OCR Text |
Show Ba e£OTOy, BUSINESS Microsoft bogtns shipping THBRSBAY Windows 2000 FOR THE RECORD, C-2 LOTTERY, C-2 HIOBITUARIES, C-6 DECEMBER16, 1999 BIRTHS, C5 Lobbyists’ Leash May Get Shorter ROBERT KIRBY Bageck ea5e fae GhealtLakeTribune © 1989, The Sait Lake Tribune Some professional persuaders believe new rulesare illegal It’s Important Notto Give Gifts A Bad Wrap BY DAN HARRIE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Unless Utah's Capitol lobbyists are able to work someof the behind-the- scenes wizardry for which they are fa- mous(or infamous), it appears they soon Nine days until Xmas. By now, will be subjectto fines for failing to file you should have spent more money timely reports listing gifts and meals givento elected officials, Supporters of new lobby regulations proposed by thestate elections office packed a public hearing Wednesday. Advocates overwhelmed the protests of a handful of professional persuaders who still have to wrap everything. argued therules are flawed andillegal. lucky. Odds are he would get lynched today. Maybe we should just hang “Frankly, I was surprised there were so manyin support,” said Lt. Gov. Olene Martha Stewart instead. We'll worry aboutthat later. Right now, everything needs to be wrapped in acres ofpaper.Ifwe don’t follow this importantholidaytradition, America will soon be overgrown by trees. Do you wantthat to happen? Worse, the Christmas police may get after you. Typically a mom or a wife, the yulefuzz, will see that you Walker,the state’s chief electionsofficer. “The general public realizes there have Photos by Steve Crifin/The Salt Lake Tribune Bemardo Repreza Sr. is overcome with emotion as he addresses the court during sentencing proceedings for two men convicted in the slaying of his son. Members of the family later said they believed justice finally had been done. in slaying of Latino youth and adorned with at least one bow. Anything lesa is the work ofa But not if some hard-core opponents among Utah’s estimated 600 registered lobbyists get their way. Several of those advocates-for-hire suggested Wednesday that they would fight the rules through administrative channels and, if need be, in court. The case of three Straight Edgers charged with murdering a 14-year-old Latino during a street brawl Lobbyist-attorney Gary Thorup said that while the pushto get lobbyists to file disclosures on time “might be a laudatory goal,”there is no legal basis to do so. The 1991 statute that requires public disclosure of lobbyist gift-giving and entertaining oflegislators and other elected officials refers to penalties for failure to file a report, Butit contains no provision repeated allegations of racism. The boy’s family claimed that two defendants re- Pose any penalty orfine for late-filed re- BY STEPHEN HUNT THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE it is against the law to point this out, the attention gift- wrapping receives tends to be divided along genderlines, Proofof this was changes,shestill expects to have adopted session ends in early March. Twogivenstiff prison terms cealed with special Christmas paper, Walker’s office could impose the new rules by Dec. 27. If there are major the regulations by the time lobbyist disclosures are due after the 2000 legislative Straight Edgers Sentenced propriate marmer, you #&*@!’ Believe it or not, there axe wrapping rules. Not only must the gift be totaily concealed, it should be con- to be rules and open disclosure.” in downtownSait Lake City has been punctuated by ceived: substantial bail reductions because they are white. Andthe victim's stepfather, Gordon Clayton, said he “had a sense of being raped by the justice onlate disclosures. “Your office has no authority to im- ports,” Thorup said in a protest letter signed by nearly two dozen of his peers. Theletter criticized other aspects of system” when 3rd District Judge William Barrett al- lowed them to await sentencing at home. But Wednesday, the family declared justice had been served after Barrett handed down harsh prison ea nawagnet does to wrapit. Maybe it’s a biologicate ut esa eee terms for Andrew Moench and Colin Reesor. ‘Moench,19, received a 6-to-15-year prison term for knocking Bernardo Repreza unconscious with a Women delicately pick the wrap- baseball bat the nightofOct. 31, 1998. Reesor,18, got 5 years to life for fatally stabbing the stunned and defenseless boy in the abdomen. “The judge did the maximum,” said Clayton “That’s what we asked for.” ‘Andrew Moench, right, with atiomey Edward Brass at his side, x sobs prison sentance imposed for his partin the as he hears a 6-to-1 street-braw| slaying Bemardo Repreza Jr. on Halloween 1998. informing an Sensee a lobby license was suspel aan‘of the lobbyists opposing the proposed rules and penalties have had past problems with filing their reports on time. Atleast four of the opponents were named in a complaintfiled last winter by Cassie Dippo, a spokeswoman and iob- Throughout the two-hour hearing, however, tears flowed. byist for the government reform group Common Cause of Utah. See STRAIGHT EDGERS,Page C-2 Dippo discovered that six prominent lobbyists had filed no report by Jan. 28, See RULES, Page C-4 Area-Code Crunchers May Do Another Number on Utahns BY STEVEN OBERBECK THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE ‘Utehns may have to add yet another number to those lists of digits they carry around in their Bust two years after getting the new 495 area code, It forecasts that 801 numbers will be exhausted by the first quarter of 2001. The prediction perplexes PSC Chairman Stephen said a third Utah area code is not necessarily a foregone conclusion. “It does not make sense that a third area code needed in this state given our population size,” wan Nevertheless, the PSC plans to start studying the is‘sue. It has asked the Federal Communications CommiseS ee‘numbering conservation Mecham said, for example, that some as- 801 area code is filling up. iadine Yaietere Withici area Hols manyHk be tr ue. Newest City Whacks Its Name: From Now On, It’s Just Holladay ‘The good news is that « great deal bother can be avoided by having however,the are Utahns can blame declining number sven on all the fax machines, wireless phones, pagers phone company competitors that ehvpitemdha iiite the dawn ofthe Information Age. Frandsen, spokesman for 06 Westnah “It exhausts the supply of numbers pretty Utehns living outside of Weber, Morgan, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties were assigned the “435" area code in 1997,and its use became mandatory in late 1998, |