Ethics Watermelons and Cantaloupes

I was going to use apples and oranges in this post, but they aren't similar enough. Watermelon and Cantaloupe are both melons, but they are still different.

And Holly on the Hill's assertion that Mayor Peter Corroon's one large donation from a company with a County contract is the same as Governor Gary Herbert's three large donations from companies seeking state contracts is as absurd as trying to say that Watermelons and Cantaloupes are the same. Let's review the facts in the case:

On three different occasions, donors who had contributed $50,000 or more got private, sit-down meetings in the Governor's Office with the Governor. In all three of these cases, said donors were seeking to do business with the state, and all three got their wishes. In one of those cases, the bid process was skewed by UDOT to favor the donor, which resulted in a potential lawsuit from a losing bidder. The lawsuit was avoided by the state settling on paying the company $13 Million.

Now, let's goto the accusation from Holly:

Corroon is vocal in his support for ethics UEG style, yet he abuses his office as county mayor, says the governor’s mansion is for sale and that contributions of $50,000 should raise red flags, he himself is – wait for it – taking contributions of $50K from a company doing business with the county.

Kem Gardner’s company – Gateway Associates – developed & owns the Gateway as well as residential, commercial and retail in Salt Lake County. Salt Lake County owns property at the gateway including Clark Planetarium. The county pays Gateway Associates, Kern Gardner pays Corroon’s campaign. Nice.

Well,let's look at some of the facts in the Kem Gardiner case:

Clark Planetarium was opened in April 2003, a full 19 months BEFORE Corroon was elected as Mayor. And, of course, the government contract was signed well before then.

So, you have one case of ONE large-money donor with a County Government contract which was signed more than six years before Peter Corroon probably conceived of even running for Governor versus THREE large-money donors that have gotten government deals in the 13 months Gary Herbert has been Governor.

Hmmm.... I think I'll take the one old deal vs the three brand-new deals, thank you very much.