Hatch tweets praise for editorial criticizing him for ‘utter lack of integrity’

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Monday tweeted praise for a newspaper editorial that harshly criticized him and called for him to retire.

“Grateful for this great Christmas honor from the Salt Lake Tribune,” Hatch tweeted, with a photo of the newspaper’s front page that marks him as 2017’s “Utahn of the Year.”

Grateful for this great Christmas honor from the Salt Lake Tribune. For the record, I voted for @SpencerJCox and @rudygobert27. #utpol pic.twitter.com/7iFOBK6TWf

— Orrin Hatch (@OrrinHatch) December 25, 2017

The Salt Lake Tribune named Hatch their “Utahn of the Year,” an honor the paper said is given to an impactful Utahn, whether their contributions were “for good or for ill.” 

The editorial said that Hatch was given the designation based on “his utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power,” and told the longtime senator to “call it a career.”{mosads}

“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.”

In a second tweet, Hatch praised a separate editorial published in the paper on Dec. 22 that spoke positively of the GOP tax plan’s reduction to the corporate tax rate.

Great editorial from the @sltrib lauding our #TaxReform efforts: Reduction in corporate tax rate will boost the economy https://t.co/CgBcWHxknK #utpol

— Orrin Hatch (@OrrinHatch) December 25, 2017

In Hatch’s tweet about the “Utahn of the Year” designation, he noted that he voted for Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz in the reader poll for Utahn of the Year.

Hatch finished second-to-last in the Tribune’s unscientific online poll, but the paper noted that the title is a “recognition of a newsmaker’s influence or impact — for good or ill — not necessarily an honor for laudatory achievements.”