Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who appears to currently be in the midst of a tea party conversion out of fear he’ll become the next Bob Bennett, has found a new conservative hard line to cling to. At CPAC last week, it was beating up Washington. On Thursday, it was taking swings at Wisconsin protestors.
In a statement to reporters, Hatch said the thousands of state union workers gathered in and around the Wisconsin State Capitol were crossing the line by exercising their right to Freedom of Assembly.
“This is not the way public servants should behave,” Hatch said.
Like House Speaker John Boehner, Hatch took the opportunity to shout out tea party anti-union megastar, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) along with Wisconsin’s own would-be union buster, Gov. Scott Walker (R).
“In the face of fiscal crisis governors, like Scott Walker and Chris Christie, are taking these issues seriously, taking action, and making the tough choices to get their state back on a strong fiscal footing,” Hatch said. It is too bad that Washington Democrats are attacking them rather than following their lead.”
The senior Senator from Utah then said the protesters were “a bunch of self-interested government union employees” who are participating in an “assault” on the “Wisconsin taxpayers who have been funding their runaway spending.”
Read the whole statement:
In the face of fiscal crisis governors, like Scott Walker and Chris Christie, are taking these issues seriously, taking action, and making the tough choices to get their state back on a strong fiscal footing. It is too bad that Washington Democrats are attacking them rather than following their lead. President Obama’s comments today were, frankly, way off base. The only assault is from a bunch of self-interested government union employees who are putting their interests ahead of the interests of the Wisconsin taxpayers who have been funding their runaway spending. This is not the way public servants should behave.
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