Letters loomed large

Last-minute revelations about a series of mysterious letters incumbent Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Orem, penned 20 years ago may have affected his bid for re-election to his House seat in District 59.

As of press time Tuesday, Lorie Fowlke, a 52-year-old lawyer and current stay-at-home mom, held a slight edge over Thompson in the Republican primary. With 40 percent of precincts reporting, Fowlke had 53 percent of the vote.

"I'm afraid to look at it right now," Fowlke said from her Orem home. "We're trying to be optimistic, but we really don't know what's going on."

Last week, copies of letters written by Thompson surfaced in random mailboxes in Orem. Thompson said the letters, written 20 years ago, were directed at Orem city officials who had failed to support him during an unsuccessful bid for City Council and included a note he had received from Ezra Taft Benson, a former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The note from President Benson included seven points of wisdom, Thompson said, some relating to the U.S. Constitution.

"They're (political enemies) trying to paint me as an ultraconservative," Thompson, an attorney seeking his second term in the Legislature, said Tuesday.

Because copies of the 20-year-old letters were sent anonymously and without a return address, Thompson says whoever sent them violated state campaign laws. The letters were paid for by people who know him and don't think he should be elected to public office, Thompson said. He has reported the case to the county attorney's office, which is conducting an investigation, said Utah County elections coordinator Chris Swenson.

Thompson said he thinks Fowlke had something to do with the letters, a charge she denies.

"We had no knowledge of it; we didn't have anything to do with it," said Fowlke's husband, Will. "Frankly, we were disgusted with the letters and feel like it was an inappropriate thing to do."

According to Lorie Fowlke, one of the letters Thompson wrote was addressed to former Orem Mayor DeLance Squire. Squire, who served as mayor from 1982 to 1985, said Thompson told him in the letter he had been blessed by an LDS bishop to be "an elder who saves the U.S. Constitution" and that Squire had ruined Thompson's bid for City Council by not supporting him. He said Thompson included the note from President Benson.

"He felt that was an endorsement for his calling, that he was following the direction of President Benson," Squire said. "He says he's a constitutionalist. He's so far out there. He liberally mixed religion with politics, and it was a bad combination."