It's About Time?
It remains to be seen whether the controversial Legislature-mandated government subsidies to help Real Salt Lake build a soccer stadium in Sandy will be a good thing or bad thing for taxpayers, but one bit of fallout from that drama should be a good thing.
For the first time, the Legislature has addressed head-on the issue of large lobbying firms representing various clients whose interests clash with each other.
A simmering concern over the past several years came to a head recently during the soccer stadium saga. The influential lobbying firm, Tetris, represented Salt Lake County, whose interests obviously conflicted at times with Real Salt Lake, another Tetris client, whose interests conflicted with West Valley City, another Tetris client, whose interests sometimes classed with Sandy, another Tetris client.
Tetris also represented an Arizona construction company that was bidding on the job to build the soccer stadium.
Tetris isn't the only firm that has conflicts among its stable of clients, but the conflicts that came out during the Real debates were glaring. Tetris had been scrutinized before for possible conflicts because it represented Hogle Zoo, which was among a host of organizations trying to get special tax money from Salt Lake County.
Tetris recently resigned as Salt Lake County's lobbyists after some county council members began publicly zeroing in on the conflicts.
So SB246, a lengthy bill sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, that deals with lobbyists, includes an entire section banning the practice of lobbyists representing clients that have conflicts of interests between each other.
If Killpack's legislation would have been law several years ago, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened when Senate President John Valentine, who at that time was a member of the House, asked each party in a dispute over the distribution of fly-over taxes — Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, West Valley City and Delta Airlines — to send in a representative to speak to him one-on-one, then he would attempt to devise a solution addressing all their concerns.
The first representative to come in the room, for Salt Lake County, was one of the partners of Tetris. After that meeting, the next representative, for West Valley City, was a partner in Tetris. The third person to come in, representing Delta Airlines, was — you guessed it — a representative of Tetris.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
For the first time, the Legislature has addressed head-on the issue of large lobbying firms representing various clients whose interests clash with each other.
A simmering concern over the past several years came to a head recently during the soccer stadium saga. The influential lobbying firm, Tetris, represented Salt Lake County, whose interests obviously conflicted at times with Real Salt Lake, another Tetris client, whose interests conflicted with West Valley City, another Tetris client, whose interests sometimes classed with Sandy, another Tetris client.
Tetris also represented an Arizona construction company that was bidding on the job to build the soccer stadium.
Tetris isn't the only firm that has conflicts among its stable of clients, but the conflicts that came out during the Real debates were glaring. Tetris had been scrutinized before for possible conflicts because it represented Hogle Zoo, which was among a host of organizations trying to get special tax money from Salt Lake County.
Tetris recently resigned as Salt Lake County's lobbyists after some county council members began publicly zeroing in on the conflicts.
So SB246, a lengthy bill sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, that deals with lobbyists, includes an entire section banning the practice of lobbyists representing clients that have conflicts of interests between each other.
If Killpack's legislation would have been law several years ago, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened when Senate President John Valentine, who at that time was a member of the House, asked each party in a dispute over the distribution of fly-over taxes — Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, West Valley City and Delta Airlines — to send in a representative to speak to him one-on-one, then he would attempt to devise a solution addressing all their concerns.
The first representative to come in the room, for Salt Lake County, was one of the partners of Tetris. After that meeting, the next representative, for West Valley City, was a partner in Tetris. The third person to come in, representing Delta Airlines, was — you guessed it — a representative of Tetris.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
12:49 PM
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