Even as Our Nation Went to the Brink, Political Favors Continued

The senatorial candidate who went up in flames -- lost so bad it was a wildfire -- remains on a worthy Hatch watch.

Even while the Jeremy Johnson / John Swallow / Harry Reid scandal envelopes us, with Johnson wondering out loud what the difference is between lobbying and bribing, and even as we, the people, wonder as much as ever at the influence of campaign spending, comes Scott Howell, the defeated candidate for the U.S. Senate.

And, he says Hatch maneuvered a last-minute clip-on into the Fiscal Cliff legislation, delaying price controls on a life-saving drug. 

I fail to see how delaying such price controls would save us from going over the Fiscal Cliff. When I have heard about other riders on that bill, I have shaken my head. How is it that politicians would be so opportunistic as to extend to companies (can I say lobbyists?) political favors at a time like this?

Our nation's financial well-being is in the balance, and they are using the bill to attach pork barrel legislation and favors to lobbyists? Yes, it seems shameless.

Howell (in a Salt Lake Tribune opinion piece) points out that Amgen, the company that was being given permission to charge the public more for its drug, contributed heavily to Hatch's campaign.

Even though we might like Mr. Hatch, can we condone this? Should we not be demanding better? We should lament that our political system is so low that even some of those we consider as among the best are corrupted by the practice of extending favors to their political contributors, even as the nation is struggling mightily to avoid the Fiscal Cliff and many senators and representatives are feeling they have no choice but to vote for the legislation. They ended up voting for the pork barrel and the special interests even though opposed to them.

Putting such riders into bills is a time-honored protocol. Rewarding political contributors with favors is an accepted practice. This is the way business is done in Washington, and such practices did not pause even though our nation went to the brink of the Fiscal Cliff.

I like Sen. Hatch, but this is not right. The corruption is so en graven, that even some of the best and brightest find no wrong in joining into it.