Utah’s largest newspaper lashed into Orrin Hatch, the state’s senior senator, and called on the lawmaker to step down.
Utah’s largest newspaper lashed into Orrin Hatch, the state’s senior senator, in a scathing editorial that called on the lawmaker to step down.
The Salt Lake Tribune cited Hatch’s “utter lack of integrity,” his role in dismantling two national monuments and passing the GOP-led tax overhaul as well as a host of other issues as they called for the longest-serving Republican to call it quits.
The newspaper named Hatch Utahn of the Year, a dubious honor, for his “utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.”
The 83-year-old tweeted out a picture of the front page editorial, saying he was “grateful for this great Christmas honor.”
The paper’s editorial board said that Hatch, who has been publicly weighing whether he would run for an eighth term next year, should retire for the sake of the state and his constituents.
“It would be good for Utah if Hatch, having finally caught the Great White Whale of tax reform, were to call it a career,” the piece read. “If he doesn’t, the voters should end it for him.”
Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been considering a 2018 run for Hatch’s seat should the elder statesman step down.
President Trump reportedly stepped into the fray and has encouraged Hatch to run again in an attempt to box out Romney, who has been critical of Trump.
