While legislators are supposed to address the public interest, the self-interest is never far from the surface. In a recent commentary, the Sutherland Institute's Paul Mero talks about conflicts-of-interest in the Utah Legislature:

Our part-time state legislators should be held to a higher standard when it comes to many things, but especially their business dealings ....

A serious discussion about a new standard of ethics surrounding conflicts of interest is timely. It is time to get very transparent and accountable about our current system of legislative procedures ....

And as Mero points out, one very good way to deal with conflict-of-interest concerns is to limit the size and scope of government. It's called reducing the opportunities for temptation.