EDITORIAL: The Henderson way
There's an old saying that people are best judged by what they do when they believe no one's watching them. That certainly holds true in Henderson, where Mayor Andy Hafen is more than happy to let taxpayers serve his family instead of vice versa.
As reported Sunday by the Review-Journal's Eric Hartley, last month a city of Henderson employee spent most of a day fixing a waterline leak at the home of Mr. Hafen's daughter, Amanda Hafen. She wasn't billed for almost $870 in labor and parts until two weeks later, after Mr. Hartley began asking questions about the repair.
But Mr. Hafen presumably didn't like the questions, because he didn't respond to a request for comment. A mayor declining to discuss city business would be scandalous anywhere other than Henderson, where favors flow freely for friends of City Hall, and outside scrutiny is as welcome as sunshine in a vampire's crypt. No matter. The records tell the story just fine.
The city was notified of the leak June 3 after water was seen running down the street. Henderson's initial response was proper: sending a worker to shut off the water and leave messages with the property owner about the urgent need for a repair. The repair wasn't the city's responsibility because the leak was on her property.
However, at 11:05 that morning, an assistant to Mr. Hafen emailed the Utility Services Department asking that someone call the mayor on his cellphone. He must have requested a rapid response. The department head replied 22 minutes later that help was on the way. Less than an hour later, a technician was at Ms. Hafen's home digging up the pipe. The repair required two trips for supplies and took more than six hours.
Mr. Hartley requested records related to the repair on June 15. When he received those records this month — at a cost to the newspaper of $57.28 — they included an invoice to Ms. Hafen dated June 17, which was paid in full that day at 9:21 a.m. She sure was in a hurry to pay that bill!
The task of explaining this incredible series of coincidences fell to city spokesman Bud "Nothing to See Here" Cranor: "Nobody asked for any favors," he told Mr. Hartley. "This was just an issue of a guy in the field who took it on himself to go out in the field and initiate repairs, not requested by the mayor."
So a request from the mayor's office resulted in no one calling the mayor and a repair response time that would have punked every private-sector plumber in the valley? Uh-huh.
Which leads to another question: How many other nonfavors has Mr. Hafen not asked for?
