the hat is, not the profit they built in."
The package deal, Evans added, was designed to give lawmakers and their families an Olympic experience at an affordable price. Without the package, many would probably not have gone to any event without lobbyists picking up the tab, something many are loath to do, she added.
"I had a chance (to accept free Olympic tickets), but I'm not going to go to anything I'm not paying for," she said.
Accepting free Olympic tickets or tickets to anything else is perfectly legal under Utah law, but lobbyists must disclose gifts of more than $50. Some lobbyists have found creative ways, such as splitting the cost of gifts among several lobbyists to come under the $50 limit, to avoid reporting to whom they give tickets or other gifts.
Lawmakers have repeatedly failed to close that loophole or impose bans on gifts to lawmakers, and they have been criticized by the media and citizen groups for weak lobbyist disclosure laws.
When approached by the Deseret News at the Heber train depot, lawmakers appeared sensitive about the issue of free Olympic tickets, and almost every one noted they purchased the Soldier Hollow package for $75.
"Make sure you put in your story everyone paid for their own tickets," Ure insisted.
Or at least 63 percent of it.
E-mail: spang@desnews.com; bbjr@desnews.com
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February 14, 2002
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