Democrat Scott Leckman trails Sen. Bob Bennett in the polls and in money.
But the general surgeon isn't giving up. As Bennett starts running his feel-good TV advertisements, Leckman is lucky to run some radio ads and buy a few billboards.So, like any underfunded challenger, Leckman tries for "free press" by holding press conference after press conference.
On Thursday, he released his considerable research on Bennett's five-year-plus voting record. Here are some of the votes Leckman criticizes:
- Bennett voted six times to uphold "corporate welfare" by opposing closing various business tax loopholes, says Leckman. Four of the six amendments were sponsored by Democratic senators. Bennett, of course, is a Republican.
- Bennett was one of only 18 senators to vote against a motion that would take away $2 million spent to market U.S. mint products at overseas fur fashion shows. Bennett is quoted in the New York Times as saying the professional marketers should decide where it is best to spend the money, not senators. The motion to remove the $2 million ultimately passed.
- In 1995, Bennett and a number of other senators voted not to change the long-standing federal mineral lease rates. The result is that Cyprus-Amax Minerals leases 175 acres of public land for $875, and minerals on that land are worth $3 billion, says Leckman.
Since 1991, Cyprus-Amax has given Bennett $10,000 in campaign contributions, says Leckman.
- Bennett voted in favor of federal money to build a new access road to Snowbasin Ski Area, which will be the site of several 2002 Winter Olympic events. Bennett requested that the Forest Service design the road. Federal agencies don't have to comply with the normal National Environmental Policy Act, which could mean the road may not meet those stan-dards.
Little America and Sinclair Oil owner Earl Holding and his wife have donated $2,000 to Bennett's campaigns, says Leckman.
A Holding official told state lawmakers that if federal land were traded so the ski resort could expand, the resort would pay for the road. The land was traded, but the resort balked at paying for the road, so Bennett and other members of the Utah delegation stepped in.
- Bennett opposed raising federal livestock grazing permits to levels paid to graze cows and sheep on private lands.
In 1993, Bennett got more than $15,000 in PAC money from the ranch-ing and livestock industries, says Leckman.
- Bennett voted against a bill that would have cut subsidies to the timber industry given to help loggers cut and maintain roads into areas where trees were harvested, says Leckman.