Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch was called away to eulogize Sen. Ted Kennedy at a service in Boston today, so he didn't preside over an economic forum at Utah Valley University as scheduled.
But former Republican presidential hopeful Steve Forbes and Sen. John McCain's leading economic adviser Douglas Holtz Eakin were there.
They promised to delve into all kinds of serious and difficult-to-answer economic quandaries, but one of the hardest questions to answer is this: Was this a campaign event or an official action taken by a federal lawmaker?
Hatch's office says the Senate Ethics Committee signed off on the event and the senator advertised it to local chambers of commerce, business and civic leaders using taxpayer-funded mailings, known as franking.
But the money to fly and house Forbes and Holtz Eakin is coming out of "officially coordinating funds." That is Senate shorthand for campaign contributions.
Hatch billed the two-hour event as a way for the public to give him input "that I can arm myself with for the fight in Washington." But instead of holding a town hall meeting, which federal lawmakers traditionally do in August, he brought in outside speakers, who could be expected to play well in front of a conservative crowd.
And the event clearly wasn't some sort of scholarly look at the economic conditions, with stated topics as "Are entitlement programs a cancer on our future?"
Hatch is not paying Forbes or Holtz Eakin to attend and neither are participating in fund-raisers afterward, said Hatch spokeswoman Heather Barney.
The senator's office approached UVU about hosting the gathering, which prompted the university's president to respond in an email that "Christmas has come early."
UVU is only forking over $900 for the event, mostly to broadcast the forum on the campus network and provide refreshments.
Administrators are not paying speaking fees or asking the senator for any special help, though in emails among themselves they did mention earmarks Utah's federal lawmakers have helped them with and the possibility of sending interns to the Washington offices of Utah's members of Congress.
For UVU's Office of Ethics, which is the main sponsor, the event is a way to show a skeptical community that they indeed hold events that span the political spectrum.
"This event will show that the ethics center does far right programs with pizzaz!" Elaine Englehardt, a special assistant to UVU's president, said in an email.
-- Matt Canham