Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo, recently was slapped with a violation by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing because his plumbing company, Clark Mechanical, had hired an unlicensed firm, Vision Plumbing, to do some contract work.
Vision Plumbing, operated by Clark's son, Matt Clark, was also cited by DOPL for doing business without a license.
The senior Clark was fined $606. Junior, who obtained his license the same day the citation was issued, was fined $400.
This isn't the first time that Rep. Clark, who finally was paid about $1.2 million by the state on a disputed bill for his work on Olympic housing and currently is one of the contractors working on the state Capitol renovation, has shown a bit of a cavalier attitude about professional conduct rules.
During a legislative committee meeting in 2003, a lobbyist for 1-800 Contacts complained that ophthalmologists prescribe contact lens brands sold only at the ophthalmologist's clinic or retail outlet and the conflict of interest upped the cost to consumers. Clark didn't see a problem with that.
"I have two brothers who are doctors, one of whom invests heavily in Johnson & Johnson," said Clark. "He readily admits that he prescribes only Johnson & Johnson products for that reason. When a pharmacist asks if a generic brand is available, he says no because he wants [to sell] Johnson & Johnson."
American Medical Association ethical guidelines state it is a conflict of interest for doctors to prescribe medication for financial benefit.
Taking down names? The Utah Green Party is sponsoring a "Honk 'n Wave for Peace" Saturday between 9 and 11 a.m. at the northwest corner of 700 East and 2100 South.
But it might behoove the anti-war demonstrators holding signs against the continuation of U.S. troops in Iraq to also raise placards warning motorists to watch for cop cars when they honk their support of the demonstration.
You might recall a few weeks ago when several people who honked their support to anti-war demonstrators at the Salt Lake City-County Building, they were given tickets for honking.
The fact that people don't seem to get tickets when they beep their horn for politicians doing honk and waves for their campaigns might lead one to believe there is a correlation between honking specifically for anti-war demonstrations and getting cited for honking.
Update: I wrote Wednesday about the Siggard family from Utah trapped in a shelter in Cancun after the devastation from Hurricane Wilma. At the time, they were being well cared for by the staff from the hotel they had to evacuate, but were worried about the growing crowd of looters hovering outside the shelter.
The family flew to Atlanta late Wednesday, thanks to two unscheduled flights provided by Delta Air Lines.
They were taken to a motel where they were making arrangements Thursday to fly to Salt Lake City.
It was unclear whether Delta's unscheduled jet service was a result of congressional pressure or its own initiative, but relatives of the Siggards say Sen. Orrin Hatch's office had been on the phone constantly with diplomatic services and transportation outlets to get stranded Americans out of the area.
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Paul Rolly welcomes e-mail at prolly@sltrib.com.
