Former State GOP Director Testifies in Ethics Hearing Today

Oct 10, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Former state GOP director turned lobbyist Jeff Hartley will testify today on what is perhaps the most serious allegation against Rep. Greg Hughes. And if Hartley sounds defensive, there's a good reason; he's a close friend and political ally of the three-term Republican from Draper.

"I think it's disgusting that these people who have made the allegations against Greg Hughes, and who have pushed this for a long time, and have been strategic and calculating in their timing are the same ones calling for ethics reform," Hartley says. "The people of Utah should be offended and disgusted by this."

Hartley calls the process a quote "prostitution" of the legislative ethics process. However, he says the current system in which lawmakers discipline themselves shouldn't be questioned. As for ethics reform, he'd rather see the legislature enact a moratorium on turning in ethics complaints so close to the election.

Hartley was personally involved in two of the six counts in the ethics complaint against Hughes. He says Hughes asked him to help former lawmaker Susan Lawrence revive a struggling campaign. But he says her reputation made her quote "repulsive" to special interest groups, and none wanted to give to her campaign. However, Lawrence stood by her claim Wednesday that Hughes offered her $50,000 to change her position on school vouchers. Hartley says the claim is groundless.

"Not only do I not have any knowledge that anything like that happened, and not only does it make absolutely no sense that Greg Hughes would offer such a thing, that didn't exist at the time, that my conversations with Susan made me wonder how stable she was," he says.

No legislator gets such a large sum of money from a lobbyist, Hartley says. This is what he'll tell the House Ethics Committee today. He will also testify on a separate charge, which alleges Hughes bullied lawmakers into donating money to a pro-vouchers group Hartley chaired. Again, Hartley comes to Hughes' defense and claims the allegation is false.

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