Another grass-roots group has filed ethics initiatives with Utah's lieutenant governor.

The Peoples Right, LLC, announced Thursday that it will begin holding the necessary public hearings next week to get "anti-bribery" and "anti-corruption" measures on the November 2010 ballot.

Steve Maxfield Jr., a Kanosh businessman who ran for Millard county commissioner in 2008 as a Constitution Party candidate, joined forces with his father, Steve Maxfield Sr. -- also a Constitution Party candidate who challenged state Sen. Chris Buttars in 2008 -- and Wayne Crawford, a Sandy physician's assistant, to launch the effort.

The group's "anti-corruption" proposal aims to patch a hole lawmakers left in SB162, 2009 legislation that prohibits personal use of campaign funds by former candidates and ex-officeholders.

The initiative would extend that ban to current candidates and officeholders.

Steve Maxfield Jr. labeled SB162 "the final blow" that destroyed the public's confidence in the Legislature cleaning up its own act.

The group's second proposal, dubbed the "anti-bribery initiative," would impose Utah's first-ever campaign contribution limits, barring corporate and union donations and capping individual contributions at $1,000 per calendar year.

The $1,000 ceiling would also apply to political-action and political-issue committees, as well as political parties.

"There's extensive precedent on limits," Crawford said. "Utah is way behind the times and we're just catching it up to the rest of the nation."

The Peoples Right added penalties to its proposal, with one violation constituting a class C misdemeanor and subsequent offenses increasing the penalty to a class A misdemeanor.

"I could not support those limits," said Dave Hansen, who chairs the state Republican Party. Hansen prefers full disclosure and letting voters decide what crosses the line.

Hansen recently served on the Governor's Commission for Strengthening Democracy, an ad hoc panel that forwarded ethics recommendations to Gov. Gary Herbert earlier this month.

The Commission recommended campaign contribution caps that were much less restrictive -- and a bill file has been opened to discuss those limits in the 2010 legislative session that launches Jan. 25.

After the Peoples Right holds its necessary public hearings across the state, sponsors will need to collect 95,000 valid voter signatures by April 15 to land the measures on the 2010 ballot.

Another more comprehensive ethics initiative, sponsored by Utahns for Ethical Government, already has begun collecting signatures in hopes of going before voters next November.

"The fact that they're pursuing this separate effort is an indication that a lot of people are unhappy with the status quo," said David Irvine, an attorney who helped draft the 21-page UEG proposal.

"The problems are considerably bigger" -- than the narrow focus of the Peoples Right initiatives, Irvine added.

Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, chaired the ethics interim committee this past year and found fault with initiative proponents failing to engage in the legislative process.

"It looks like people throwing things out willy nilly," Dougall said, "and none have talked to me about their concerns or testified before our committee.

"Government by initiative is typically not the best way to go about things," Dougall added.

cmckitrick@sltrib.com