Was float project coercion?

Documents pertaining to a recent audit of the Mountainland Applied Technology College reveal that officials "felt pressured" by the Utah County Republican Party to help build a parade float and find ways to cover the charges.

Campus President Clay Christensen is also believed to have been aware that the expenses, charged to the school for labor and supplies, were illegal before he found a private donor and offered to personally cover some of the remaining costs himself, the documents show.

"Our most significant concern is the college president's disregard for the law and use of his position to override internal controls to detect and prevent improper disbursements," states one document obtained by the Deseret Morning News.

Also included is a time sheet outlining 29 hours of work that a welding instructor spent on the party's float totaling $580.09, which included parts for the project as well. Another time sheet logged six hours during which Utah College of Applied Technology President Robert O. Brems' son, Chris, a full-time employee at the college, transported the float between Lehi and Spanish Fork. Additional supplies for the float were billed at $416.14.

Christensen, who could not be reached for comment, told auditors "he was under tremendous pressure to get the project done ... " and that "he was trying to repair some damaged relationships with the Legislature that had occurred before he became president of MATC."

When asked, Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said Thursday he was "unaware of any damaged relationships with the Legislature."

He said his only involvement was asking Christensen whether the welding class needed a project to do. He recalls no further correspondence with Christensen prior to the audit of the college.

The audit's background documents say Christensen told the auditor he was approached by Bramble, who pitched the float as a welding class project.

Bramble's wife, Susan, secretary of the Utah County Republican Party, and Bramble's son "followed up with the completion of the project," the audit says Christensen reported when asked about being pressured to do the float.

In May, the state auditor's office was contacted by an MATC employee, Bryce Adams, who was concerned about an invoice he was asked to pay regarding work done on the float. Adams was told by auditor Van Christensen and by an attorney in the auditor's office that the expenses were not allowable, according to state law, which says "a public entity may not make expenditures from public funds for political purposes."