HART: Hypocrisy is his practice

Over the past couple months, I've been reading and watching the saga surrounding State Representative Phil Hart. He refuses to pay taxes - both federal and state; sits on the Idaho House Taxation committee; accepts a state of Idaho paycheck for his Rep. job; has his expenses of per deim and travel costs reimbursed from the state coffers; and enjoys the fiscal perks of being a state representative. He seems to have no problem putting Idaho state tax money into his wallet but doesn't want to pay any Idaho taxes out of it - like the rest of us have to do. And because he is a state legislator on the Taxation Committee, he is exempted from paying taxes while enjoying the state reimbursement for his representative office that we taxpayers pay for.

And now most recently, it is learned that Rep. Hart used logs off of state land near his property in Spirit Lake to build his log home. And he did not reimburse the state for some 8,000 board feet of timber. Idaho state lands and timber have been purchased over the years with tax dollars from taxpayers. Rep. Hart now enjoys the warmth of his home from this state resource that did not cost him a penny - we paid for it.

It appears that as a good Idaho Republican, he is afforded "special treatment" that no Idaho Democrat would ever receive. His case did appear before the Republican dominated state legislative ethics committee. The outcome of this investigation was that the committee found that Rep. Hart did not violate any ethics - the vote was 5 Republicans for and 4 Democrats against. They could have avoided the expense of the investigation by just voting along party lines to begin with. And if you have "no ethics," there can be no violation.

This kind of behavior and actions is a result of Idaho being the most Republican state in the nation and the appearance, if not the fact, that Idaho Republicans can "do no wrong." I find these kinds of actions and thinking absolutely repulsive to those of us who have some sense of fair play, honesty, paying one's way, doing what's right, obeying the law, being a responsible citizen, patriotic, and a host of other attributes that this country - including Republicans - need to restore.

Idaho Republicans are pounding hard about cleaning up Washington, D.C. - it needs it. But it'd be good if they'd start in their own backyard FIRST by addressing those in their own ranks like Rep. Hart who use their positions as elected persons to benefit their own pockets at the expense of those of us who pay taxes. And we loudly object to how he uses our taxpayer money for his benefit.

D.L. MARTIN

Hayden