Election Jitters From Utah's Right

The usually unflappable Sen. Orrin Hatch from Utah seems worried. In an interview today on Fox News (open Yahoo! Video link), he told of the catastrophic changes that would take place under a President Obama administration. His passionate fears ranged from increased unionization, poor people's representation on the U.S. Supreme Court, and a return to "the old welfare system." Sounds good to us!

This is the same Sen. Hatch who refused to meet a few years ago with Utah welfare rights members, JEDI Women, in Washington DC. With the Welfare Made a Difference Campaign, JEDI Women and National Welfare Rights Union members tried to meet with the Senator to voice our concerns about problems with welfare reform legislation. We wanted to ask his support for college degrees that would allow more families to earn a better living.

In December 2004, Utah was given an 'F' on welfare for its failures on welfare policy and results. As a representative of low-income people, Senator Hatch deserves his own 'F.'

Note: Both the JEDI Women (www.jedi4women.org) and Welfare Made a Difference Campaign (www.wmadcampaign.org) sites are down.