Phil Lyman

Phil Lyman is an resident of Blanding, Utah who currently represents district 73 in the Utah House of Representatives. District 73 includes the counties of San Juan, Kane, Garfield, Wayne, Beaver, Piute, and part of Sevier, in the Utah House of Representatives.^[1] By profession he is a Certified Public Accountant and has been active in the business community in Blanding and the surrounding region. He is married to Jody Shumway Lyman and they have five children.

As a San Juan County Commissioner, Lyman served as chairman of the board of commissioners, as chairman of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, as a member of the Pension Finance and Inter-governmental Relations Committee and Native American Relations Subcommittee in NACO (the National Association of Counties). While commissioner he helped to establish the San Juan County Public Health Department which brought desperately-needed services to the Southeast Corner of Utah and especially to the Navajos living on the Utah portion of the Utah Navajo Reservation. Lyman has been described as a firebrand in the State Legislature where he replaced another notable firebrand Mike Noel in 2019.^[2] In 2014 Lyman led a protest in Recapture Canyon, the site of native American cliff dwellings. Lyman contended that driving on county road D5314 was not a trespass and that politically motivated environmental groups were manipulating the Bureau of Land Management. He was charged and convicted of misdemeanor trespassing, for which he served ten days in jail and paid restitution of $96,000. Robert Shelby, the federal judge who presided over Lyman's trial, was forced to recuse himself and was removed from the case because of his close ties to environmental groups which he failed to disclose. After recusal by 3 other federal judges, Lyman's motion for a new trial was rejected by federal Judge David Nuffer, who then presided over sentencing. On December 22, 2020, Lyman was pardoned by President Donald Trump, though by accepting this pardon he admitted guilt to the offenses of which he was charged.^[3]

Following the trial where Lyman was charged with misdemeanor Trespass and Conspiracy to Trespass, U.S. Attorney, John Huber, said, "maybe Lyman did not trespass, but others did." The prosecution was forced to drop all claims of damages after archeologists performed a study of the area. Their report read, not only were there no damages to archaeology, but the notion that there could have been damages to this county maintained road is spurious and unfounded.^{[citation needed]} Still Judge Nuffer determined to award the Bureau of Land Management with the $96,000 they claimed to have spent on their study.

In 2021 Lyman sponsored Utah HB415 which authorized Utah to review and reject federal executive orders, including monument designations and 2nd amendment orders, that the Utah Constitutional Defense Council finds unconstitutional. Lyman was instrumental in the overturn of the Bears Ears National Monument in 2017. A motivating event for Lyman was when the Bureau of Land Management along with 300+ federal agents raided resident's homes in his hometown of Blanding in 2009 under Operation Cerberus. This event has shaped his political career.^{[citation needed]} His distrust for federal agencies, US attorneys, and federal judges, is not something he hides. Many in Southern Utah agree with his sentiments.^{[citation needed]}

References[]

External links[]

• Lyman's business web site