Hatch has state GOP chairman on his payroll

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Washington » The chairman of the Utah Republican Party has quietly taken $5,000 a month from Sen. Orrin Hatch, even though he promised to stop working for the senator when he became the party's leader more than a year ago.

As chairman, Dave Hansen is supposed to remain impartial and he says he has. He calls the $60,000 "a bonus" for his past work as Hatch's campaign manager. He has not worked for Hatch since becoming chairman, he says, though he has helped him on occasion and at least once represented the campaign in a news article.

Other leading Republicans, including Rep. Jason Chaffetz, call the monthly payments inappropriate and "unethical" for both Hatch and Hansen.

"I'm just shocked that they would do this thinking nobody would notice," said Chaffetz, who has said he may challenge Hatch in 2012. "You don't put a party official on your payroll. That is just not right. Orrin Hatch knows what he is doing. He has obviously stepped over an ethical line. It's just infuriating."

Hatch's spokeswoman Heather Barney fired back saying there is "nothing unethical with helping the party.

"As chairman, Dave Hansen has worked really hard for everyone, including Congressman Chaffetz. The Congressman's comments took an already thankless job and made it even more thankless," Barney said. "Everyone understands Congressman Chaffetz's motives, but it's disappointing to see him making such an irresponsible statement."

Hansen, a veteran of Utah politics, became Hatch's campaign manager in 2004 and stepped down when Republican delegates elected him chairman in June 2009. During most of that time, Hatch paid him $10,000 a month. That amount dropped to $5,000 in February and has remained at that level ever since. The payments are listed in campaign disclosures -- before and after Hansen became chairman -- as consulting fees.

Hansen's close ties to Hatch became an issue in his race for party chairman because some worried he would favor long-term incumbents such as Sens. Hatch and Bob Bennett. His opponent, Steve Harmsen, a former Salt Lake County councilman, criticized Hansen's ongoing work for the senator and on Thursday was not surprised to learn that Hansen had remained on the payroll.

"If they didn't think that was going to happen, then they were naïve," he said. "If Orrin Hatch wanted to give me $100,000 a year, I wouldn't take it if I were the chairman."

At that time, Chaffetz endorsed Hansen over Harmsen, but with a catch.

"My endorsement and support of Dave Hansen was conditional upon him leaving Orrin Hatch's payroll," said Chaffetz. "Evidently he has continued to take money from him. That is just not right."

On at least one occasion, the Hatch campaign asked Hansen to speak on its behalf.

After Chaffetz delivered some pointed remarks about Hatch's age and longevity on Fox News in May, Hatch's spokeswoman referred a Salt Lake Tribune reporter seeking a response to Hansen, who at the time described himself as the former campaign chairman.

He told The Tribune at the time: "Anybody who wants to take on Senator Hatch has to understand that there is a reason he has won six campaigns in a row. He is a good campaigner and a good senator."

Hansen now says he thought he was responding only as "someone who was familiar with Republican politics."

Former U.S. Rep. Merrill Cook worked on Harmsen's campaign and he believes Hansen directly violated a campaign promise.

"He certainly told everyone he is not going to stay on that payroll if he was elected as chairman," said Cook, a member of the state party's central committee.

Hansen freely acknowledges he made that promise and he believes he has been true to his word. He said he would have liked to receive the $60,000 in some other fashion, but decided to spread it out over the year because the Republican party chairman doesn't get paid.

"It would have been a lot cleaner if I could have done it a different way," Hansen said. "The simple fact is that the job doesn't pay anything. It doesn't even pay my expenses."

Hansen did not tell anyone in the party he would continue to receive payments from the senator, which also included $730 for expenses, such as his cell phone.

"To be honest with you nobody has ever asked me about it," he said.

The $5,000 he received in June is the last such payment, he said. He will not take any more money from Hatch during the remainder of his term as chairman, which ends next June. Hansen is also a paid consultant for Overstock.com, led by Patrick Byrne, and SK Hart, led by Khosrow Semnani. Byrne and Semnani are two of the most prominent Republican donors in Utah.

While Cook does not think it's right for Hatch to still employ Hansen, he did say he believes Hansen has been a fair and competent chairman.

"I think he's done a great job," he said. "I just think he should sever that situation somehow if he wants to continue on as chairman."

Chaffetz also said he believes Hansen has been a fair arbiter during the 2010 Senate race, which saw Bennett lose at convention. Mike Lee is the Republican nominee.

Hansen said it's unlikely he would run for another term as party chairman, because Hatch intends to run for a seventh term in 2012.

"The simple fact is, if he is running for re-election I will not be running for state chairman," he said. "It wouldn't be right."