Jim Matheson, congressman for Utah's second district, voted 'yea' on H.R.1, otherwise known around here as the looting bill.

There is a political aphorism in Utah about Democrats elected from this state. They vote "Utah values" until their party needs them, and then they throw residents of the state under the bus. In the election following that, they get thrown under the bus by the voters.

Bill Orton is the most recent example of this. He was the Congressman from the Utah 3rd district--arguably one of the most Republican in the nation, from 1991 through 1997. Orton had a tough race anyways because 1996 was a big-time Republic year, but the final blow was Bill Clinton's height-of-the-presidential-campaign, unilateral, dead-of-the-night declaration making the Escalante a national monument. Clinton held the annoucement in Arizona, not even daring to set foot in Utah, and notified the Utah congressional delegation and the governor only 24 hours beforehand.

Karen Shepherd was an even earlier casualty from the 2nd district, as Utah voters expressed their displeasure with Clinton's tax policies.

The so-called Blue Dogs showed their true colors on the looting bill, and I don't think anyone is going to forget it.