Bennett defends Senate flag vote

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Bennett stands by his vote against a constitutional amendment aimed at banning desecration of the U.S. flag.

The amendment's 66-34 vote Tuesday in the Senate was one vote short of the 67 needed to pass a change to the Constitution.

Bennett, R-Utah, was one of three Republicans who voted against the amendment, a position that was opposite of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who strongly supports the amendment.

Hatch spoke with Bennett Tuesday but did not expect him to change his vote. Bennett said Hatch has been "gracious" with his respect toward Bennett's stance.

While 10 states had split votes between their two senators, only Utah and Kentucky had two Republican senators who split votes.

Democrats had opposite votes in Arkansas, California, Michigan, New Jersey and West Virginia, where Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., voted against the amendment for the second time since 2000. He had voted for the amendment in previous sessions, according to the Citizens Flag Alliance. Iowa, New Mexico and Oregon have senators from each party where Democrats voted no while the Republican voted yes.

Adrian Cronauer, a national board member for the Citizens Flag Alliance, said that four out of five people want the flag protected, and if senators voted the way the majority of their constituents would want them to, the amendment would have passed.

"The people themselves elect senators," Cronauer said, pointing out that this was changed from senators getting elected by the states. "They are sent there to represent the people, not their own viewpoints."

By voting against the amendment, Bennett is "running a risk of angering constituents" on this one issue, Cronauer said.

But Bennett said his position on the flag amendment is well-known and has been for more than a decade.

"There is no question that there are some Utahns that are disappointed," Bennett said. "But if I had changed my vote, I think I would get a lot more angry e-mails and phone calls than the ones that are coming in now."

He said when ads run telling people to call his office and urge him to vote in favor of the amendment, he said instead people call and tell him to "stick by your guns."

Bennett said whenever this issues comes up, veterans groups come to talk to him about it and after discussing it, they walk away understanding his point of view.

Bennett is against flag burning but does not want to amend the Constitution over it. He believes the flag can be protected by passing a bill that the Supreme Court could not find unconstitutional.

The Senate also rejected a proposal Tuesday, 36-64, that included Bennett's own bill designed to protect the flag. Hatch voted against it while Bennett voted for it.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., voted in favor Bennett's bill but also in favor of the constitutional amendment. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., voted against both items.

"In the end, you have to do what you think is the right thing to do," Bennett said. "I'm sent here to go through the issues and to make a decision. If the public doesn't like that decision, they can always change me."

Bennett said he will wait and see whether he will introduce a flag bill again. He said it is unlikely to ever get out of committee as long as the constitutional amendment option is still alive. Hatch said Tuesday that he will continue to introduce the amendment until it gets passed.

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