Rep. Chris Cannon got a surprise recently when he was told he owed his one-time ally and campaign treasurer Curtis Bramble $30,000 for accounting work dating back to 2002.
Cannon had thought the work was donated, so Bramble could get experience with financing a national campaign.
But Bramble, a Republican state senator from Provo who toyed with the idea of running against Cannon this year, has a different memory. He says he agreed to take care of the campaign finances in 2002 and didn't take payments from the campaign the first year because it was out of money. Cannon did make payments to cover basic costs, but understood that Bramble's personal work was voluntary. Bramble says what Cannon paid did not cover everything under the agreement, adding that the $30,000 bill was not an official invoice but a draft document for negotiation purposes.
Bramble worked for Cannon again in 2005, saying that he and his new firm of Gilbert and Stewart did yeoman's work because Cannon's campaign was audited by the Federal Elections Commission. He submitted a final invoice of $17,000 to cover the 2005 work, and this week Gilbert and Stewart filed an amended finance report with the FEC to reflect that debt.
Cannon solicited the help of attorney Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a noted expert on federal elections law, to negotiate with Bramble. But the latest word as of Thursday is that Cannon has decided to pay the $17,000 claim so he can concentrate on his quest to win a sixth term in Congress.
The welfare cops: Utah legislators from time to time like to show their independence from the federal government.
You might recall when the Utah tea dumpers took on the feds over President Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative before working out a compromise. There was the legislator who praised local officials in southern Utah who refused to close roads in designated wilderness areas, comparing them to the students who stood up to the Chinese army in Tiananmen Square.
And, of course, there were the cable TV regulation and abortion bills that were passed in Utah, eventually costing millions in litigation before dying under the weight of constitutional law.
Now, a new "Give me liberty or give me death" clarion call may be emerging from Capitol Hill.
Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, said at the Workforce Services Legislative Interim Committee on Wednesday that lawmakers should investigate complaints that Utahns on welfare and food stamps are using their Horizon debit cards to get cash back on grocery purchases, which they spend on beer or cigarettes.
Karen Silver, an advocate for the poor, noted that under federal law, welfare clients can spend their money as they see fit.
"If we want to make it fraud, we may have some issues with the federal government," she said.
Stay tuned.
