Phil Hart (again)

[Pottapaug1938]

Not to mention a five gallon bucket, and some Dramamine.

[echopapa]

Kelso's blog, full of rambling old dude stories, is here:

http://placercreek.blogspot.com/

[Demosthenes]

http://www2.wnct.com/news/2010/nov/05/g ... ar-515534/

A GOP lawmaker from northern Idaho has filed a new ethics complaint against Rep. Phil Hart, a fellow Republican, calling his actions a "stain" on the state House and demanding he be removed from office.

Rep. Eric Anderson of Priest Lake told the Spokesman-Review he thinks Hart's 1996 removal of state-owned timber to build his house without paying for it; claims of legislative immunity; and refusal to pay federal and state income taxes show he's violated his oath to uphold the U.S. and state constitutions.

Hart last month sent a check for $2,450 to the state after The Spokesman-Review, using public records, revealed he took timber from state endowment land that he used to build his house. The land is used to generate money for Idaho's public schools.

Even after Hart's recent payment, Idaho contends Hart owes thousands more to satisfy his debt.

[Cathulhu]

There's serious money in timber, and the amount he's paid is firewood money--not nearly enough.

[Demosthenes]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/n ... peal-case/

Embattled Idaho state Rep. Phil Hart has filed a motion to disqualify the judge in his state income tax appeal case in 1st District Court in Kootenai County, a move that could delay his case.

Hart, who just was re-elected to a fourth term in the state House of Representatives, is going to court to fight an order from the state Tax Commission to pay $53,523 in back state income taxes, penalties and interest. He first appealed to the state Board of Tax Appeals, but it rejected his appeal, saying it was filed too late - after the expiration of a 91-day appeal period that ended in January.

Hart, R-Athol, argued there, and is arguing again in his court appeal, that the state Constitution’s legislative privilege provision means he should have months longer to file his appeal, because the appeal period ended within 10 days of the start of the 2010 legislative session. The constitution protects state legislators from arrest or “any civil process” during legislative sessions or 10 days before they start.

[Nikki]

Hart, who just was re-elected to a fourth term in the state House of Representatives, is going to court to fight an order from the state Tax Commission to pay $53,523 in back state income taxes, penalties and interest. He first appealed to the state Board of Tax Appeals, but it rejected his appeal, saying it was filed too late - after the expiration of a 91-day appeal period that ended in January.

Hart, R-Athol, argued there, and is arguing again in his court appeal, that the state Constitution’s legislative privilege provision means he should have months longer to file his appeal, because the appeal period ended within 10 days of the start of the 2010 legislative session. The constitution protects state legislators from arrest or “any civil process” during legislative sessions or 10 days before they start.

How long hath he had that lithp?

[Pottapaug1938]

Hart, R-Athol[/b....

How long hath he had that lithp?[/quote]

That reminds me of an old joke about Endicott Peabody, a blueblooded Bostonian who was the Democratic Governor of Massachusetts from 1963-65. It was said that four Massachusetts communities were named after him: the village of Endicott (in Dedham), the town of Peabody, the town of Marblehead and the town of Athol.

[LPC]

Hart, R-Athol, argued there, and is arguing again in his court appeal, that the state Constitution’s legislative privilege provision means he should have months longer to file his appeal, because the appeal period ended within 10 days of the start of the 2010 legislative session. The constitution protects state legislators from arrest or “any civil process” during legislative sessions or 10 days before they start.

The expiration of an appeal period is not "civil process" within any meaning of the phrase I've ever seen. "Civil process" usually refers to the initiation of civil litigation, not to the continuation of civil litigation already begun.

Taken to its illogical conclusion, Hart's argument would mean that statutes of limitations could not expire while the legislature is in session, a conclusion that seems far-fetched, to say the least.

[Demosthenes]

That reminds me of an old joke about Endicott Peabody

Be nice. His grandson is a FOQ (friend of Quatloos).

[Pottapaug1938]

That reminds me of an old joke about Endicott Peabody

Be nice. His grandson is a FOQ (friend of Quatloos).

Actually, I remember holding signs for Chub in 1962. The joke probably came from the Bellotti camp (defeated Chub in the primary) or the Volpe camp (won the 1964 election).

[Demosthenes]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/n ... committee/

Idaho House Speaker Lawerence Denney announced today that he’s removing Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, from the House Revenue and Taxation Committee and that he’ll convene a new ethics committee to look into a new complaint against Hart from Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake.

Hart, a tax protester who’s locked in a fight with the state Tax Commission over back state income taxes, also owes thousands on an outstanding judgment over a 1996 timber theft from state school endowment lands.

[Famspear]

From the aforementioned report:

Hart......also owes thousands on an outstanding judgment over a 1996 timber theft from state school endowment lands.

(bolding added).

One of the reports says that the timber theft just recently came to light. So, I wonder exactly when the judgment was entered. In fact, it might be interesting to look at court records (if any) available on that.

For many years, people in Louisiana have talked about the public's tolerance for corrupt politicians in that state. Based on everything written about this guy, I have to wonder what the people in his Idaho district were thinking when they re-elected him yet again.

