Utah Democrats say a vote for Hatch is a vote for deadly firms

The Utah Democratic Party said a vote for incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is essentially a vote for death, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

The Tribune reported that state Democrats issued a news release Monday saying Hatch has accepted campaign donations from the world’s most deadly corporations, as listed on the website brainz.org. The release also said Hatch voted in ways that favored the corporations on several occasions.

Utah Democratic Party Chairman Jim Dabakis told the paper, "In order to raise the astonishing amount of $11 million for his reelection, Sen. Hatch has, no doubt, had to promise a lot to some very shady players."

The senator's Democratic opponent, Scott Howell, distanced himself from the allegations, saying the claims did not come from him.

Hatch’s campaign manager, Dave Hansen, said Democrats are “losing grip on reality.”

"What is it with these Democrats? First it was ‘Senator Hatch is going to die in office,’" a dig on the 78-year-old senator’s age, the paper reported. "Now they realized he’s not going to die, so they switched to ‘He’s going to kill everybody else.’ "

Dabakis has criticized Hatch for getting most of his campaign cash from outside groups rather than from donors within Utah. The Utah Democratic Party website says 91 percent of Hatch’s campaign funds are from out-of-state donors.

Some of the companies listed as donors include Monsanto, Phillip Morris and Pfizer.

Hatch is expected to win reelection easily on Nov. 6, after surviving a primary challenge earlier this year.

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