POCATELLO — Friends say many will remember the difficulties former U.S. Congressman George Hansen had, while few remember that he was cleared of any wrongdoing a decade later.
Those who knew him, who had an opportunity to work beside him, say he was a dynamic personality with an endless supply of energy that he used in his struggles to defend the “little guy.”
Thursday morning, at a medical center in Pocatello, Hansen died, bringing his lifetime pursuit of holding government accountable to a close. He was 83 years old.
“He believed in the (U.S.) Constitution, and believed in individual liberty,” said Bill Hansen, George’s son. “When he was in office, he was always trying to make sure government was accountable to people, to make sure the government served the people and not people serving the government.”
Hansen’s political career began in the late 1950s when he ran and won mayor’s office in Alameda, which was later absorbed into Pocatello.
“He basically ran because there were no sidewalks in Alameda like there were in Pocatello,” Bill said. “He was a grass roots politician. He was not part of the political machine in Idaho. He got into politics because of local issues.”
His passion eventually led Hansen, a Republican, to take on U.S. Rep. Ralph Harding, who represented Idaho’s 2nd District, in 1964. He took 52 percent of the vote and won re-election in 1966.
But in 1968, Hansen took a shot at the U.S. Senate, running against incumbent Frank Church, another beloved Idaho politician. Church won handily, taking 60 percent of the vote.
It was during this time that Connie Hansen, George’s wife and constant political partner, as many put it, ran for and won a seat on the Pocatello City Council. She served in that role for two years, until 1974, when Hansen took back the 2nd District seat he’d left behind in 1968.
He continued to win re-election until 1984, when legal troubles and a second shot taken by Richard Stallings was enough to unseat Hansen. Stallings had run against Hansen in 1982, taking nearly 48 percent of the vote. In 1984, Stallings won the seat by less than 200 votes.
Hansen was reprimanded in 1984 by the U.S. House of Representatives for failing to include transactions on federal disclosure forms. He was later convicted of failing to file full disclosure forms and served 15 months in prison.
It was 10 years later, in 1995, when Hansen was cleared and his conviction was overturned as the result of another case reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court that brought with it a different interpretation of the law under which Hansen was convicted.
“A lot of people still don’t know that,” said Evan Frasure, former state office candidate and friend of Hansen’s. “Everything was overturned. He even ended up receiving his Congressional pension. He was cleared of everything.”
Frasure said he would often visit Hansen at the medical center where he was residing, even during his campaign earlier this year for Idaho Secretary of State.
“George asked me, ‘How can I help,’” Frasure said. “Here’s a guy in a wheel chair, not in very good health, and he wanted to know how he could help me.”
Frasure said Hansen did help him, taking as much campaign material as he could and passing it around to all he came into contact with.
“This is a guy who never quit,” Frasure said.
Pocatello City Councilman Jim Johnston described Hansen similarly. Johnston worked for Hansen as his campaign manager during that 1974 run to regain his House seat.
“He just never seemed to get tired,” Johnston recalled. “He just worked and worked. We would drive from here to Boise and back in a day, and all over Idaho, and he would always remain fresh.”
Johnston said the passion that really drove Hansen was his desire to serve his constituents.
“I never did see that go away,” Johnston said.
Johnston’s wife, Karen Johnston, recalled a man who could always make connections with other people.
“I remember how friendly he always was, and how he made everyone else feel important and valued,” she said.
In recent years, Hansen dealt with declining health and the death of his wife of 61 years, Connie, who died in April of last year.
Bill Hansen said that if people remember one thing about his father, he would like it to be the way that he was consistently willing to take on any governmental entity, foreign or domestic, to support his constituents.
“When he took on government, it was always to help other people while the government was standing by and doing nothing,” Bill said.
One such example, he said, was when Hansen, in 1979, went to Iran in an attempt to negotiate the release of the U.S. citizens being held hostage there.
“It was always about constituent service,” he said. “It was about bringing better services, the simple things in life for Alameda.”