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.From the Associated Press, March 4, 2004: "Curtis acknowledged that Garbett, a longtime friend and neighbor and a former legislator, approached him after learning of the proposal
for the new office building."
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. (http://globe.utah.gov/allcont/allcont.aspx?CandidateID=2090&sort=name)
Former Senate President Al Mansell, a major force in the Legislature, is retiring, and has handpicked fellow Realtor Wayne Niederhauser as his replacement.
So on one hand you have the Speaker of the House with a preferred candidate and the former Senate President with a handpicked candidate.
So, the decision comes down to voting for a man who did not buy favors from the Speaker of the House (or Majority Leader at the time). The following quote from the Deseret News is why I would vote for Mr. Niederhauser if I lived in Sandy, and I have many family members in the district,: In Senate District 9 in southeastern Salt Lake County, Wayne Niederhauser told his delegates, "I'm a conservative and for school choice. I support vouchers; it just makes sense."
2 comments:
Is that the mouth you pray with on Sunday boys?
God watches everyday of the week.
I think the school choice issue will weigh heavily in the Senate 9 Primary as well as many of the races. Parents are getting weary of the government-run school monopolies and their tax-supported politically correct agendas. Those schols are leaving the learning and lessons of our history out of their teaching.
Certianly the school choice issue influenced the elimination of school teacher/Rep. Cox and has put Rep. Allan in House 19 in to a primary. School choice should make a difference in the House 58 R-Primary as welll; Rep. Ferrin has always been school choice - indeed, he was the tuition tax credit bill sponsor for two years in the House. His oppponent, Sandstrom is not school choice - usually. And in the House 61 R-primary, Keith Grover who is a vice-principal of a jr. high is school choice and his opponent, judd, has the UEA endorsement because he not school choice. It will be interesting to see just how much the school choice issue affects the outcomes.
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