Salt Lake County's gasoline scandal has claimed its third and arguably most prominent victim.
Utah House majority leader Greg Curtis resigned Friday, a week after it was revealed he had applied for mileage reimbursement to the state while driving his county-owned Ford Explorer to and from the Capitol.
Curtis, senior counsel to County Mayor Nancy Workman, also was under scrutiny for a personal trip he made to St. George in his county car.
"I did not ask Greg to resign," Workman said in a statement. "Greg felt that in order for him to move forward with his life, leaving Salt Lake County was the best thing to do."
Curtis declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure, including whether he had been pressured to resign, citing an ongoing investigation by District Attorney David Yocom into the county's vehicle-use scandal.
"I wish I could talk to you, but with that looming out there, I think I shouldn't," he told the Deseret Morning News. "I'm just prepared to move on."
Curtis plans to do some private legal work, "spend some time with my kids, go water skiing."
His aspirations to serve as House speaker remain unchanged, as does his campaign for re-election this November (a Republican, Curtis represents a Sandy district.)
Current House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said he doesn't believe Curtis' problems at his county job will change his standing at the Legislature.
"There will be no ramifications that I'm aware of," he said. "I think he's already paid a pretty high price. He's quit a job he's good at."
While Workman conspicuously withheld praise for Curtis during a news conference earlier this week announcing an outside panel's investigation into county vehicle use, she was effusive in her statement Friday.
"Greg has been an exceptional employee," she said. "For more than three years Greg has provided the county with valuable service. He has been instrumental in virtually every key policy decision I have made and has done tremendous work representing the county in the community and on Capitol Hill."
Curtis went from full-time to part-time work at the county after it was revealed last month that he had made at least one long-distance trip in his county vehicle for purely personal reasons. He said he wanted time to work on his own and other legislative races.
Privately, Curtis at that time also repaid the state $767 he had received in mileage reimbursements.
After the mileage reimbursement issue came to light, Curtis, at the urging of State Democratic Party Chairman Donald Dunn, took responsibility for what he termed an oversight, but said he had no plans to resign his job.
Curtis is not without friends. County Councilman Cortlund Ashton, a Republican like Curtis and Workman, issued a scathing statement Friday defending his long-time friend.
"I am appalled by the treatment that Representative Greg Curtis has received . . . Ashton said. "I know him to be a man of honor and integrity. I trust him implicitly. I know that when he says he made 'an honest mistake,' that is precisely what happened."
Ashton questioned what he called the partisan nature of Yocom's investigation, and said the gasoline scandal (at least as it regards personal use of vehicles) has resulted more from systemic problems in vehicle use policies than the mistakes of individuals.
Former county auditor Craig Sorensen, who has been criminally charged for allegedly stealing gasoline from the county, and chief financial officer Randy Allen, who took two personal trips to Lake Powell at county expense, have already lost their jobs as a result of the scandal.
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com