I read with great interest the article in the Utah County section, dated Nov. 11, about Robert Muhlestein and his decision to quit his job. I am a very good friend of Mr. Muhlestein and did some work on his campaign. I felt that the article was quite fair and accurate, but I took some exception to a few things in the story.
The article wasn't entirely about the Hatch Act and the actions taken by Mr. Muhlestein. The bulk of the article contained the responses from Sen. Money and the rest of the Utah Democratic Party. One item I would like to address is the reference to inaccuracies in Mr. Muhlestein's campaign pamphlet. No mention was made by Sen. Money of the efforts of Mr. Muhlestein to pull all undistributed copies of the pamphlet. At the time he did this, less than half of them had been distributed. Of course, none of the inaccuracies were intentional, but Sen. Money, now that he has lost an election he was so sure he would win, doesn't indicate this.He was aware of Mr. Muhlestein's attempt to call in all undistributed pamphlets, but it seems that he is only interested in tarnishing the new senator-elect's reputation over an incident that had very little, if any, effect on the race. There was never supposed to be any mention of the incident after it was rectified. Mr. Money can verify this, if he is willing to do so.
Another thing I would like to address is the notion that Mr. Muhlestein should have handled the Hatch Act situation earlier in the campaign. Mr. Muhlestein made his decision to resign less than one week after finding out he was in violation. I don't think that the Democratic Party's idea that since nothing can be done about it at this point, "it's still worth the public knowing about," is valid.
What does the Hatch Act have to do with whether or not Sen.-elect Muhlestein can serve his constituents? Nothing. I think it has the opposite effect than what they hope it will. It should be obvious that Mr. Muhlestein put his belief that he could make a difference in the Senate ahead of his desire to remain employed by the state of Utah. That says a lot about his character. Of course, I understand the bitterness the Democrats have at losing a race they were sure they would win.
Jeremy Standifird
Springville