Big Tobacco Wants You To Thank Governor Herbert

You'd think that with a legislature that is predominantly LDS, a religion whose scriptures say "And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man," that big tobacco would have a horrible time in the legislature.

But, big tobacco has big money. And some of that money flows into the coffers of our legislators. And the pockets of lobbyists. Lobbyists like former house speaker Greg Curtis.

Amazingly, the legislature managed to pass HB 196, which increases taxes on cigarettes. However, Governor Herbert has said he plans on vetoing a tobacco tax increase. Well, that was before he said that he'd sign it, which was before he said he wasn't sure what he'd do. Leadership -- not his strong suit.

And, at least one group wants him to veto it:


(click to enlarge. Page found here.)

Look in the top right-hand corner. "Provided by Altria Client Services." Who is Altria you ask? Well, they are the parent company of Phillip Morris, whose cigarette brands include Marlboro, Alpine, Basic, Benson & Hedges, Bristol, Cambridge, Chesterfield, Commander, Dave's, English Ovals, Lark, L&M, Merit, Parliament, Players, Saratoga and Virginia Slims. In other words, Pillip Morris put the big in big tobacco.

And you thought the Legislature only did the bidding of the Church.....

-Bob

Greg Curtis: Thank-you For Smoking

"And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man..." Doctrine and Covenants 89:8 ("The Word of Wisdom")

Why, oh why would someone who professes to be a member of the LDS Church agree to be a lobbyist for a tobacco company?

Was Budweiser not hiring?

Since his law firm doesn't pay him enough, Greg Curtis has hired on as a lobbyist for Altria (parent company of Phillip Morris [Marlboro]), Utah Transit Authority, Intermountain Healthcare, Utah Sports Commission, Gold Cross Ambulance and Anderson Development.

And to think, we were worried about him using his $300,000 campaign bankroll for personal use.

-Bob

Republican House Candidate: Curtis Must Go

Last night on my way home from work, I ran into a Republican candidate for Legislature, who I will not mention by name for obvious reasons. This candidate is running against a Democratic incumbent.

The candidate said that one of the biggest issues they are running on is ethics reform. The candidate said that, should this person win on Tuesday, their biggest obstacle would be Greg Curtis.

The exact quote?

"Greg Curtis Must Go."

-Bob

From Jay Seegmiller: Let's Get Government Back On Track

Dear Friends:

I'm writing to give you a chance to help us get rid of House Speaker Greg Curtis. Make your contribution today.

In 2006, Jay Seegmiller lost his election to Republican House Speaker Greg Curtis, by JUST 18 VOTES. With your help, Jay can win in 2008, and we can make a significant impact in the insider dealing and backroom politics that Speaker Curtis has promoted on the Hill.

Rather than listening to and responding to their constituents, Speaker Curtis and his Republican colleagues in the Utah Legislature continue to railroad legislation through with the sole purpose of helping their friends and special interests.

That is why we are excited to tell you about Jay Seegmiller. Jay has worked hard for his community on education and ethics reform and will work diligently to represent the interests of all Utahns. Most importantly, I look forward to working with Jay on public education initiatives that ensure our children and teachers have the resources to succeed.

Jay cannot win this race alone. That is why we are working to help Jay raise the funds needed to compete and win. Send your contribution to Jay Seegmiller today. Thank you for your commitment to Utah's future.

Sincerely,
Wayne Holland
Chair, Utah Democratic Party

I think the railroad puns are funny. Jay Seegmiller is (was?) a train conductor......

-Bob

Utah Democrats Need To Stop Push Polling

No matter how much you want to spin it, this article is correct in calling a spade a spade.

The Republicans are calling it "negative push polling." Democrats say it's "persuasive voter identity polling" and GOP candidates have done it before in Utah.

Either way, it is the use of the latest in telephone marketing techniques to identify voters — those who are already with your candidate, those who could be persuaded to vote for your candidate, and those who have "made up their minds and who you don't want to waste money on calling again" — as Utah Democratic Party executive director Todd Taylor puts it.

Democrats are making the calls into several Utah House and Senate districts where they believe they have a chance of winning this year. Several thousand Sandy residents are reportedly getting calls from both sides of a close race between House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and his Democratic challenger, Jay Seegmiller.

A rose by any other name.....

You can put lipstick on a pig......

