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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tax-protesting lawmaker Hart gives up committee post

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, talks with reporters after the House Ethics Committee on Friday agreed to dismiss a complaint against him in exchange for his decision to give up his transportation committee vice-chairmanship. At right is Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens. (Betsy Russell)

BOISE – Idaho Rep. Phil Hart agreed to give up his committee vice chairmanship Friday to avoid an ethics sanction, and the tax-protesting state representative apologized to fellow lawmakers.

“If I could go back 15 years and make some different choices, I would absolutely do that,” Hart said in a somber statement to the full House. “I think I’ve learned through the school of hard knocks that I picked a pretty hard path to hoe.”

A special House Ethics Committee was on the verge of voting for Hart’s removal from the vice chairmanship of the House Transportation Committee when he offered to step down. Hart was removed from the House tax committee in December after an earlier ethics complaint charged his service there was a conflict of interest.

Hart pleaded with the panel to “end it right here this morning,” saying he preferred that his ethics case not be debated by the full House. The committee unanimously agreed, noting that it was dismissing the complaint in exchange for Hart’s agreement to quit his leadership post.

“I hope the best for Phil, I really do. I hope he can get things together,” said Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, who filed the ethics complaint against Hart.

Anderson’s complaint charged that Hart violated his oath of office by fighting against paying both his state and federal income taxes; repeatedly invoking legislative privilege to win delays in those tax fights; and illegally cutting trees on state school endowment land in 1996 for logs to build his log home in Athol, and then never paying an outstanding judgment in that case.

“I don’t have a pristine past and certainly you know about that,” Hart told the ethics panel.

Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, a retired state trooper and member of the ethics committee, said he thought Hart was taking responsibility for his actions. “I believe what we’ve observed here today … has just been a huge concession on Rep. Hart’s side,” he said.

Hart said, “It’s been a learning process. The part of this that I drug out through my actions, I apologize for that.”

Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens speaking on Hart’s behalf, said he wanted to provide legal perspective; Barbieri is a lawyer, though he’s not licensed in Idaho.

“We’re certain that there are going to be other complaints filed against Rep. Hart,” Barbieri said. He said he wants House rules “cleaned up” to avoid that.

Jaquet said it’s not the ethics committee’s job to change the ethics rules; it must deal with the complaints before it. After the hearing, Jaquet said, “I felt the remorse was there. … Hopefully he’ll get some closure. I think we sent him a message: Let’s move forward, let’s get this done.”

Hart remains embroiled in both state and federal income tax fights; he recently filed papers in Kootenai County asking a district judge to reconsider his strongly written ruling dismissing Hart’s appeal of an order to pay more than $53,000 in back state income taxes, penalties and interest; a hearing on Hart’s motion to reconsider is scheduled for March.

In January, the IRS filed two more tax liens against Hart; they include a $16,382 lien against Hart for 2007 federal income taxes, and a $14,168 lien against the trust that owns his engineering firm for business taxes owed from 2004. The federal tax agency already has filed nearly a half-million dollars worth of tax liens against Hart.

Hart stopped filing federal and state income tax returns in 1996 while he unsuccessfully challenged the federal income tax as unconstitutional; he’s since made partial payment.

The ethics panel also voted unanimously to dismiss two citizen-filed complaints – one against Hart and one against Anderson – as unfounded and “frivolous.” House members said a rule change is in the works to clarify that only another House member, not just anyone, can file an ethics complaint against a representative.