Engineers News: July 2008
Utah PAC endorses member Ed Phillips
Utah House District 68 Candidate Ed Phillips was recently endorsed by District 12’s Political Action Committee (PAC). Phillips is also a retired 17-year member of Operating Engineers. The following is an account of his time in the union and in service to his community. We encourage you to vote for him in Utah’s Nov. 4 Primary Election.
Ed Phillips was born and raised in Millard County in a small town called Kanosh. Born in 1943, Ed lived in a time period and area where you learned to work at a very young age. Besides learning to operate farm machinery early in life, he also worked for a small local contractor lining irrigation ditches and canals with concrete. After graduating from high school, Ed followed in his father’s footsteps and went to work in the heavy construction industry as a laborer, doing anything to earn a shot at getting on a piece of equipment. The opportunity came in 1963 when he operated a screed on an asphalt-paving machine. At this time, Ed joined the Operating Engineers Apprenticeship Program, and as a result of his past work history, he gained an “A” card in 1965. This became Ed’s ticket for year-round work, as he was employed by Las Vegas signatory contractor V.C. Mendenhall Co., a company that contracted for work in Utah and Northern Nevada. The company had a second company, Ideal Asphalt Paving Co., in Southern Nevada and California. From 1964 until 1968, Ed worked as long as weather permitted on projects in Utah and Northern Nevada and was able to gain a work permit in Local 12 for winter work. Ed took a management position with the company in 1968 that mainly kept him in the Las Vegas area until 1971. The company was sold in 1971 and Ed, his wife and their new baby daughter moved back home to Kanosh.
He continued work as an Operating Engineer skilled on most types of equipment. During the next seven years, he was employed by L.A. Parson Co., W.W. Clyde Co. and ended his career as a foreman on a dirt spread for S.J. Groves & Sons Co.
The decision to leave the construction industry was a tough move to make but was the result of wanting to be home with his young family (now four daughters) and to pursue a career in law enforcement. Ed was recruited to run for Millard County Sheriff when he first moved back to Utah in 1971, but it wasn’t until 1978 that he decided to pursue this career change. He ran for sheriff as the Democratic candidate in November 1978 and won. He was subsequently elected six more times for a total of seven terms. In 2006, prior to filing time for an eighth term, he announced his decision to retire as sheriff. His near 30-year career in law enforcement ended with his last two years of employment serving as the Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the state of Utah. Ed also served in the Utah Army National Guard – C Battery 2nd Battalion 222nd Field Artillery – from 1964-1977.
Your PAC advises you to use your voice for labor and elect Ed Phillips for Utah House District 68 in the Nov. 4 Primary Election.
