Deseret News | Day goes well for Hughes

Day goes well for Hughes

Witnesses at ethics hearing shoot down various allegations

By Bob Bernick Jr.
Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008 6:55 p.m. MDT

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State Rep. Greg Hughes had a good day Tuesday, if having to go through yet another ethics hearing can ever be "good."

Witness after witness reportedly shot down various allegations against Hughes in testimony before the House Ethics Committee, which is meeting in secret.

On the second charge against Hughes, which alleged that Hughes tried to strong-arm lobbyists, witnesses said that they did not suffer any, or did not know of any, "shake-down" from Hughes, or anyone else for that matter, during fundraising for a Hughes-backed political-issue committee that advocated private school vouchers a year ago.

On the third charge against Hughes, a key witness reportedly said Hughes, R-Draper, did not ask for and did not receive special treatment from the Legislature's own Fiscal Analyst Office concerning the cost to taxpayers of private school vouchers.

Thomas Karrenberg, Hughes' attorney, said the ethics committee concluded testimony on the second charge against Hughes. "Not one person" said they had heard of any such arm-twisting by Hughes to raise money for Hughes' PIC.

GOP leaders from both the House and Senate made appearances Tuesday morning before the bipartisan committee — made up of House members — followed by a cadre of lobbyists in the afternoon.

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Those who came out the front doors of the hearing room all said about the same thing: They knew nothing of the Democratic allegations that Hughes arm-twisted lobbyists to either contribute to or support Hughes' Informed Voter Project PIC during the summer of 2007 — when both the pro- and anti-voucher sides were bitterly fighting before a November voter referendum repealed the controversial voucher law.

Much of the blame for the second charge — there are six total charges against Hughes — came from a "gossip column" published in The Salt Lake Tribune, Hughes defenders said.

The "gossip columnist" was blasted by both Karrenberg and Jeff Hartley, a GOP political consultant, lobbyist, and board member of Hughes' PIC.

"There was never a meeting where lobbyists" were asked for money for the PIC, said Hartley after his secret testimony. There was a meeting with some GOP legislative leaders and lobbyists/business interests, but Hughes' PIC was not solicited for, said several witnesses Tuesday.

In fact, said Hartley, neither the PIC nor Hughes actually did any fundraising from any lobbyists at all. (Hartley was paid $18,000 by the PIC as a consultant, financial reports show.)

Most of the PIC's money came from a singled pro-voucher advocate, as reported in public PIC finance documents. And just before the November 2007 election — where citizens voted down vouchers by nearly 2-to-1 — a separate business-related PAC in favor of vouchers gave Hughes' PIC $39,000, said Hartley.