An Ill-Fated PR Move by Utah's Legislature   

Last winter, Utah's beleaguered state legislators decided to do something about their public image. It was a simple plan: Ask nicely, and maybe area newspapers would help.

ýn February, the day after the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News published polls showing widespread mistrust of state politicians, House and Senate leaders met with an Associated Press reporter, the Tribune's editor, the News' city editor and the Ogden Standard-Examiner's publisher.

"We knew they were going to be mad" about the polls, says Tribune Editor Jay Shelledy, 51. And they were: The politicians suggested an ad hoc committee of lawmakers and reporters be formed to help brighten the body's image.

"It was outrageous," Shelledy adds, his voice rising in disbelief. "I told them, 'That's your problem. We don't dictate answers to the polls.' "

House Speaker Rob Bishop says the journalists "recoiled with horror that they were being asked to be part of a solution." Bishop says he hoped a committee could look into charges that the legislature needed to be more open – not because it wanted better press. "That never has been our goal, because I knew it would never happen," he says.

åhelledy, who acted as an impromptu spokesman for the journalists, particularly rankled Bishop, who later complained to the AP that the Tribune editor was a "moron" and "the most arrogant asshole who ever set foot in my office."

"He feels that way about anybody who doesn't kiss his ass," counters Shelledy. "Perhaps he's upset because I didn't bring him Utah Jazz [basketball] tickets or offer to buy him lunch."

Bishop says he apologized for his language, and that he received several calls from people "who said 'moron' wasn't accurate."

Lane Beattie, who was then the Senate's majority leader and has since become its president, has had a "running battle" with the press, as Bishop describes it. (Beattie did not return phone calls.) Bishop insists he "kind of got sucked into" the conflict, yet he has said he believes the press is on a "reform binge" and bent on uncovering scandal at the expense of reporting on the legislature's accomplishments.

Naturally, Shelledy disagrees. "We have been doing stories about legislative votes and we ran vote boxes next to them listing who voted how," he says. "The legislature thinks that constitutes subjective journalism. As for inaccurate reporting, we have never even been asked to correct anything."

Beattie recently proposed legislation that would require reporters to disclose their own "biases" in any story about lawmakers that makes use of lobbyist disclosure reports. The measure was killed after the state's lawyers ruled it was likely unconstitutional.

ØThe problem," Shelledy says, "is that [voters] don't feel they count anymore." When the Senate president is spotted on the floor with a lobbyist at his ear, Shelledy asks, who is to blame for the public's distrust?

Heidi Bittner

Bittner is an AJR news aide.