[bmielke]

One of the reports says that the timber theft just recently came to light. So, I wonder exactly when the judgment was entered. In fact, it might be interesting to look at court records (if any) available on that.

If judgement was not taken in a court of record, or if it was an agreed judgement with no trial why would it have been in the public eye. Especially if it was a settlement and there was a confidentiality clause.

That doesn't seem that unreasonable to me.

[The Operative]

I have to wonder what the people in his Idaho district were thinking when they re-elected him yet again.

From what I have been able to gather from a quick perusal on the Internet, Hart ran unopposed in 2008 and 2010. It could be possible that the people in his district are tired of him, but no one has stepped forward to challenge him.

[Famspear]

One of the reports says that the timber theft just recently came to light. So, I wonder exactly when the judgment was entered. In fact, it might be interesting to look at court records (if any) available on that.

If judgement was not taken in a court of record, or if it was an agreed judgement with no trial why would it have been in the public eye. Especially if it was a settlement and there was a confidentiality clause.

That doesn't seem that unreasonable to me.

Well, that could explain why the voters in his district have been tolerant (i.e., if they just weren't aware of his past).

But I think it would be interesting to read the details of how the alleged theft back in 1996 was discovered and how Hart tried to defend himself on that issue.

Another thing: I note that there is no report that Hart was ever actually charged with a crime in connection with the reported theft. That, of course, could be for a variety of reasons.

Phil Hart is gradually becoming a more interesting character (at least for me) in the rogue's gallery of tax cheats.

[Famspear]

Here's a report with a video of Hart back in 1996, trying to explain himself (see link at end of this post) (from report by Betsy Z. Russell in the Spokesman-Review, on October 10, 2010):

BOISE – Idaho state Rep. Phil Hart stole timber from state land to build his log home in Athol in 1996, according to court documents, and still hasn’t paid a judgment against him for the theft. What’s more, the property Hart illegally logged is school endowment land, meaning the timber there is supposed to benefit Idaho’s public schools.

Hart contended then – and still does today – that a loophole in state law allowed him, as a citizen, to cut and take the logs, totaling nearly 8,000 board feet of timber. But three court rulings found that argument not only wrong but unreasonable and “frivolous.” In court documents, the state called Hart’s conduct “a blatant, unjustified trespass on state endowment land that resulted in a substantial loss to the state’s school endowment fund.”

Hart, whose only opponent for a fourth House term this November is a write-in candidate, did forfeit a $5,000 bond he had to put up for his last appeal in the case. And he may have made a partial payment for attorney fees; state records are unclear. But liens against Hart filed in Kootenai County by the Idaho Department of Lands for $22,827 were never lifted – and now they’re not enforceable, because more than five years has passed since the judgment.

[ . . . . ]

The original value of the logs he took from school endowment lands near Spirit Lake was $2,443, but under state law, the penalty for stealing state endowment timber is “treble damages,” or three times the value of the logs – $7,328.

Hart also was ordered to pay administrative costs the state spent to determine the value of the stolen logs as well as the state’s attorney fees and court costs after he fought the case three times over five years, all the way to the state Court of Appeals. Those costs total $15,500.

[ . . . . ]as the Idaho Court of Appeals wrote in its ruling, “The fact the (Forest Practices Act) rules did not require Hart to give notice to the (Idaho Department of Lands) before stealing state timber does not mean that he was authorized to take it.”

The Appeals Court judges added, “We think it important to recognize that the cutting of timber on state lands is a crime.”

Hart argued in court that he was prompted to go after the state endowment timber because a logger, whose name he couldn’t remember, told him it was legal [ . . . . ]

(bolding added)

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/o ... -for-home/

[bmielke]

So the guy took 80+ trees, (some internet research tells me that on a 12" tree you can get up tp 160 board feet, but 100 seems reasonable.)

That might be what three truck loads? What does a load of timber go for these days? (As sometimes happens I did a little research before shooting my mouth off and low and behold I found)

Assuming it was pine, looks like price on 8/4 Pine is north of $2.50/BF so he did get quite a bit of value for the stolen wood.

[Cathulhu]

Was actually more likely to be Douglas fir. That's what most forests around hereabouts are. But there are also rare and valuable Pacific yews (source of taxol) and old growth cedar that goes for big bucks.

[notorial dissent]

So he is basically, a thief, a liar, and a tax cheat, and he is in politics, big surprise. I would suspect that when they get to looking further they will find lots of other interesting peccadillos they have missed to date.

[Famspear]

I watched the video from 1996. Hart drones on and on, goes 'round and 'round, reading excerpts from the statutes, regs, etc., in a tortured train of thought that's difficult to follow, and -- finally -- suddenly concludes that he had found what he called a "loophole" in the law that allowed him to take the timber for free from the public land -- but I don't see that he ever stated what the loophole was, or how the materials he was reading to the Sheriff's Department representative provided a loophole.

In other words, he applied the same "quality" of "logical" legal pseudo-"analysis" techniques to the forestry laws, etc., that the typical tax protester applies to the tax laws.

What a surprise.