Show I Waste in Government Purchasing f AT A T SEVERAL times during during the the past year yearl l I L charges of wasteful and extravagant buyIng buy buy- Ing by various departments and subdivisions 0 of government 1 In ip Utah have been made It t has been alleged that units of government i have paid as much as 50 per cent more for br forr forthe r the same or equally good commodities as private businesses have paid The Utah Taxpayers Taxpayers' Taxpayers Taxpayers Taxpayers' Tax Tax- payers' payers association contended the excessive prices paid by governmental units ran from 55 to per cent more than the market price and that if governmental units units' in Utah bought as carefully as private business the 1 saving to the taxpayers would amount to well over a year Just what happens to the extra money paid r out by governmental units isn't certain The Inference of course is that It is political graft or gravy paid into the pockets of officials t I. I or politicians or into campaign funds A bill now before the legislature is designed to put a stop to this evil and wasteful business The bill Senate Bill No was Introduced introduced Intro Intro- by Senators Huggins and Farr and has just been reported out favorably by the senate sen ate judiciary committee It would make it a felony for anyone acting as purchasing agent or who participates in an official capacity in making purchases for the state or any political subdivision to ask receive or offer to receive any emolument gratuity contribution loan or reward in connection with such purchases It also makes it a felony for any person interested in the sale of commodities to political divisions of government to offer or give such emoluments emoluments ments etc Of co course enactment of such a law will not of itself stop waste in governmental buying but it will give the authorities a law with teeth I in it which can be used to crac crack down hard on any official guilty of paying excessive amounts for commodities and collecting as part of the I deal political or personal graft or contributions of any sort The very fact that such a law is ison ison ison on the statute books with the threat of a term in prison for violation of it will make officials very wary of indulging in shady buying tices This newspaper has been informed by a manI man I who is close enough to the situation to know whereof he speaks that there is a great deal of this sort of graft in governmental purchasing going on in Utah He estimates the cost to taxpayers taxpayers tax tax- payers each year as a lot closer to a million dollars than He believes that enactment enactment enactment enact enact- ment of this bill would go a long way toward eliminating this waste We think it will too Certainly it is a step in the right direction and it is to be hoped t that the legislature will speedily put this law lawon lawon on the statute books |