Greg J. Curtis (born October 18, 1960) is an American lobbyist and attorney from Utah. A Republican, he is a former member of the Utah State House of Representatives.

Early life and career

Curtis grew up in his district in Sandy and served a two-year LDS mission to New Zealand. He has worked for a private law firm; as a prosecutor for West Jordan City; and as staff counsel for County Mayor Nancy Workman. Curtis graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in accounting and then received a J.D. degree from the

S.J. Quinney College of Law The S.J. Quinney College of Law is the professional graduate Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Utah. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the school was established in 1913. It is a member of the Association of American ...

at the University of Utah. He is married to Teresa Curtis and the father of six children and eight grandchildren.

Utah House of Representatives

Curtis was first elected to the State Legislature in 1994, defeating Republican incumbent

Russell Cannon Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory *Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Russ ...

in the primary. He represented the 49th house district centered around

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

and

Cottonwood Heights Cottonwood Heights is a city located in Salt Lake County, Utah, the United States, along the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley. It lies south of the cities of Holladay and Murray, east of Midvale, and north of Sandy within the Salt Lake City, ...

. In 2005, he succeeded Martin Stephens as Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives.

Allegations of corruption

Beginning in October 2008, Curtis was plagued by accusations from several former state employees who claimed that Curtis abused his government position to benefit his legal clients financially. One of these former employees, Doug Clark, claimed that Curtis cut funding and caused layoffs to anyone who opposed his plans to build a public transit facility in the midst of an ancient Native American settlement in Draper, Utah. Changing the location of the proposed facility would have kept land owners in the area from moving forward with subsequent development plans. Clark said that Curtis told him, *“Doug, I am the speaker of the House. If I want something, I get it. ... I want you to talk to DNR to figure out a way to get that road through there. I know this may sound a little strange. You may think it is unethical — because it probably is — because effectively I’m asking you as a state employee to work for me and do work for my law client.” On November 4, 2008, Curtis became the first sitting Speaker of the House in Utah to fail to win re-election in 40 years. Democrat

Jay Seegmiller Jay Seegmiller (born May 29, 1958) is an American politician from Utah. He has served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives and was the Democratic Party's nominee for Utah's 2nd congressional district in the 2012 election. Early ...

won by over 10% - nearly 1,400 votes.

Lobbying career

For the 2009 legislative session, Curtis returned to Utah's Capitol Hill - not as a state representative - but as a lobbyist representing several large companies, including Intermountain Healthcare, UTA, Altria Group, parent company of

Philip Morris Phil(l)ip or Phil Morris may refer to: Companies *Altria, a conglomerate company previously known as Philip Morris Companies Inc., named after the tobacconist **Philip Morris USA, a tobacco company wholly owned by Altria Group **Philip Morris Inter ...

References

"Utah ex-official alleges retribution behind layoff"
*
F***ing boogeyman article from the Salt Lake Tribune
1960 births Brigham Young University alumni Living people Speakers of the Utah House of Representatives Members of the Utah House of Representatives University of Utah alumni People from Sandy, Utah American Mormon missionaries in New Zealand 20th-century Mormon missionaries 21st-century American politicians Latter Day Saints from Utah {{Utah-politician-stub