Lobbyists don't often get a lot of press, but the Jack Abramoff scandal in Washington has focused attention on them lately. It's an especially timely issue, coming as it did just prior to yesterday's start of the 2006 Utah Legislature. In Abramoff's case, he has reportedly made political contributions totalling millions of dollars on behalf of his clients. At least $2.7 million went to Republican members of Congress, while another $1.5 million went to Democrats. To see if Utahns see such scandals as limited only to Washington or believe they take place on the local level as well, we asked five random people for their opinions. You can read their comments on today's p. A3. To get a larger sampling we asked the same question on our Web site. And the responses we received, though unscientific, surprised me.

So that we could discuss the issue here, we stopped tabulation on the question a bit earlier than normal. But the 77 people who did respond by press time seem to be representative of general public sentiment. I checked the preliminary totals each day, and they always seemed to be consistent with the final percentages below:

Conclusion No. 1: Almost no one fully trusts lobbyists. Only 5 percent indicated that while scandals may take place in Washington, lobbyists would almost never cross the line here.

Conclusion No. 2: Many believe lobbyists go overboard constantly. A full 31 percent, nearly one-third, believe bribery happens all the time. It's a way of life for those in politics, even here in Utah.

Conclusion No. 3. When we combine some of the answer categories, the vast majority think lobbyists are often shady. Our survey found nearly 85 percent think lobbyists give bribes or cross the line of propriety with gifts, junkets, etc., at least a good part of the time.

Conclusion No. 4. Almost no one thinks lobbyists are totally clean. When we add in all answers in which lobbyists go astray, at least occasionally, the figure jumps to 95 percent -- the flip side of conclusion No. 1.

And that sentiment seems to be mirrored on the responses to our open-ended question on p. A3. Of the five randomly surveyed, four had at least some misgivings about lobbyist integrity.

I would have supposed that Utahns would have been somewhat open minded about lobbyists on the state level, but, for the present time at least, lobbyists fall somewhere between used car dealers and Internet scam artists.

And that's not a particularly comfortable place to be. It seems that lobbyists would do well to hone their public relations skills as carefully as they craft their influence peddling abilities.

I'm inclined to believe, however, that while there are some excesses which ought to be curbed, lobbyists as a whole are somewhere mid-pack on the integrity scale. In other words, they probably reflect human nature -- some are very questionable, some are about average and some can always be trusted.

It's an important issue because many city governments hire lobbyists to protect their interests at the legislature, as do businesses and major industry groups. This year, which is probably typical, there will be three lobbyists milling around the capitol grounds for every member of the legislature. When our elected representatives are this outnumbered, it's no wonder the public becomes jaded.

I don't have a magic solution to this issue, but I do believe some sort of reform is in order. Even if lobbyists exhibit only stellar integrity, having such a grand corps of these individuals sweeping down upon the legislature is troubling. It can quickly turn the government from "of the people, for the people and by the people" to one "of the pressure groups, for the special interests and by those with big war chests."

If it takes a professional lobbyist to get anything done at the legislature, the rank-and-file voters will continue to feel disenfranchised. And then it's no wonder that 95 percent of the public feels that something sleazy is going down.



Tabulated

poll results:



"Considering recent bribery scandals in Washington, how likely are lobbyists to do the same in Utah?"



5% Lobbyists would almost

never do it here.



10% Local lobbyists might go

too far occasionally.



32% Lobbyists cross the line a

good part of the time.



21% Lobbyists often offer

bribes to legislators.



31% Bribery happens all the

time. It's a way of life.