Anger and unpaid reimbursement still hang over Curtis
"He is a good man who did what he thought was right," she said at a Wednesday press conference announcing the formation of a citizens panel looking into the county's vehicle scandal.
Workman pointedly withheld such praise for her senior counsel, House majority leader Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, who also took at least one personal trip in his county-owned Ford Explorer to St. George and who applied for state reimbursement for mileage to and from the Capitol in the 2004 legislative session while driving the vehicle.
Curtis retains his job, though at reduced hours. After the scandal broke, he reimbursed the state for the $767 he received from his Capitol commute, but as of Wednesday he had not reimbursed the county for the personal trip, Workman said.
Will he do so?
"I think so" was all she would say. While Workman has been discreet regarding her feelings regarding Curtis, her mayoral race opponent, Peter Corroon, is more blunt.
Curtis said he didn't understand the policy regarding personal trips and characterizes the double-dipping as an "oversight." After 10 years at the Capitol, he said, he would fill in the form without thinking about it and give it to the Capitol page who came around for it every two weeks.
"They can impugn my motives all they want," he said. "I know what my motives were. I know I made a mistake."
Co-workers and colleagues say they can understand how Curtis might overlook the matter of the double-dipping. Curtis himself said he's not the type to be careful with details.
"I like Greg, but he probably got sloppy and cavalier," legislative lobbyist Nancy Sechrist said.
So far, no hard evidence has come to light that directly contradicts Curtis' version of the facts. Whether his motives were innocent or not, however, he may not survive the scandal. Several people in county government say he is increasingly becoming a liability to Workman, who is in the middle of her re-election campaign.
Curtis skirted the issue of double-dipping when it first came up, blaming his political enemies for making unsubstantiated allegations against him. It wasn't until state Democratic Party chairman Donald Dunn held a press conference calling on Curtis to take responsibility for his own actions that Curtis finally did just that.
Workman spokesman Jim Braden said there were no meetings or conversations within the office that would indicate Curtis was indeed aware he was double-dipping or taking personal trips improperly.
"The red flags just weren't going up like that," Braden said.
Apart from the political fallout, it remains to be seen whether or not District Attorney David Yocom, who is conducting an investigation into the entire vehicle-use scandal, finds any of those red flags.
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com
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