Strong economic growth increased the Utah budget for the 2008 fiscal year to $10.7 billion, approximately $4,000 per person. This includes a $1.6 billion surplus.
Robert Penn Warren once warned: "All that money flowing, and don't tell me there's not a grab." The involvement of more people and greater transparency in the legislative process can reduce that risk.
Last month, Gov. Jon Huntsman submitted his budget recommendations. He emphasized economic revitalization, education, quality of life and governance. Last week, the Legislature began its session. Among other duties, legislators must debate spending priorities and approve a budget by Feb. 28.
How much money should be spent on education, transportation and health care? How would you spend $4,000 per person for the greater good of Utah? How will legislators do it?
Special interests will forcefully lobby for a share of the ample state coffers. They act on the experience that loud, powerful voices get the political grease. Unfortunately, many deserving voices get lost in the din.
Powerful interests often help inform elected officials, but they increasingly crowd out community interests. Access for a few occurs at the expense of many. Some interests become more special than others.
These times demand greater scrutiny of government. Recent stories of political corruption include disgraced lobbyists, convicted members of Congress and $90,000 found in a freezer. As money flows at the federal level, it flows here. Utah is not immune from misconduct.
But politics can be elevated through greater civic involvement, higher standards for our representatives and more rigorous accountability.
Good government requires that legislators act openly and listen to a broad range of perspectives. While voters place confidence in their representatives, President Reagan's principle of "trust, but verify" must apply.
Otherwise, the public good too easily bows to those interests with the power, connections and money to skew government priorities toward their own. Consideration must extend to those who cannot or will not pay for a lawmaker's ear.
The Legislature ought to prohibit gifts to elected officials from special interests. In the absence of a gift ban, ethical legislators can set an example by rejecting free lunches, trips, tickets and other donations. People would pay attention. Government would improve. Appearances count.
The greater good calls for more community conversation and correspondence about public policy that serves the common interest.
Elected officials need to hear from more people as they decide what the priorities of Utah should be, what laws are needed and how the money should be spent.
A cure for powerful special interests is broader societal interest. To ensure that money is spent wisely and laws are made well, the people of Utah need to make more of their voices heard. That interest would be most powerful.
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* MARK C. ALVAREZ is a Salt Lake City attorney.