And, as Vice Chairman Rob Miller points out, in the comments on the article, Executive Director Todd Taylor posted the script of the call:

Hello, my name is (caller’s first name). Is (voter’s first name) available? I am calling from the Utah Democratic Party with a couple of quick questions about the upcoming elections.

If the election for your State House of Representative were held today and the candidates were Democrat Jay Seegmiller who is concerned about legislators using their public office for private gain and Republican Greg Curtis who is Speaker of the House who thinks conflict of interest is natural in a citizen legislature, for whom would you vote?”

If it quacks like a duck.....

If it lies like a Republican.....

Oh, and by saying Well....the Republicans do it.... is not a good excuse.

The reason people my age do not get involved in politics and don't vote, is because politicians pull crap like this.

It needs to stop. And it needs to stop. Yesterday.

Will someone rise above the fray?

-Bob

KCPW Announces Election 2008 Debate Series

KCPW is pleased to announce our Election 2008 Debate Series taking place in October. To date, candidates in six different races have agreed to participate. The series includes a gubernatorial debate between Governor Jon Huntsman and Democratic candidate Bob Springmeyer the evening of October 16 at the Salt Lake City Main Library.

With the exception of the debate between Speaker Greg Curtis and Mr. Jay Seegmiller, all of the debates will take place at the Tessman Auditorium of the Salt Lake City Main Library at 210 E. 400 South. They will air live on KCPW 88.3 FM and 105.3 FM and online at www.kcpw.org. We will be adding additional debates shortly.


Tuesday, October 14th, 7 to 8 p.m.
House District 49
Sandy Public Library, 10100 South Petunia Way
Greg Curtis, Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives (R)
Jay Seegmiller (D)


Thursday, October 16th, 11 a.m. to noon
Senate District One
Carlton Christensen (R)
Luz Robles (D)


Thursday, October 16th, 7 to 8 p.m.
Governor
Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. (R)
Bob Springmeyer (D)


Wednesday, October 22nd, 11 a.m. to noon
House District 24
Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck (D)
Dr. Joe Jarvis (R)


Wednesday, October 29th, 7 to 8 p.m.
Salt Lake County Mayor
Mayor Peter Corroon (D)
Michael Renckert (R)


Thursday, October 30th, 11 a.m. to noon
Salt Lake County Council At-Large Seat A
Councilman Randy Horiuchi (D)
Capt. Steve Debry (R)

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.

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: Ethical Train Wreck

So, 36 hours before the legislature is to dismiss for the year, a loan for St George is brought forward.

And, St George is not just asking to borrow some lunch money. $42 Million to be exact.

And, the loan could potentially help one of Utah's fastest-growing developers.

And, said developer happens to be the largest client of the law firm of Hutchings, Baird, Curtis and Astill.

And, the Curtis in Hutchings, Baird, Curtis and Astill just happens to be Speaker of the House Greg Curtis.

And Greg Curtis thinks he'll get away with it.

-Bob

Utah Republican Party Raises Taxes

Faced with budget surpluses and a desire to help business owners, the Utah Republican Party last week decided to increase taxes on everybody who buys items in Utah.

Deseret News (posted Thursday afternoon):

Members of the House and Senate Republican caucuses have just endorsed a .05 percent sales tax hike to fund fixes to some state roads.

The increase is being called a "tax shift," because it would offset over $20 million in very targeted tax cuts. The largest of those cuts would provide an $18 million tax break to Utahns who buy their own health insurance because they are self-employed, while another measure would give Delta Air Lines and other carriers about $50,000 in tax relief.

"It's really rather straight-forward," said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy. "It involves a tax shift instead of a tax cut."

I'm sorry to say this Speaker Curtis, but unless the corresponding cut help all Utah families, you just voted for a tax increase.

Thanks, Republicans.

-Bob

Quote of the Morning

Speaker Curtis was having some trouble with the computers on his desk. This was what he said:

"You guys should see this. It's like the Starship Enterprise with three different screens. I don't know why."

Now, let's compare.

The Bridge of the Starship Enterprise:



The Bridge of the Starship Legislature:

Highlights of Speaker Curtis' Speech

"Don't be duplicitous." Be honest in your dealings.

