By Krystal Baker
Kissing his wife Linda after a heartfelt introduction, senate-hopeful Scott Howell, turned to the cameras, smiled and said, “It worked for Gore!”
Accompanied by his parents, children and three people Howell described as “genuine Utah heroes,” Howell introduced his platform of issues fueling the battle against incumbent Orrin Hatch on Wednesday.
“I want you to meet Ona Tuttle, my grandmother,” he said. “She’s 95 years old. As all of our seniors have, she has earned the right to quality health care. Marcia Cameron is a teacher in our public school system. It’s the hard work of people like these who make our country great.”
“People like Ona and Marcia deserve real representation in our nation’s capital. They are the reason I’m running. And they are the reason this campaign is about people, not politics,” Howell said.
At a carefully chosen setting, the steps of the Frank E. Moss United States Court House in downtown Salt Lake City, Howell introduced a third “genuine hero” – former Senator Frank E. Moss. Moss was unseated by Orrin Hatch in 1976.
Howell unveiled a poster that represents what he said is the one issue that he and Senator Hatch agree on. It stated:
“As Orrin Hatch said twenty-four years ago, ‘What do you call a senator who’s been in Washington for eighteen years? – You call him home!'”
Orrin Hatch, said Howell, ran against Moss with a one-issue campaign – “Moss had been in the office too long.”
Howell said he now brings the same message to Utah citizens.
“Now is the time for change,” he said.
Howell promises to serve with integrity, and outlined five campaign pledges, two of which are the promise to serve only two terms in the United States Senate, and the second is to not be a tool of special interests.
Scott Howell accused Orrin Hatch of using special interest of “soft money” during his presidential campaign, in the form of a use of a corporate jet. This trading of special interests resulted in the $1 billion in revenue for a medical drug company and was wrong, Howell said.
The first bill that Howell said he will support as Utah Senator will be campaign finance reform.
Communications director Paul Bohem said that just because everyone is doing it does not make it okay. It is that cynicism Bohem said, that the Howell campaign is trying to destroy.
Scott Howell has received 95 percent of his campaign finance from donations of private citizens, Bohem said.
During the questioning period Howell answered that he supports capital punishment
“It’s worked for Utah,” Howell said, but added that the government first needs to investigate everything with the new DNA testing that is available.
In addition to the death penalty Howell said he supports the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, and the appointment of qualified federal judges – not personal friends.
Howell promised to work with either Al Gore or George W. Bush if elected, and describes himself as a moderate, “seeking to bring a more balanced representation to our state government.”
“Some good hearted people told me when I decided to run for the United States Senate, that I could not beat Orrin Hatch,” Howell said. “They said that Utah was ‘too conservative.'”
“Let me tell you something – the citizens of Utah are not the kind of conservatives that hide from change. Utahns are the type of people that are choosy about the type of change they accept. And so am I!”
Howell concluded the press conference by introducing media representatives to Senator Frank E. Moss and family members.
