Unethical Reform.org |
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Meet the creators of the citizens ethics reform initiative |
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DAVID R. IRVINE David Irvine It appears he authored the initiative. He is a lifelong Utah resident, attorney in private practice, former Republican legislator, retired Army strategic intelligence officer, and an occasional public interest litigator. It seems he is a former legislator and a former Republican, as he makes campaign contributions to Democrats such as Obama. He was elected to 4 terms in the Utah House of Representatives as a Republican from Bountiful, beginning in 1972. He has been involved in dozens of successful legislative election campaigns over a span of 25+ years. In 2008 he was co-counsel for Republican and Democratic legislators who filed two ethics complaints against sitting members of the House. Read more about him in Rep. Greg Hughes's Notes on Facebook. Seems that there are other skeletons in Mr. Irvine's past. Apparently, Mr. Irvine took advantage of the "revolving door" when he went from being a legislator to being a lobbyist. As a lobbyist, he was apparently accused of violating state law by charging a contingency fee. He was presumed innocent, a standard that protected him, yet this initiative, if applied to his conduct, would have presumed him guilty, unless he could prove, by preponderance of evidence, that the act did not occur. What irony. COURT OFFICER WANTS REDUCTION IN DEPOSITORS' ATTORNEYS' FEE By Matthew Brown, Business Writer Published: Saturday, May 6, 1989 12:00 a.m. MDT "Among the more controversial bills left to be paid was from Research Associates Inc., a local political consulting firm headed by former legislators David Irvine and Georgia Peterson. They were accused of a violating state law that prohibits lobbying when payment is contingent on a bill passing or failing." THRIFT DEPOSITORS RELUCTANT TO PAY BILLS FOR LEGAL BATTLE By Matthew Brown, Business Writer Published: Saturday, Nov. 19, 1988 12:00 a.m. MST "A pair of lobbyists, David Irvine and Georgia Peterson, have submitted a bill that sources say is more than $450,000 for work on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers avoided the thrift issue for months before approving the settlement in special session." |
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Meet the Sponsors of the citizens ethics reform initiative |
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Sponsor #1: Chase N. Peterson 66 Thaynes Canyon Dr. Park City 84060 Is Dr. Peterson's qualified to be a guardian of ethics in Utah? Actually, Peterson's unethical conduct is held up as an example of what not to do in various articles and books, including books on ethics. (Ethics in Engineering, 4th edition by Mike W Martin and Roland Schinzinger, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2004, pp. 197-198, and The Undergrowth of Science: Delusion, Self-deception, and Human Frailty by Walter Gratzer, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 121-126.) Below is a summary from these books and other sources. In 1989, Dr. Peterson was president of the U of U. On March 23 the U of U announced in a news conference that a potentially limitless source of energy had been discovered at the university. This became known as "cold fusion." It was in the news for weeks around the world and still comes up today. Peterson said that the U of U had applied for patents. The Deseret News quoted him as saying "Everything we know about it says it ought to have commercial application." (Article: Fusion Discovery at U. Could Rank as Century's Greatest Achievement) It turns out that the making of this announcement broke an agreement he made with BYU, to hold back all announcements until both universities could submit papers together. This agreement was made in a meeting with BYU and U of U researchers and then-BYU president Jeffery R Holland, among others. In that meeting, a BYU professor who had been researching this phenomenon for years warned Dr. Peterson that he would be extremely surprised if cold fusion could ever power a flashlight in the foreseeable future. BYU honored its part of the agreement by canceling various presentations. When BYU heard of the announced news conference they protested but the news conference was held anyway. Source Because of this announcement, he has tarnished the image of cold fusion and discredited himself, Pons and Fleischmann (the researchers at the U of U), and the U of U itself. Later, Peterson came under fire because a $500,000 "anonymous" "outside gift" to the school's cold fusion research center turned out to be a Peterson-authorized transfer from the school's research foundation. Peterson reportedly admitted that hiding the origin of the donation was a mistake and that it hurt the credibility of the institution. See Cold Fusion Funding Fuss Speeds Utah U. Chief's Exit. |
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Sponsor #2 Karl Snow 638 N. 100 E. Provo Former Utah Senator 1972-1985. Lost to Bill Orton is his bid for Senate. His ethics were called into question when he ran for congress in 1990. Here is an interesting excerpt from one of the articles on Snow:
UTAH GROUP STILL QUESTIONS SNOW'S ETHICS, TIES TO STRAND
By Brooke Adams, Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, Oct. 25, 1990 12:00 a.m. MDT
Utahns for Ethical Government reiterated charges Wednesday that 3rd District congressional candidate Karl Snow is not telling the truth about the depth of his involvement with two penny stock companies and convicted stock swindler Michael Strand.
Members of the group said during a press conference at the State Capitol that Snow was closely associated with Global Oil, one of the penny stock companies Strand promoted, and also represented himself as being closely associated with the firm. However, a spokesman for the group said it is not alleging Snow broke any laws or acted criminally; rather, it is questioning his integrity.
