01/28/2019
It is unfortunate that abuse of power and funds is commonplace among our legislators. We must hold our reps accountable and start voting in better candidates. Transparency is key for a better democracy.
Point of the Mountain Politics has been focusing on the amount of both tax dollars and campaign funds that are being spent by our State Legislators to travel, eat at expensive restaurants, and stay in lavish hotel accommodations. We would not care if it was their own money they were spending, but it is not. The funds are from their campaign accounts and from the state treasury not from their own pockets.
We believe the excessive amount of special interest money in our legislative process is destroying the government from the inside out. We understand it takes money to run a campaign. We also know that money does influence how legislators think. It may be legal to spend campaign money on trips, meals and other goodies but we believe it is wrong and sends the wrong message to the people. Therefore, we will continue to expose those that choose to partake in this kind of excessive spending.
Senator Curtis Bramble, Senate District 16, Utah and Wasatch Counties.
Senator Curtis Bramble represents fiscally conservative Utah and Wasatch County’s but has a liberal tendency to travel on both the taxpayer and his campaign’s dime! Point of the Mountain Politics has been reviewing several of our State representatives and their campaign and state expenditures. To date, no one we have reviewed has come close to spending both taxpayer and campaign funds on travel and meals like Senator Curtis Bramble!
Utah's per capita income is $32,397. Senator Bramble feels that it is okay to spend more than an average Utah's individual income on traveling and meals. In 2018, Senator Bramble charged Utah taxpayers $10,751.46 in both in-state and out of state travel and meal expenses. He charged his campaign $36,773.34 in travel and meal expenses. Senator Bramble’s financial disclosures show that he raised $40,750 in campaign contributions from lobbyist’s and special interests in 2018. We were shocked when we realized to what extent he travels. This traveling is made possible by the campaign contributions of lobbyists and special interests. Does this type of spending influence legislation? In the end, he spent 90 percent of his campaign account on travel and meals. Curtis Bramble on average spent $3,960 a month on travel and meals!
Why does a part-time legislator need to spend $47,530.80 on travel? Where did he go? We don’t know exactly where he went or what hotel he stayed in. Most of his trips were for NCSL meetings. He also went to China and Washington DC. His several other trips listed for NCSL have no destination provided.
Point of the Mountain Politics reviewed Curtis Bramble’s campaign web page and found some interesting claims that made us scratch our head. On his web page, he claims, “State Senator Curt Bramble is a strong advocate for our shared conservative values.” Really? Then he claims, “He is also a champion of transparency in government.” If that is the case, then we call on Senator Bramble to fill out his financial disclosure forms with enough information so people have an idea of where he traveled for $47,530.80 in 2018. We recommend Senator Bramble practice what he preaches when it comes to transparency!
http://curtbramble.org/
No matter which way you look at it, his spending on travel and meals is excessive and should be reigned in. There is no excuse to spend on average $3,960 a month on travel and meals. As we have mentioned before, politicians get away with this type of excessive spending because our ethics laws and campaign finance laws have no teeth. There is no consequence for their actions. They have gerrymandered their seats, so they have no competition and are free to do what they want without any chance of repercussions from the voters. We need stronger ethics and campaign finance laws if we are ever going to clean up the State Capitol.
To see the expenses mentioned in this article, you can access the information at the following two websites.
Transparent Utah Senate Travel Expenses
https://www.utah.gov/transparency/app.html?govLevel=STATE&entityId=1&fiscalYear=2018&transType=1&title1=State%3A+2018%3A+Expense&title2=State+of+Utah&title3=State%3A+State+of+Utah%3A+2018%3A+Expense
Curtis Bramble Campaign Financial Disclosures
https://disclosures.utah.gov/Search/PublicSearch/FolderDetails/1010
