Last spring, we were deliberating on how to put together a float for the Freedom Festival and other Utah County parades, as well as how to pay for that float. If we'd known we could have called the president of Mountainland Applied Technology College and gotten students to build the float and have an anonymous donor pay for it, we would have solved our problem.
But, of course, we couldn't have done that. And that's the crux of the problem with the incident involving Sen. Curt Bramble, the majority leader, and Rep. Becky Lockhart, the vice chairwoman of the Executive Appropriations Committee asking the president of MATC whether his students would build a float for the Utah County Republican Party.
It is hard to believe that the president of MATC would not interpret a request from two legislators with enormous power over his appropriations as more than just a casual favor, no matter what they said it was. And why did this request come from these two people and not the chairman of the Utah County Republican Party or the head of a float committee? What are they doing getting involved with a float anyway?
The answer is clear: They knew exactly what they were doing and how they could use their power to gain an advantage for their party. How could Christensen say no? How could he not arrange some sort of deal for them?
We know this is not just about the float. Rather, it is about arrogance. It is arrogance that leads some in power to believe that they can do whatever they want and no one will challenge them. Arrogance comes from one group of people being in power so long that they become unaccountable. Plus, these leaders have taken control of the apparatus of the Republican Party in Utah County and created an unhealthy personal nexus of power between the party organization and those who hold government power: Bramble's wife is the secretary of the county Republican Party, while Lockhart's husband is the chairman of the state Republican Party.
We call on the House and the Senate to conduct a full investigation.
We're not convinced that the quick legislative investigation that was announced this week should be the end of the matter. Citizens should be reassured that political leaders don't put undue pressure on others who are beholden to them, as seemed to have happened here.
But, we're not hopeful either body will really act on this matter. After all, the co-chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee is, well, Curt Bramble. And there's not much incentive for the House Republicans to punish one of their own, particularly when her husband is the chairman of the state party and a prominent lobbyist who has given tens of thousands of dollars over the years to these same legislators.
Is there any hope? There still is one ultimate leverage voters have over arrogant legislators — not supporting their re-election.
Richard Davis and Larry Brown are chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the Utah County Democratic Party.