Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Friday that the ethics measures passed by the Legislature are a good first step, but he hopes the process leads to campaign finance reform and a "serious cooling-off period" before lawmakers can become lobbyists.

"The good thing is the dialogue has started," Huntsman said. "Now we build upon the foundation of this Legislature's success, and I hope it goes to things like a serious cooling-off period. I hope it goes to serious campaign finance reform."

Huntsman said that Utah is a rare state that does not put any limits on campaign contributions.

"In my mind, that's ground for mischief," he said. "I think we can do better than that, and we should do better than that."

Gaps remain in the bills, however. The revolving-door lobbying ban applies only to legislators who become full-time lobbyists for private interests, and the gift-disclosure law does not require a lobbyist to report an expenditure if the gift is offered to all lawmakers or a caucus.

The governor signed all of the ethics legislation, including the cooling-off period. He said more should be done on that front. He has signed an executive order that prohibits former members of his administration from lobbying the executive branch for one year.

"If we do these things, we ought to do them completely," said Huntsman following his comments at a ceremony naming an ethics program at Weber State University after former Republican National Committee Chairman Richard Richards.

Huntsman has appointed a task force -- The Governor's Commission on Strengthening Utah's Democracy -- to study the factors behind Utah's low voter-turnout, including ethics in government. The commission is expected to issue a report and recommendations later this year.

Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, took issue with Huntsman characterizing the Legislature's actions as a beginning of ethics reform.

"I contend it's not a start, it's just a continuation of the ongoing process," said Dougall, who is chairman of the House Ethics Committee. "Do I think that process needs to continue? Absolutely."

He said the ethics committee will spend the summer and fall looking at the results of the ethics legislation passed and plans to study various proposals to create an independent entity to investigate ethics complaints against lawmakers.

In his comments at Weber State, Huntsman blamed the economic crisis on a failure of ethics.

"People on Wall Street decided they were going to throw the ethics book away," he said. The governor said he hopes the ethics institute at Weber State will teach students the importance of ethics.