Then-Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt "has agreed to call Orin Hatch [sic] who has suddenly gone off the reservation & is throwing rocks at me & the exec. Staff," Reagan wrote in a Nov. 10, 1987, diary entry.

Reagan misspelled Hatch's first name throughout his diary entries, which are available in The Reagan Diaries, which is a compilation of the daily journal entries by Reagan during his eight years in office.

Reagan's entry about Hatch refers to the Utah Republican taking shots at White House staffers over the doomed nomination of Judge Douglas Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ginsburg withdrew as a nominee after admitting he had smoked marijuana as a Harvard law professor around 1977.

Hatch, usually a stalwart defender of a GOP White House, was ticked that Reagan staffers didn't vet the candidate better and called them "gutless wonders." He had argued that Reagan should find those responsible and "bust 'em right out of the White House," according to news reports from the time.

He does, however, praise Hatch, Laxalt and then-Sen. Strom Thurmond for working to get Reagan's nominations appointed to the Civil Rights Commission.

"The Dems are being vicious and unprincipled," Reagan wrote on July 15, 1983. "Orin has been working too hard - he's very emotional & on a thin edge."

Hatch made another appearance in Reagan's diary over the senator's efforts to get a pardon for the Rev. Sun Yung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church who was convicted of filing false income tax returns and conspiracy.

Hatch objected to the jailing of Moon on the grounds that it came close to violating his freedom of religion rights.

"Senator Hatch is after me to grant clemency to the Rev. Moon," Reagan wrote in a Dec. 24, 1984, entry. "I've explored this & find I just can't. I have, however, taken action to see if I can grant him a furlough over New Years. It seems that day is the holiest in that religion."

Reagan made one mention of his former Education secretary, Utahn Terrel Bell, regarding a Cabinet meeting in September 1981.

"Discussion with Secretary of Energy James Edwards and Secretary of Education Terrel Bell on which of their two departments should be dissolved first," Reagan wrote.

Neither department was ever axed.

Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is mentioned in Reagan's diaries as well. The late president had written about making a call on April 18, 1985, to Garn during his space flight. Reagan also mentioned that in 1982, Garn unsuccessfully lobbied him to support a bill to subsidize home mortgages.

In yet another entry on Hatch, Reagan mentioned how he had made a trip to the gym, hit the shower, eaten an early dinner and still made it to the Sheraton Hotel for a Hatch fundraiser.

"He raised $530,000 & I was home at 8:20 p.m."

tburr@sltrib.com