When Arizona elected Rep Jeff Flake
to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, it meant four BYU grads will be serving together
in the Senate come January.
Joining Flake in the upper chamber
of Congress will be fellow Cougars and sitting Republican senators Mike Lee
(Utah), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Mike Crapo (Idaho).
“Flake is a fiscal conservative, known for his
opposition to federal spending and rising deficits,” Catalina Camia wrote Wednesday for USA Today.
“In the race's final days, the six-term congressman got support from GOP
presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who argued that Flake would serve as a
roadblock to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.”
“Flake, a six-term Republican congressman, is
best known for his fierce opposition to ‘earmarks’ — special requests for federal
dollars for local pet projects such as roads and bridges,” the Associated Press
reported Wednesday. “He said his opposition is a move away from patronage and a
move toward basing funding for projects on merit.”
The Hill blogger Ben Geman noted
Wednesday how Flake is something of a political wild card when it comes to
climate change: The conservative Flake opposes cap-and-trade legislation and
federal carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants, according to
Arizona Public Radio. But Flake — whose campaign drew opposition from
environmentalists — also has a history of bucking his party on climate change.
In 2009, he introduced legislation … that would have imposed a tax on oil, gas
and coal production or imports.”
Jamshid Ghazi Askar is a graduate
of BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School and member of the Utah State Bar. Contact
him at jaslar@desnews.com or
801-236-6051.
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