He referred to "Partisan Media." He then explained that he has learned that if a newspaper prints a reporter's picture with an article, that gives them the right to be partisan. That is only partially true. If you see the "reporter's" picture, than they are not usually reporters, but columnists. Columnists get paid to write opinions. Still no word on why we don't see everyone's picture at the Cannon Morning News.

"If you can look at yourself in the mirror and feel good about yourself" you have probably done OK, no matter what others may say.

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?

"The Most Self-serving, Double-dealing, Conflicted Utah Legislators"

The week's Salt Lake City Weekly cover story is giving the "piggies" to "the most self-serving, double-dealing, conflicted Utah legislators" we have.

So, who are the winners? I'll tell you here, but you'll have to read the article to get the details.

Best Comedic Performance: Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork
Best Original Plot: Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville
Best Performance in a Supporting Role: Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab
Best Director of Conflicted Legislation: House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy

New Holliday Reading List

The SideTrack sends us this from DailyKos:

The Washington Post has an op-ed from Donald Rumseld on, "The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez." Yes, because when you're looking for advice on foreign policy, you always want to go to the man who predicted the war in Iraq could:

...last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.

Coming up next week: Michael Vick and, "The Care And Feeding Of Your Dog."

And, it got me to thinking of some other books I could recommend for people, maybe the PoliSci students I work with, to read on their Holliday Break:

-The Political Brain by James Evans
-How to Win Friends and Influence People by Patrick Byrne (Sequel to How to Run a Prophet-Making Company)
-A Brief History of Time by Paul Mero
-Where's Waldo? by George W Bush
-Flop: How John Kerry Became President of the United States by Mitt Romney
-If I Did It by Larry Craig
-How To Be Funny by Rob Miller
-Where the Wild Things Are by Condi Rice
-The Scriptures by Chris Buttars
-Get Others to Pay for Your Mistakes by Greg Curtis
-No Mud on Me by Hillary Clinton

Greg Curtis holds gun to Gov Huntsman's Head

I can see the conversation now...

GC: Gov, we're down in recent polling 61-39. We need some help off the bench!
JH: Well, what do you want me to do? A large majority of my constituents want this thing to fail.
GC: Who cares what they think! You're the decider! You signed it into law!
JH: Yes, but we live in a representative democracy. The will of the people....
GC: Screw the people. I have gathered commitments from the Amway people for bumloads of cash to run a candidate against you in the primary if you don't.
JH: Bumloads?
GC: Pardon my bad language, but I'm really worried that the people might figure out how much we've messed other things up. We need to let them know we're still in charge.
JH: OK, OK. But I'm not filming one of those silly ads like Bishop did. That's just cheezy.
GC: Well, all you have to do is invite the press and read a statement. We'll have a camera there as well to record it at the most unflattering angle with bad lighting. That'll show those liberals!

The resulting ad:



This really comes across as a forced move by Republicans.

And, again, it's annother case of the Governor saying he would do one thing (not get involved) and doing the opposite (getting involved.)

-Bob

The importance of being a blogger

When I was giving out my end-of-the-year-awards, I failed to miss one, which Ethan pointed out to everyone on his blog.

Back in June, I wrote a piece about Greg Curtis being bought by Bryson Garbett, who at the time was running in a Primary for Senate District 9.

As Ethan points out, Greg Curtis only won by 20 votes.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out something that happened in the Greg Curtis race that I somehow forgot to mention until now.

My friend Joe was approached by someone in his ward On Sunday October 30 about doing a lit drop, and getting paid for it. Since this ward member was a volunteer (may have been a paid staffer) for the Sandy Thackery campaign which Joe supported, he assumed it would be for Thackery, and in his neighborhood.

Instead, they drove them out to Curtis's district to do a lit drop. The materials didn't have any one else's name (like LaVarr Christensen) on them.

I'm sure the paid lit drop helped get those extra 20 votes.

-Bob

BREAKING: Greg Curtis bought by Bryson Garbett

Salt Lake Tribune, April 30, 2006:

[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.

The next largest single donation to the campaign was $3500 from Commonwealth Capitol LC, on March 25, 2004. I have been unable to find if there is a connection between the company and Garbett.

The phone number I found for Commonwealth Capitol is disconnected.

For those who don't know, $5,000 is a good chunk of change, especially for a leg district race.

Bryson Garbett is a candidate for Senate District 9.

-Bob