(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross sponsor of SB83 speaks in the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee Tuesday February 26. The bill would set limits on outside employment of elected and appointed state officials.

Bill in response to Swallow’s consulting gets committee OK

SB83 » Measure would require parity on moonlighting rules.

By Robert Gehrke

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Feb 26 2013 10:55 am • Last Updated Feb 26 2013 11:14 pm

A bill to clamp down on the consulting work that state officials do — spurred by a side deal that new Attorney General John Swallow engaged in when he was a top deputy in the office — breezed through a committee hearing Tuesday.

SB83, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, would require the governor’s office, attorney general, auditor and treasurer to implement policies that require the top appointees in the office to abide by the same rules as other office staff.

Weiler said state employees are "already overworked and underpaid," and his aim isn’t to keep state workers from moonlighting, but he wants everyone playing by the same rules.

The issue came to Weiler’s attention when it was revealed that Swallow was doing consulting work on a cement project for a friend who also owned a chain of payday-lending companies. Swallow made $23,500 on the deal while he was Utah’s chief deputy attorney general.

Swallow’s boss at the time, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, did not know about the side deal and said in an interview it was not a good idea. But because Swallow was a political appointee, the policies governing outside work did not apply to him.

The measure now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

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