What’s Good For The Goose
1 Comment Published by DanM October 28th, 2008 in National and International Issues, Southern Utah Places, Southern Utah Talking Points and Questions.Is good for our own Senator Hatch too.
It’s a smokey, depressing day in Color Country. There are several fires burning in various parts of the Kolob and down canyon winds during the night bring a thick gray smoke. Utah Fire Info claims that all of them are prescribed fires or fire use fires (fires that they’ve decided do more good than harm so they just let them burn themselves out). Whatever. They make the air pretty unpleasant anyway.
But the wind switches in the morning and starts blowing it back up canyon so things will get better.
Fall is the finest season in Color Country. You can count on quite a few days where the sun is warm and the nights are cool. There haven’t been any dangerous fires here in Color Country all summer long. It’s something to be very grateful about.
Yesterday, I shared my joy at the conviction of one of the worst liars in Washington, Ted Stevens. Here’s hoping that he actually sees the inside of a jail cell.
It’s interesting to see how the other politicians are lining up for and against him. To their credit, McCain and Palin are putting themselves on the right side of the issue. Palin said he should “do the right thing.” (Does she mean Stevens should fall on his sword like a defeated Roman general?) McCain was less ambiguous and simply said he should resign now.
But his cohort in Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski, stuck by Stevens saying, “I plan to continue to stand with him.” It’s worth noting that Senator Murkowski was appointed to fill a seat by her own father after he vacated it. Alaskans passed a referendum to make sure that doesn’t happen again. It’s another reminder that you can’t trust ‘em an inch.
Another politician “standing by” the convicted felon Stevens is our own Senator Hatch, who also told the jury what a wonderful human being Stevens is. Why would Hatch go out of his way to defend Stevens?
Maybe it’s because, if there really was perfect justice, Hatch would be looking out through steel bars too.
In the buildup to the Winter Olympics, Hatch and Utah billionaire Earl Holding swapped favors to further enrich Holding with a profitable contract for the Olympics at Snow Basin, a federally financed road making it much faster to reach the airport, and a land swap that the Forest Service rejected until they came under intense political pressure.
Hatch got his share of the booty too with an 80-acre parcel of land up Weber Canyon that was made much more valuable by the same taxpayer expense. In terms of money received, Hatch was rewarded much more richly than Stevens. And, like Stevens, Hatch didn’t disclose his conflict of interest. Like Stevens, he claimed he “forgot” and was totally innocent.
Unlike Stevens, Hatch was never convicted of a crime. They should have convicted Holding first and then nailed Hatch, like they did with Stevens.
But it does make Hatch’s enthusiastic defense of Stevens much more understandable.
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I don’t have much use for Hatch — if he did something illegal he should have been prosecuted. That is the only way to be rid of him since Utah will never vote him out for non-illegal corruption.
His standing by Stevens is perfectly understandable. Both Republicans with 30-plus years in the Senate. I’m sure they are thick as thieves.
There was no down side for Hatch. If Stevens was not convicted Hatch would be on the good side of a very powerful Senator. And with Stevens being convicted Utah will shrug it off and re-elect our Senator for Life if he runs again.