SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - ABC 4 News has uncovered what appears to be a very cozy relationship between Utah's top legislators and health care lobbyists, a relationship taxpayers might find troubling.
Several weeks ago, Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups had a Steak Fry at his house.
But, it seems, you had to be a legislator or maybe a health care lobbyist to get an invite.
Unless, like ABC 4, you simply crashed the party.
Among those ABC 4 taped at the get- together was a former Utah house speaker who's now a health care lobbyist.
We also saw a former senate president who lobbies for big pharmaceuticals.
ABC 4 News was told the dinner is called the, "Pharmaceutical Steak Fry."
Invited, in addition to several lobbyists, were top Utah legislators.
Now, with ABC 4 taping the guests arriving, it wasn't long before the host and senate president himself came out to pay his respects.
ABC 4 asked, "What's the topic of discussion?”
President Waddoups told us,
“Well, it's mostly social, but health care."
He also added, "It's a good excuse for a party."
One lobbyist attending the dinner, Miles “Cap” Ferry, later told ABC 4 that the dinner was paid for by PHRMA, a trade group of pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Ferry is married to one of the registered Utah lobbyists for PHRMA.
ABC 4 News was also told that the senate president's lobbyist dinner began about a decade or more ago and is held every year.
But if you're a member of the Utah public - good luck finding out about it.
ABC 4 News could not find a lobbyist disclosure form for the meal and neither could the Lt. Governor’s office which oversees them.
In fact, Miles Ferry told us a disclosure form wasn’t filed because the dinner was covered by an exception in Utah's new ethics law.
This loophole says lobbyists don't have to report certain expenditures if an event has been approved by the senate president or house speaker.
A senate spokesperson told ABC 4 that President Waddoups did approve the dinner.
Kirk Jowers is the head of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and also served on the governor's ethics commission.
He told us,
"Disclosure, I think, is important. It does change lobbyist and lawmaker behavior."
Jowers didn't seem surprised when we told him about the dinner we uncovered,
"Even in the economic downturn, there's one industry that's still growing and that's lobbyists."
Now, just before dinner was served, President Waddoups actually invited us to take pictures of the catered meal.
We saw steaks, a lot of the fixings and no shortage of lawmakers hanging out with lobbyists.
Jowers says,
"…lobbying dollars pay off better than any other investment they make."
Now, there's no indication any laws were broken at this dinner.
But it certainly does seem to raise questions about the relationship between Utah legislators and lobbyists and, perhaps, about whether Utah's ethics laws really work?
