Font ResizeOne night last year, KSL-TV reporter John Daley was holding off a protest of one.
A supporter of legislator Greg Hughes tried to shove a poster in front of the political reporter when he was about to go on the air from the Capitol steps. It's one of the hazards of a live feed. In the end, the cameraman cropped in tightly on Daley's face and most of the sign ended up off-screen.
For his work reporting on allegations that Hughes tried to bribe a colleague to vote for Utah's private school voucher bill, the Utah chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists gave Daley its ethics award a week ago.
A few days later, Hughes' friends held a fundraiser to help pay the Draper Republican's $42,000 legal tab.
The two sides of Utah's epic ethics struggle --- reporters and politicians -- worked at cross-purposes this week.
It's little wonder that Republican lawmakers still insist they transformed the state's ethics guidelines. Or that under pressure from the same legislators, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. kicked the legs out from the under the ethics commission he appointed. They still don't get it.
"It was kind of a way for Greg Hughes' friends to show their support for him and that the charges were completely without merit," says Alan Dayton, Intermountain Health Care lobbyist and FOG --- Friend of Greg.
That's debatable.
"At best, he got a hung jury and a unanimous reprimand for conduct unbecoming a legislator,"
Just look at the guest list for Hughes' decidedly low-brow fundraiser at the high-brow Alta Club.
As expected, the Republicans were there. House Speaker Dave Clark approved the party. Not worried about appearances, about-to-be-governor Gary Herbert made an appearance. And I-break-the-laws-I-don't-like Mike Noel, a Kanab Republican, helped organize the fete. That's no surprise. Conservatives will continue to make excuses for Hughes' methods.
But the Democrats on the guest list made me pause: Consultant Jim Gonzales, Salt Lake County Councilman Randy Horiuchi and former Party Chairwoman Meg Holbrook, who sits on Huntsman's anemic ethics commission. Some claimed they were trapped in the car and dragged along. Others went as a favor to Dayton.
The Friends of Greg opened their wallets for the privilege of munching finger food and playing Wii golf and "Rock Band."
Lobbyist and ad man Mike Zuhl helped Dayton pull it all together. Zuhl says he simply wanted to help Hughes, whether or not the conservative lawmaker crossed the line when he reportedly offered former GOP Rep. Susan Lawrence $50,000 in campaign funding if she would switch her vote on vouchers.
"That really wasn't a concern I was dealing with," Zuhl says. "Greg Hughes is someone I had worked with. I knew he had legal bills. I was willing to help him out."
The House Ethics Committee ultimately dismissed several charges against Hughes and split along party lines debating a handful of others. However, they all could agree Hughes' behavior was "unbecoming."
Holladay Democratic Rep. Phil Riesen, who signed the complaint against Hughes with several others, was "disappointed" to see members of his party pulling out their checkbooks.
"There was some real unethical behavior going on," Riesen says. "For the Democrats to show up and give money to his legal defense flies in the face of what the Democrats supposedly stand for -- and that's ethics reform at the Legislature."
For his work on the story, Daley has been targeted by FOGs. They insist he's biased and unethical. They quote the SPJ handbook to anyone who will listen. They've dug up an online chat where he posted a comment analyzing Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention. And they point to the fact that he's married to a Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney.
The SPJ award is a nice brushoff of lawmakers' bogus claims. And KSL backs its reporter.
"The award validated the reporting he did," says Con Psarras, vice president for news at KSL-TV. "The journalism community made clear where it stands on that question."
Daley is unfazed.
"This isn't about one reporter and one politician, but about a free press," he says. "Who is going to be the watchdog? What happens to democracy when the watchdogs are feeble or neutered or cowering or nowhere to be found?"
Just a theory: the Friends of Greg would run amok.
