It is time for me to take a public stand in the Utah Senate race. I have been critical of many leaders in my Republican Party who have not taken a stand against the many reprehensible actions and character of former President Trump. He eschews any semblance of civility in his public discourse.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Sen. Mike Lee properly spoke out against Trump. In fact, he voted for Evan McMullin, as did I in that race. Sadly, after the election, he fell in line supporting the former President.
With the loss of the 2020 election, Lee supported, for a time, Trump’s efforts to invalidate the election. He failed to speak boldly defending the results of the election and refuting the absurd claims that the election was stolen.
As, like me, a lawyer, Lee knows full well the need for credible evidence to support the claims of the former president that the election was stolen. There never was any such evidence.
Lee should have been vocal about Trump’s precipitous actions and speeches leading up to the riot on January 6 that challenged the very essence of a peaceful transition of the government. If there ever was a time and need for a constitutional lawyer to stand-up and defend the Constitution, that was the time.
In the time following the 2020 election, Lee has not only been silent about the former president, but he continues to be a vocal supporter of former President Trump.
Many of us who admire Captain Moroni, who rallied his people by raising the Title of Liberty, were more than shocked by Lee’s public praise in Arizona of Donald Trump as a Captain Moroni. To compare a narcissistic, mean-spirited, womanizer who disregards the rule of law to Captain Moroni was a horrible analogy.
I am frustrated about Lee’s failure to propose solutions on many of the challenging issues facing our country. This year we Utahns honored the passing of Senator Orrin Hatch. He was honored as a man who worked to solve problems through the legislative process. He was successful because he could reach across the aisle, find common ground, work on compromises that were acceptable and necessary to address the nation’s problems.
Sadly, Lee and many elected officials from both parties refuse to do the same. Why? Because it is not politically expedient. Unlike our Utah Legislature, which addresses the thorny issues, our national legislature keeps kicking the cans down the road. Rather than leading out on proposing bills to solve those problems, he kicks the cans that litter our public discourse.
Lee is a returned missionary who served among the Spanish-speaking people of Texas. With that experience, I would expect that he would share the same concerns that I and many other similar returned missionaries have about finding common sense solutions to the immigration problem. Because of my concerns I have worked on those thorny immigration issues for many years including working on the passage of the successful Utah Compact.
Lee should be a vocal proponent of a solution for the Dreamers. Lee should not be hiding in the background because he considers that to be politically expedient. Rather, he should be a bold Captain Moroni educating his constituents on the desperate need to solve the problems. But he is not such a voice.
I owe it to myself, my family and friends and business colleagues to “call it as I see it.” I cannot be silent: I am publicly endorsing Evan McMullin in the race to represent us in the United States Senate. I believe he will be a fresh and needed voice to speak on behalf of all the citizens of Utah (not just the vocal base of one political party).
He, like all candidates, has his warts. But it is time to give someone else the chance to be an active voice to help a coalition of legislators who are striving to get things done.
Please join me in supporting Evan McMullin in this important race.
Robert Babcock
Robert F. Babcock, Salt Lake City, is a civil engineer, construction lawyer and life-long Republican who served with his wife as inner-city, Spanish-speaking missionaries in Washington State.
