Best Governor $10,000 can buy

KSL:

Gov. Gary Herbert has been challenged by his presumptive Democratic opponent to return a $10,000 campaign donation to a coal company that got a fast-track decision from state regulators on a strip mine.

"The right thing for the governor to do here is to return the money," Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said Thursday. "The public needs to have confidence that their elected officials and government are not in a pay-to-play position."

Corroon, who's running for Herbert's job in the next election, is calling for an independent investigation to establish the facts.

Thursday evening, the governor's office spoke back sharply to the Democratic challenger. Herbert's chief of staff accused Corroon of spreading inaccuracies for political purposes, adding that Herbert will not return the campaign contribution.

The money came from the Alton Coal Development company, which wants to start a coal mine near the town of Alton. On the day the $10,000 contribution was deposited by the governor's campaign, he met with company officials. A month later, the state approved the mining application.

Officials of the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining have given conflicting statements on whether the approval process was sped up after the meeting with the governor.

The team leader on the approval told KSL News Wednesday that her supervisors did speed up the timetable and told her that's what the governor wanted.

"That's why we need strong ethics reform up at the Capitol, and we want citizens to have faith that the government is doing the right thing and not being overly influenced by large corporations or money," Corroon said.

But the governor's staff insists he never even knew about the campaign contribution; it went to his campaign committee, not the governor's office. They say he did nothing to pressure the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining on behalf of the coal company.

"No money exchanged hands. No one came to the governor and gave him money, looking to do something on their behalf. It's just inaccurate and really not appropriate to even insinuate that there was in this case," says Jason Perry, the governor's chief of staff.

Perry says the governor will not support an independent investigation.

While I believe that there was no quid pro quo, I do not believe that the Governor did not know that he was dealing with a campaign contributor. $10,000 donations don't often appear out of thin air.

-Bob

KSL Interview With Grag Curtis Subpoenaed In Bribery Case

KSL:

The investigation into the scandal over the Republican primary race for state treasurer is moving forward, and prosecutors want to know more about broadcast interviews with key players.

The Davis and Weber county attorneys charged with investigating allegations of bribery in the race have asked KSL News to provide copies of radio and TV interviews. They say they're interested in interviews involving three people, including Speaker of the House Greg Curtis.

Prosecutors sent a subpoena in their criminal investigation to KSL News. They asked for two things: edited and unedited copies of a Doug Wright radio program on KSL Newsradio and an Eyewitness News story.

[...]

Now, prosecutors have subpoenaed KSL regarding a Doug Wright radio show from June 23 and a July 10 Richard Piatt story. They're looking for copies of any and all interviews, TV programs and news broadcasts and both edited and unedited versions of interviews with Walker, Ellis and Curtis.

[...]

Curtis didn't mince words when KSL-TV asked him if he had anything to do with claims that Walker offered Ellis money. "I'm not gonna comment on that. You know that's an unprofessional question. I did not talk with Mark Walker at all in regards to treasurer's race, salary or anything else," he said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors interviewed Ellis and at least one other witness today. "They had their list of questions; and since it's an ongoing investigation, I'm not at liberty to say much. They just asked their questions," Ellis said.

What isn't clear yet is what Curtis might have said that would be of interest in the investigation. Subpoenas may include witnesses and not necessarily someone criminally involved in the case.

Curtis insists today, the only reason he's being subpoenaed is because he's the only lawmaker to comment on the allegation so far. However, several lawmakers have commented publicly to KSL News, including Steve Mascarao, Phil Reisen and Roz McGee. No legislative leaders have spoken to KSL News except Curtis.

One former county prosecutor Eyewitness News spoke with tells us prosecutors may be interested in that material because they're looking for inconsistent statements, perhaps they have a witness who is refusing to testify, or may just be looking for any new information.

Legal Bribery

KSL:

Getting some of the toughest tickets in town was no problem for some state lawmakers thanks to a paid lobbyist.

Financial disclosure reports due Thursday show Micron Technology lobbyist Stan Lockhart paid for seven legislators to go the NBA playoffs.

Democratic Sens. Ross Romero and Scott McCoy received tickets to a Jazz playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, along with Republican state Rep. Kerry Gibson. The tickets were worth $400.

