FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 3, 2006
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*****PRESS RELEASE*****
Ashdown Campaign Pledges Unveiled
SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Democratic US Senate Nominee (UT) Pete Ashdown
unveiled five campaign pledges today in a news conference at his
campaign headquarters in Salt Lake City. Ashdown noted how his campaign
pledges would be different from other elected officials' broken campaign
promises by using his opposition to hold him accountable. Ashdown also
commented on the current status of a debate with other Senate candidates.
Ashdown's five pledges cover how he will act as a US Senator and fulfill
his overall promise to make democracy democratic again. The pledges
range from the general ("Democracy, Open and Honest Leadership, Fair
Elections") to the specific ("Fiscal Responsibility" includes a
Matheson-style pledge to forgo pay raises; "No Nuclear Testing" says no
to testing in Nevada). Ashdown noted the failure of previous
candidates, whether it was the Bennett and Cannon defunct term-limit
pledges, or Senator Hatch's 1976 unfulfilled promise to resign if he
votes for increases in Federal spending.
To make these promises stick, Ashdown will send signed, notarized,
copies to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Chairman of
the Utah Republican Party, and several county Republican chairs in Utah
(see attachment). "If I break one of these pledges, I want to be held
accountable," Ashdown said. "I doubt the Republicans will have any
trouble calling me on it if I am not forthright in keeping these promises."
Ashdown also commented on the status of the debate challenge he has
issued to all of the candidates in the race. Currently, Scott Bradley,
Julian Hatch, and Roger Price have agreed to a debate in the Salt Lake
City Main Library Auditorium on August 12, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
Dave Star Seely cannot attend but will be represented by the Libertarian
Party of Utah chairman Rob Latham. However, the Ashdown campaign has
not received any correspondence in reply to the certified mail letter
and PGP-signed email inviting Senator Hatch to debate. The US Postal
Service has confirmed the letter has been delivered.
There was a report late last night that the Hatch campaign is refusing
to debate in August because (in a varied and circuitous explanation) the
campaign season does not begin until after Labor Day. Ashdown condemned
this in the press conference, noting "America's greatest political debates,
the Lincoln-Douglas debates, began in August." The first Lincoln-Douglas
US Senate debate was on August 21, 1858 in Ottawa, Illinois, according to
the National Park Service Lincoln Home website. Ashdown noted that Hatch
was only avoiding the debate in the name of political expediency, "that
may help him win the election, but will not serve to inform the voters of
Utah."
This weekend, Ashdown will continue touring around the state, appearing
in the Uintah Basin in Celebration Parade in Roosevelt and the Wasatch
County Fair Parade in Heber City, on Saturday morning and afternoon,
respectively.
