Controversy, claims of conflict-of-interest and unethical behavior have dogged former speaker of the House of Representatives and current candidate for Utah governor Greg Hughes for much of his political career.
Five year after his election to the Utah House, Hughes was accused by a legislator of offering her a bribe. He was given an official reprimand for "unbecoming conduct," according to a Deseret News article at the time.
While Hughes was chairman of the board of the Utah Transit Authority, conflict-of-interest issues were raised in relation to Hughes’ business relations with developer Kevin Garn. In April 2011, Hughes and former Majority Leader of the House Garn formed a company to construct an apartment building on land owned by Hughes in downtown Salt Lake City. Several months later, UTA chose a separate company owned by Garn to develop several transit-oriented developments. Hughes was UTA’s board chairman at the time but did not disclose his business relationship with Garn. This information is described in a Salt Lake Tribune news story at the time, headlined: “Developer won UTA deals after forming company with then chairman Greg Hughes.”
In 2018 Greg Hughes, as speaker of the House, appointed himself to the board of the newly created, Utah Inland Port Authority. After strong public criticism that this was another major conflict of interest, Hughes stepped down from the post in June 2018.
Utah voters should definitely not seriously consider such an ethically challenged politician as Greg Hughes to be Utah's next governor.
William E. Fisher, Salt Lake City
