By paul rolly

| Tribune Columnist

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney long has been derided for his serial flip-flopping on key issues, and recently had to explain the lower tax rate he has paid compared to most Americans, and bank accounts in places like the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

But a little historical research finds he not only has been an issues flip-flopper, he was a residence flip-flopper, which saved him a ton of property-tax money on the mansion he owned in Deer Valley.

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After Romney completed his three-year-job as president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and began running for governor of Massachusetts in 2002, the Boston Globe found he had declared his 10,424 square feet on 10.88 acres in Deer Valley as his primary residence. Because a primary residence is taxed at a considerably lower rate than a vacation home, Romney saved more than $54,000 in property taxes over three years.

But when he ran for governor, he declared that he had been a resident of Massachusetts for at least the previous seven years, a requirement to run for governor there, and that his home in Deer Valley was a secondary residence.

Oops.

When it came to light that Romney was a Utah resident when it benefited him to be a Beehiver, but a Massachusetts resident when it served his purposes to be an Old Bay Stater, it was described as "an honest mistake."

In fact, then-Summit County Assessor Barbara Kesser took the blame. She said she had pored through Romney’s property tax records and concluded that someone in her office mistakenly switched the status of the Deer Valley estate from vacation home to primary residence in 1999 while entering tax information into the computer.

And Romney was so busy saving the Olympics, he just didn’t catch it for three years.

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Jazz have near miss » Perhaps as a testament to good technology and a quick-thinking staff, the Utah Jazz dodged a bullet Friday during the Oklahoma City game when the 20,000 fans at EnergySolutions Arena almost experienced a Janet Jackson moment.

During time-outs, the Jazz video crew routinely scans the audience and puts faces of fans on the JumboTron for all to see. Arguably the most popular feature is the Kiss-Cam when the crew finds couples in the stands with the trailer, "give her a kiss."

Friday, during a time-out, the crew scanned the crowd for those most enthusiastically dancing to the music when the camera focused on a woman who was shaking her body and waving her arms.

As the crowd cheered her enthusiasm, she suddenly, without warning, grabbed her low-cut top and yanked it down. The crew cut away from her image just before she was able to bare all. The crowd’s cheers quickly turned to groans.

Jazz spokeswoman Linda Luchetti said the technology system worked just like it is supposed to. The crew cut away before anything really offensive occurred.

But it’s a reminder of the challenges sports franchises face when they host the equivalent of a small city with no guarantee how people are going to act.

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Freudian slip? » The Utah Republican Party recently mailed packets to the precinct chairmen that contain all the rules and protocol for next month’s caucus meetings at which delegates and precinct officers will be elected.