Republican Sens. Pete Knudson and Howard Stephenson accepted tickets from Lockhart to a playoff game against the Houston Rockets.

Republican state Reps. Paul Ray and Lorie Fowlke also accepted tickets to see the Jazz and Rockets play. The tickets to the Rockets' game were worth a combined total of $500.

Antone want to tell my why this isn't blatant bribery by GOP Chairman Lockhart?

An open message to Rep Urquhart: Quit whining

In a recent post on his, Representative Steve Urquhart complains that two COLUMNISTS for the Salt Lake Tribune apparently say nothing negative about Democrats.

And when was the last time SteveU said anything negative about a Republican?

Anyone?

So his biggest complaint is that these columnists are still trying to find the unnamed legislator who allegedly helped Mark Walker Allegedly bribe Richard Ellis.

The fact of the matter is, the complaint to the Ethics Committee said that there was another person involved. Another Legislator.

As SteveU says, that could be 103 people. Given that there is better than a two-to-one ratio of Republicans to Democrats, and the alleged bribery happened in a Republican primary, it's safe to say that the unnamed legislator is not a Democrat.

And, the person would probably have to have some power in the legislature. I'm sure that Brad Winn (R-Ephraim) would have the power to make that kind of promise. So, why not try to pin it on the Speaker, who has been known to have a few ethical lapses? If it's not the speaker, reopen the ethics investigation.

However, I don't think it's Speaker Curtis. No, if it were him, he would be talking about it more.

But, I do have me guess as to who it is.

Rep Urquhart, methinks thou doth protest too much.

-Bob

Greg Curtis, Bribery, and Me

Special Thanks to SLCSpin for reminding me of a post I made in 2006 about Greg Curtis and bribery.

[Greg] Curtis has close ties to former Rep. Bryson Garbett, another Republican candidate in Senate District 9. Their relationship caused a stir in 2004 when former Rep Loraine Pace, R-Logan, claimed Curtis, who at the time was House Majority Leader, killed a proposed $8 Million state office building in Logan because it would have hurt Garbett, who owned the building in Logan the state was leasing for office space.



Not really that big of deal, right? Part of the fun of having a friend in elected office is to have them do favors for you, right?

However, it's a different story if you paid off your friend.

Bryson Garbett gave a donation to the Greg Curtis re-election campaign immediately following the legislative session.

And, it wasn't a small amount. It was to the tune of $5,000 on March 26, 2004.

Greg Curtis spends little on staff, lots on Colleagues

Take a look at Greg Curtis's expenditure report, and see how much he spent on buying meals for colleagues vs. what he spent for pizza and snacks for staff and volunteers.

Also look at how many campaign contributions "he" made.

-Bob

Trib: Greg Curtis more obscene than Porn

With an opening like this, you know you're going to have a great editorial:

Forget pornography. If you want to see something really obscene on the Internet, go to elections.utah.gov/candidates.html, click on campaign "financial disclosure reports," and look up Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy. Then settle back and prepare to be appalled.
A brewery. A tobacco company. A beer wholesalers association. Looks like Curtis will cash any check.
Cruise that 24-page list of campaign contributors - Anheuser-Busch, Bayer, Chevron, Delta. Curtis's corporate benefactors start with every letter of the alphabet except "X." (He'll have to give XMission a call.)

Oh, but it gets better:

Then check out Curtis's campaign expenditures - plane tickets, phone bills, parking, gasoline. Thank-you cards, Christmas cards and the stamps to send them. Flowers and books, billboards and maps. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, all in the name of getting elected?
Apparently, if the lobbyists weren't buying, Curtis and his campaign fund picked up the tab. Ah, it's good to be king.
Now look at that bottom line. Curtis reported a balance of $228,058 on Jan. 5, a full 10 months before the general election. No doubt he'll collect a lot more as the Day of Decision draws near. Of course, he could also take the money and run. Curtis reclaimed his seat by only 20 votes in 2006, so, who knows? He might decide to call it quits and spend the money on a vacation home, or a yacht, or a trip around the world.
Amazingly, Utah lawmakers, upon their retirement, can spend leftover campaign cash however they please.

Greg Curtis, the best(?) legislator money can buy.

Can you say bribery?