This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Some may call it a case of strange bedfellows. Some may see it as the kiss of death for a Republican politician in Utah County.
The progressive Alliance for a Better Utah has awarded Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, a 2014 Better Beehive Award for his efforts in engineering the Count My Vote compromise by sponsoring Senate Bill 54 in the past legislative session.
To put this in perspective, whether it's Count My Vote or ethics reforms or an independent commission to recommend congressional and legislative redistricting every 10 years, the Alliance for a Better Utah usually is on the opposite side of the state Republican Party's conservative base.
This award is just a reminder to that base that Bramble crafted a compromise that the Utah Republican Party is suing to overturn.
Bramble's bill keeps the current caucus/convention system for nominating candidates, so precious to the GOP's conservative base. But it also allows an alternate path to a primary ballot if a candidate can get enough names on a petition. That part, the Republican base hates.
It's not the first time Bramble has rattled the right. He was a key player in 2011 in the passage of a bill that allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain guest-worker permits after meeting certain conditions, including paying a fine. The measure was a state version similar to President Barack Obama's executive order that has some Republicans fuming.
But the Alliance for a Better Utah, in a statement about the award, applauded Bramble's courage and statesmanship.
"Sen. Bramble should be commended for his part in increasing opportunities for civic participation in our state," executive director Maryann Martindale said. "The Count My Vote compromise will increase the voices and participation of thousands of Utahns across the state who have previously been excluded from the caucus system."
There probably won't be an educational center named after Bramble at Southern Utah University anytime soon.
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Speaking of strange bedfellows • A banquet honoring longtime Democratic politician Randy Horiuchi, who is retiring from the Salt Lake County Council after 42 years of public political life, has not only attracted hordes of fellow Democrats, but Republicans as well.
The $100-per-plate luncheon Wednesday will be attended by some of the state's highest-profile Republicans.
Gov. Gary Herbert has signed up. House Speaker-elect Greg Hughes, R-Draper, bought a table, as did Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, along with his business partner, Sandy City Councilman Chris McCandless, also a Republican.
The co-leaders of the event are County Council members Jim Bradley, a Democrat, and Mike Jensen, a Republican.
Proceeds will fund an endowment administered by Westminster College, the Randy Horiuchi Political Fellowship.
The endowment will fund scholarships for two students to work as interns with Utah Republican and Democratic party leaders.
Sponsorships include $25,000 from Zions Bank, $25,000 from Huntsman Charities, and a $50,000 pledge from developer Kem Gardner. Intermountain Healthcare is paying for the lunch.
The luncheon was originally to be held at Westminster's performing-arts center, but so many people expressed interest in attending — 180 at last count — it was moved to a larger venue, Westminster on the Draw, at 2120 S. 1300 East.
Besides serving as Democratic Party chairman in the 1980s, Horiuchi labored for decades as a Salt Lake County commissioner and councilman.
His first foray into politics was as an 18-year-old graduate of Cottonwood High in 1972, when he ran for, and almost won, a seat on the Granite School Board.
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When there was peace • At a time with so much hatred in the world — international terrorism, domestic violence, political discord — it might be worthwhile to celebrate a startling event that occurred 100 years ago.
Beginning on Christmas Eve in 1914, during the first winter of World War I, German, British and French soldiers held an unofficial cease-fire and ventured out on the battlefields to exchange seasonal greetings and goodwill.
Salt Lake City's Chapman Branch Library will commemorate the centennial of that show of humanity with a staged reading of accounts penned by those who experienced the truce firsthand, along with a performance of "Christmas in the Trenches" and other seasonal songs by the folk group Idlewild.
The celebration will be Saturday at 5 p.m. at the library, 577 S. 900 West.