Provo Mayor John Curtis is getting a head start on his 2013 re-election campaign by raising money through a political action committee.

Curtis' first fundraiser will be a backyard barbeque on May 12. Prices start at $250 and go up to $5,000.

Curtis says the money raised will fund multiple campaigns for Provo candidates.

SALT LAKE CITY – Governor Gary Herbert has no intention of disciplining his head of the Department of Transportation after it was revealed John Njord wanted to tie an employee financial settlement to a political demand.

“John Njord is an extraordinary individual, probably one of the best in America when it comes to construction of roads,” the governor told reporters gathered for his monthly news conference at the University of Utah.

The controversy surrounds Denise Graham, who was fired under allegations of leaking information about the I-15 CORE bid process and then rehired on the orders of a judge. In a proposal to grant Graham $67,000 in back pay, Njord requested she sign a letter to Utah Democrats asking them not to use her story politically.

Governor Herbert wanted it clear his employees stopped the proposal when they learned of it.

The anti-establishment movement in the Utah Republican Party scored a major victory Saturday.

The Utah County GOP Central Committee voted 144 to 130 in favor of getting rid of super-delegates, which means elected officials will no longer automatically get a vote at the state party convention.

If other counties follow suit, the move could make it easier for other candidates to score political upsets like the one that ousted US Senator Bob Bennett in he 2010 state convention.