FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 27, 2006 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brett Garner Office: (801) 983-7383 Cell: (801) 573-4759 ****PRESS RELEASE**** Ashdown: More Important Challenges to Nation than Flag Burning Challenger says incumbent is "unwilling to tackle real issues" SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Pete Ashdown reiterated his stand that the Flag Protection Amendment is a distracting political power-play by his opponent so he can stir up jingoism this election year. Ashdown decried his opponent's stand by challenging him to name one of the activist judges he so often refers to, calling up an incident earlier this year when Hatch could not do that. "Senator Hatch, for the second time this year, has brought forward an amendment whose sole purpose is to divide the country and selfishly score political points," Ashdown said. "I am not going to fall for this political game, this divide-and-conquer America tactic." The Democratic US Senate nominee in Utah stated he would be happy to debate this issue, but feels the US Senate has more pressing issues before it. "We have important issues that need to be addressed, but my opponent is unwilling to tackle these real issues." Ashdown specifically cited his opponent's failure to even begin Conference Committee talks on the immigration bill, "showing that he prefers political pandering to national security and fixing our broken system." Ashdown also noted the failure to totally stop the Divine Strake bomb test in Nevada's test range, which the Defense Department admitted could still happen as early as September. "I am totally opposed to Divine Strake; almost all of Utah agrees. However, our senior Senator is more concerned with these politically-motivated amendments to use his supposed power to stop radiation from contaminating Utah again." Ashdown noted that Senator Hatch, in March at Utah Valley State College, could not name one "activist" judge. "Senator Hatch blames 'activist' judges for almost all of society's ills," Ashdown said. "But when it comes down to actually knowing who they are and why they rule the way they do, he doesn't want to know anything." Ashdown also cited a recent article where Hatch admitted he didn't even meet with all of the Supreme Court justices when he was Judiciary chairman. "I would want to learn all I could from those men and women, regardless of whether I agreed or disagreed with their decisions." "Utah voters have a clear choice this November: I promise to be a Senator Utahns can count on to deal with the most pressing issues first," Ashdown said. "My opponent stands for distracting the Senate, continuing to avoid solving these tough problems, and misplacing whatever power he has rather than helping Utahns." Ashdown will meet with voters in Kearns Wednesday night at the Kearns Olympic Speedskating Oval 5662 S 4800 W, at 6 PM. He will available for comment at any time via the information above.