--- title: Sen. Orrin Hatch 'Grateful' for Being Utahn of the Year description: Sen. Orrin Hatch thanked the Salt Lake Tribune for naming him Utahn of he Year, but the accompanying article was highly critical. canonical: https://time.com/5079516/orrin-hatch-utahn-of-the-year/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-26T15:36:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:40:53.755Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senator Grateful for Being Named 'Utahn of the Year.' But the Article Was Scathing og:description: A newspaper slammed his "utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power" og:url: https://time.com/5079516/orrin-hatch-utahn-of-the-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted0309c8a136a95a/6988f685656a3f0cf5bd2fcd/orinn-hatch.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Speaker Ryan And Members Of Congress Hold Enrollment Ceremony To Mark Passage Of Tax Reform Bill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senator Grateful for Being Named 'Utahn of the Year.' But the Article Was Scathing twitter:description: A newspaper slammed his "utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted0309c8a136a95a/6988f685656a3f0cf5bd2fcd/orinn-hatch.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sen. Hatch 'Grateful' for Being Named Newspaper’s 'Utahn of the Year.' But the Article Was Scathing  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 26, 2017 3:36 PM UTC  Sen. Orrin Hatch speaks during a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enrollment ceremony on Dec. 21, 2017. Sen. Orrin Hatch speaks during a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enrollment ceremony on Dec. 21, 2017.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 26, 2017 3:36 PM UTC Utah Senator Orrin Hatch [has been named](http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/12/25/the-salt-lake-tribune-names-sen-orrin-hatch-who-urged-trump-to-trim-bears-ears-and-guided-a-tax-overhaul-through-congress-as-utahn-of-the-year/) the Salt Lake _Tribune’s_ “Utahn of the Year,” a designation the lawmaker [has since called](https://twitter.com/OrrinHatch/status/945375067927490560) “a great Christmas honor.” Sen. Hatch may want to go back and read [the _Tribune_‘s accompanying editorial](http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2017/12/25/tribune-editorial-why-orrin-hatch-is-utahn-of-the-year/) again. The piece, which explains the logic behind Hatch’s selection — “lest our readers, or the honoree himself, get the wrong impression” — is far from flattering. “The selection of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch as the 2017 Utahn of the Year has little to do with the fact that, after 42 years, he is the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, that he has been a senator from Utah longer than three-fifths of the state’s population has been alive,” it reads. “It has everything to do with recognizing: * Hatch’s part in the dramatic dismantling of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. * His role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in passing a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code. * His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.” The editorial goes on to slam Hatch for the length of his tenure in the Utah Senate, a position he said he would give up after his 2012 reelection campaign. It even suggests that, if the senator doesn’t end his career himself, “the voters should end it for him.” None of that, apparently, caught Hatch’s attention. Instead, he [tweeted the link to a separate, four-day-old _Tribune_ editorial](https://twitter.com/OrrinHatch/status/945461927412514816) praising the tax plan he helped pass. > [](https://twitter.com/OrrinHatch/status/945375067927490560) Sen. Orrin Hatch 'Grateful' for Being Utahn of the Year ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5079516/orrin-hatch-utahn-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5079516/orrin-hatch-utahn-of-the-year/"},"headline":"Sen. Hatch 'Grateful' for Being Named Newspaper’s 'Utahn of the Year.' 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