Curt Bramble

Curtis S. Bramble
Member of the Utah Senate from the 16th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 15, 2001
Preceded by	Howard C. Nielsen
Personal details
Born	October 18, 1957 (1957-10-18) (age 54) Chicago, Illinois
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Susan
Residence	Provo
Occupation	Certified Public Accountant
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Website	Legislative Website

Curtis Scott Bramble (born October 18, 1957) is a contentious American politician and Certified Public Accountant from Utah. A Republican, he is a member of the Utah State Senate, representing the state's 16th senate district in Provo. Bramble was the Majority Leader in the Utah Senate from 2006 to 2008.

Early life and career

Curt Bramble was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois where he graduated from Crown High School. He grew up as a Methodist and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while attending Notre Dame University where he studied chemical engineering and math. After Notre Dame, Bramble attended Brigham Young University where he graduated with a B.S in Accounting and MS in Accounting. Bramble was elected to the Utah Senate in 2000, defeating Democratic candidate John R. Curtis in the general election. Bramble was re-elected to the Utah Senate in 2004 and currently resides in Provo with his wife Susan. He has 6 children and 5 grandchildren.

Senate career

Further information: List of Utah State Legislatures

Bramble was elected to the Utah Senate on Tuesday, November 7, 2000 and took office on January 15, 2001. During his first legislature in the Utah Senate Bramble served on the Business, Labor and Economic Development, and Revenue and Taxation Standing Committees; and on the Health and Human Services Joint Appropriation Committee. In 2004, Bramble became the Majority Leader of the Utah Senate for the 57th Utah Legislature and the Co-Chair of the Retirement and Independent Entities Joint Appropriation Committee. He also served on the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice, and Higher Education Joint Appropriations committees and Chaired the Retirement and Independent Entities Standing Committee. He also served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee for the 57th Utah State Legislature. In 2008 Bramble received the National Legislator of the Year Award from ALEC, a conservative advocacy group criticized by some as a front for tobacco companies and other corporations. Bramble was reelected to his third term to the Utah Senate on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, after defeating Democrat Radene Hatfied.

Controversies

PizzaGate

Bramble achieved national notoriety when on August 18, 2008, a local pizza delivery driver delivered pizza to his home in Provo, Utah. Bramble admitted to reporters that he became upset when he learned that the business did not accept personal checks as a form of payment, and told the driver to take the pizzas back to the restaurant. He then began to lecture the delivery person about forms of payment, and tried to use his position in the state legislature as a way to get his personal check accepted. Speaking to the restaurant owner on the telephone, Bramble allegedly impugned the owner's scruples, intimating that, by providing payment via credit card, Bramble would likely see fraudulent credit card charges on his next billing statement. Eventually providing payment over the phone, Bramble complimented the driver on her "professionalism" and provided a 6.67% tip, meager by U.S. social conventions.

The delivery driver later wrote about the experience on her personal blog,^[1] and it became an Internet sensation and was featured on the widely read Daily Kos.^[2] Due to the resulting attention, she appeared on a talk radio station in Salt Lake City to talk about her experience with Senator Bramble.^[3]

Ties to Paul Rogers and the Italian Villa

Bramble shared an Italian Villa for two weeks with two lobbyists and their families. Lobbyist Stan Lockhart and his wife Rep. Rebecca Lockhart attended, as did controversial lobbyist Paul Rogers. Bramble has fought for numerous pieces of legislation benefiting or protecting Rogers' clients such as a bill that would have made it more difficult for KwikMed to sell Viagra over the Internet. Bramble and Rogers have been friends for many years and both parties paid for their own trips.,^[4]

Legislative Consultant

Sometime between 2005 and 2007, Bramble was hired by Allied Waste (a client of lobbyist Paul Rogers from the Italian Villa controversy) to act as a “consultant.” The solid waste company frequently has legislation before the legislature and in 2006 sponsored a bill that benifited Allied Waste by imposing new state fees on its competitors. Bramble never declared the “consulting” job as a conflict. At the same time Bramble approached Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn and asked him to sell a public solid-waste transfer facility to Allied Waste. Critics said it was inappropriate for Bramble to take money from Allied Waste because of his influence over the mayor and waste management legislation.,^[5]

ParadeGate

Both the Deseret Morning News and The Salt Lake Tribune called for an ethics investigation into an incident involving Bramble, Representative Becky Lockhart and Mountainland Applied Technology College. Bramble and Lockhart, who have significant influence over the funding the school receives asked the college to build the Republican party a float to use in parades. The college used its money to pay for the float which violated Utah law, "a public entity may not make expenditures from public funds for political purposes." When questions arose, college President Clay Christensen told State Auditor Auston Johnson he was under "tremendous pressure" by the Utah County GOP and lawmakers to build the float. But later that same day, after a conversation with Bramble, he changed his statement. Bramble first denied speaking with Christiansen but later acknowledged he "may have called," but couldn't "recall what was said." -.^[6] Both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News printed editorials calling for a full investigation. However, Bramble is the chair of the Ethics committee and no investigations ever occurred.

Electoral results

Further information: 16th Utah Senate District

Utah State Senate election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Curt Bramble	11,717	61.57
	Democratic	RaDene Hatfield	7,314	38.43

Utah State Senate election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Curt Bramble	15,778	76.8
	Democratic	Fred D. Posorio	4,227	20.6
	Libertarian	Brady Fackrell	535	2.6

See also

• 54th Utah State Legislature

Notes

1. ^ "My Run-In with the Majority Leader in the Utah State Senate". CartoonBrickWall. Blogspot.com. 2008-08-18. http://cartoonbrickwall.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-run-in-with-majority-leader-in-utah.html. 
2. ^ "Pizzagate: Utah State Senator p0wned by pizza delivery girl!". DailyKos.com. 2008-08-25. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/25/82327/3536/167/574440. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
3. ^ "The Bramble Pizza Saga Continues". Nightside Project. 2008-08-22. http://nightside.ksl.com/?nid=29&sid=4079772. 
4. ^ "Nothing 'amiss' in Italian trip, senator says". Deseret News. October 11, 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_/ai_n21052573. 
5. ^ "Lobbyist has a captive audience". http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7001467. 
6. ^ "State audit cites questionable transactions by Mountainland Applied Technology College officials". http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695203289,00.html. 

External links

Legislative Information

• Map of Utah Senate District 16
• Official Legislative Biography
• Project Vote Smart Biography

Voting Record

• Interest Group Ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Voting Record at Project Vote-Smart

Persondata
Name	Bramble, Curt
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 18, 1957
Place of birth	Chicago, IL
Date of death
Place of death