"Our issue today is not breaking the law," said Scott Norton, chairman of the group. "Our issue today is breaking the confidence of the public."
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Sponsor #3 Cassia Dippo 2810 E. 4135 S., SLC, UT 84124 Has donated to the Utah Democratic Party. |
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Sponsor #4 Jordan Tanner 1929 N. 1420 W. Provo, UT 84604 In 1988 Tanner returned to Utah where he continues to work with the State Department's international visitor programs. In 1990, he was elected to the Utah Legislature where he served five terms. Tanner received his bachelor's degree from the U of U. “Jordan Tanner took advantage of early voting Tuesday to choose Democratic challengers over Republican incumbents. Who's Tanner? He's a former GOP lawmaker who spent 10 years in the state House proposing ethics and campaign reform that he feels went nowhere. Tanner appeared with county Democrats on Tuesday at a news conference called to tout the endorsement and outline Democratic ethics proposals. "This is the year I hope the people of Utah County will stand up and say, 'This is the time,' " Tanner said. "Year after year after year, the leaders of both the House and the Senate refused to take seriously my [reform efforts]." With his well-known push for ethics reform, Tanner also raised eyebrows toward the end of his time in the Legislature when he built a house in the north end of the county but maintained that his residency was still in District 63." Reference |
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Sponsor #5 Carole E. Peterson 2763 East 1650 North, Layton, UT 84040
Ran as a Democrat against Kevin S. Garn (R) in District 16. |
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Sponsor #6 Rob Ence 3374 Creek Rd. Cottonwood Heights 84121 AARP Utah State Executive Director In the noonday sun, Rob Ence, executive director of Utah's 220,000-plus member AARP, threw the nonprofit organization's support behind the volunteer initiative drive (to defeat the school voucher bill). "We do this not just for our members but for our children and our grandchildren," Ence said. "We believe that influence should come from the voice of the people and by the ballot box." |
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Sponsor #7 Ned Hill 2867 Foothill Drive, Provo, UT 84604 Ned C. Hill is the National Advisory Council Professor of Business Management and former dean of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. He was appointed to the position in July 1998 and served until June 2008. Hill has been a part of Brigham Young University since 1987. Prior to his appointment as dean, he served for two years as an assistant to President Merrill J. Bateman, assuming responsibility for strategic planning in the areas of facilities and space management, distance learning, information systems, and assessment. Before joining the administration, he chaired the Marriott School's Department of Business Management. Hill's wife Claralyn unsuccessfully ran for the Utah State House of Representatives as a moderate Democrat in 2008. She claimed that the Legislature needs ethical reform. On October 9, 2006, Hill and MSM associate dean W. Steve Albrecht sent an e-mail to 50 BYU Management Society members and 100 members of the school's National Advisory Council asking them to support Mitt Romney's potential bid for the presidency. Hill and Albrecht signed the message with their official BYU titles, sent the e-mail from a BYU e-mail address, and began the message "Dear Marriott School Friend." Both the church and BYU, as tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations, are prohibited by federal law from advocating on behalf of a particular candidate or political party. Albrecht said that he should not have sent it in his capacity as a BYU dean: "It wasn't something BYU did, it wasn't something I probably should have done, and it was bad judgment." See his Wikipedia article. |
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Sponsor #8 Holly Langton 3686 Kaibab Circle, SLC, UT 84109 Utah PTA education commissioner, Executive Director of Utahns for Public Schools Executive Director of Utahns for Public Schools In 2007, the Utah legislature passed a statewide school voucher system. UTPS (Utahns for Public Schools) organized an unprecedented petition drive to put the proposal (school vouchers) on the ballot, trying to overrule the legislature. The idea was that Utah voters should have a say in whether the program would be implemented. However, the voices of Utahns were overwhelmed by millions of dollars from sources outside of Utah. Following the petition drive, UTPS led the campaign against the voucher proposal, titled Referendum 1. The language of the petition and referendum were criticized as confusing and the ads were criticized as deceptive. The referendum process was supposed to be a check on the legislature to be exercised by Utah voters. Instead, this showed that the process can be abused by powerful special interest groups from outside Utah.
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Sponsor #9 William P. Moore 574 S. 1200 E. Bountiful, UT 84010 Davis School Board Member
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Sponsor #10 Dolores F. Rowland 2474 Nantucket Dr., SLC 84121 Government Liaison, Catholic Diocese Of Salt Lake City (lobbyist for Catholic Church in Utah) Member of the board of directors for the Utah Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool |
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Sponsor #11 Dixie S. Huefner 24 U. St. SLC 84103 Dixie S. Huefner is a Democrat. She has contributed money to the Utah State Democratic Committee, to Barack Obama, to John Kerry, and Howard Dean. She is a retired law professor who previously taught at the University of Utah. Emeritus Professor of Special Education, U of U She holds graduate degrees in special education and law from the University of Utah
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I have tried to include the most accurate information as I can. If anyone knows of any errors or has more information about exactly who these sponsors are, please e-mail me at peter at unethicalreform.org.
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