Salt Lake City — Representative Mike Noel’s absurd plan to make Commissioner Phil Lyman’s appellate cost a public expenditure will be considered by the Constitutional Defense Council this morning at 9am in Room 210 of the Senate Office Building.
Better UTAH founder and Board President, Josh Kanter, issued the following statement:
“If the Constitutional Defense Council believes bailing out Lyman is an appropriate expenditure of public funds, they better be prepared to fight the inevitable legal challenge in court,” stated Kanter.
“Commissioner Phil Lyman made a choice – to violate the law in protest of BLM policy. For his actions, he got his day in court and he was found guilty. He is, of course, entitled to appeal that decision, but as in all acts of civil disobedience, actions have consequences.
“Even those who support Lyman and Noel should be outraged by the suggestion that the people of Utah should pay for Lyman’s ongoing defense. Such a precedent would suggest that all government protesters are entitled to a public defense – a proposition that would be contrary to over two hundred years of jurisprudence.”