Ethics in Provo

A number of people have indicated along the campaign trail that they are concerned about elected officials profiting whether financially or personally in some other way from their public service.  I want to share two ideas I would work towards implementing to help ensure the public trust in those we elect locally.

1. A two year “cooling off” period.

I would like to see former council members looking to lobby the city, wait at least two years before representing clients before the city – whether it be the Planning Commission, Council itself, Community Development, or seeking any type of contract with the city.

The idea of former officials turning around and lobbying the very bodies they were once a part of so soon after leaving office is in my opinion inappropriate.  This is what is referred to as the “Revolving Door” of politics.  The relationships and influence among former colleagues is too familiar immediately after leaving office.  This is something I’ve been concerned about at all levels of government for some time.  I wrote a short blog post about this topic over four years ago.  You can see my original post – “The Never Ending Revolving Door” here.

Our state legislature a few years ago passed a similar measure requiring a one year gap. I would like to copy that policy at our city level but I feel that two years is more appropriate given our city’s two year election cycle.


2. A city lobbyist registry.

Provo does not currently maintain a lobbyist registry.  Our State requires a lobbyist to register with the Lt. Governor’s office. I feel we should know who the lobbyists are in our city.  The state has already outlined a fairly reasonable registration and reporting process as a potential template to look to for Provo.

I’m anxious to start this dialogue.  I believe these two measures would likely meet little resistance from the Council and would go a long ways to establishing trust in our local officials.

This isn’t something I’m writing about for political expediency or simply because I’m a candidate.  Ethics in government is something I’ve been watching for some time.   I’ve listed several ethics related blog posts I’ve written over the years below.


Transparency ( 9/30/2009)

Declaring Conflicts of Interest on the Provo City Council (9/23/2010)

Ethics involving anonymous letters (7/13/2010)

My thoughts on offering staff positions to campaign staffers before the election (9/30/2009)