Rep. Hansen Apologizes to Phipps

Let's not over-focus on the technicalities surrounding Mr. Phipps's residency

Fascinating story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, wherein Scott Schwebke reports that House District 9 Representative Neil Hansen has graciously issued an unsolicited apology to Ogden City Council Seat "B" Candidate David Phipps, for his perceived overreaction to information he received from the Salt Lake County Elections Office on or about October 14. This information of course launched a Weber County Forum article on the subject the following day, and provoked a most robust discussion in our lower comments section. Read this morning's full Scott Schwebke story here:

• Ogden lawmaker apologizes for accusations about candidate

We applaud Representative Hansen for taking the ethical high road on this, and for recognising and correcting his own mistake. While we believe Rep. Hansen's action in obtaining and releasing the information that Mr. Phipps had voted in his old Sugarhouse precinct in 2008, (even while claiming simultaneous residency in Ogden) was entirely proper, we also agree that Rep. Hansen is right, and that he may have at least slightly overstepped the bounds of political civility in offering this quote in Mr. Schwebke's Oct 19 2009 Standard-Examiner story:

"There is some dishonesty about his residency and there needs to be some accountability," Hansen said, adding he obtained the records on behalf of a constituent whom he declined to identify."

And just to set the record straight, it's the above statement which Rep. Hansen appears to be apologizing about... and we believe that's the only statement he needs to apologize about.

Rep. Hansen has plenty of political juice in Ogden, and we congratulate him for recognizing that drawing ultimate conclusions about Mr. Phipps's honesty or lack thereof is not his proper role, and that the opinion of a politically-influential state legislator, if left un-retracted, could carry undue weight. The role of determining ultimate legal culpability is reserved for the proper legal authorities of course, as Rep. Hansen remarks in today's SE story:

Hansen said in a phone interview Monday it isn't his place to judge whether Phipps is an eligible candidate and hopes an investigation will be launched promptly to sort out his residency.
"That's between him and the legal system," he said.Hansen said one issue that needs to be sorted out is if Phipps, as he claims, was a resident of Ogden at the time of the 2008 election, was it legal for him to vote in Salt Lake City?Conversely, Hansen said, if Phipps was a legal resident of Salt Lake City, did he meet residency requirements to file for city council?.

What Rep. Hansen neglects to mention however is the court of public opinion, another legitimate venue to weigh conflicting claims on the eve of a municipal election. While we congratulate Rep. Hansen for his magnanimous gesture in apologising to Mr. Phipps for comments which were arguably excessive, we also doubt that Rep. Hansen would criticise Ogden voters for themselves weighing the facts which Rep. Hansen initially laid out.

And in that connection we do believe questions regarding Mr. Phipps's residency are crying out to be resolved. And we do believe the circumstances surrounding Mr. Phipps's November 4, 2008 Salt Lake County vote reflect on Mr. Phipps's character and fitness for office. The citizens of Ogden are certainly entitled to weigh the facts on their own, without resorting to the the opinions of any State Legislator, although we'd also view it as advisable to avoid drawing any firm conclusions until all the evidence is in.

Having said that, we'll issue a caveat: Let's not go overboard on this. The issues regarding Mr. Phipps's residency will ultimately be resolved. As Mr. Schwebke reports in this morning's story, third-place seat "B" candidate Jennifer Neil has already filed a complaint in this matter; and during the course of the proceedings which will result from this procedural step, we recommend that we all stand back... and let the wheels of justice grind on. The residency issues will all get sorted out, one way or the other, we believe.

And in the same connection we'll refer to a Dan Schroeder comment lodged under the above-linked Oct 19 2009 SE story. Remember, there are plenty of other troubling issues surrounding Mr. Phipps's candidacy:

For the time being at least, let's not over-focus on the technicalities surrounding Mr. Phipps's residency.

There are plenty of other fish to fry, no?