Rep. Kevin Garn's hot tub revelations are not nearly as disturbing as the actions he took to cover his 25-year-old mistake. He paid a great deal of money to keep it hidden during his unsuccessful campaign for Congress. One wonders what other actions he would have taken in order to be elected. More important, once elected, what would he have paid, done or told to keep his position?

Garn's world-class hypocrisy is an unfortunate example of the behavior we have seen all too frequently from our elected officials and others. Honesty has often been cast aside to benefit an individual or a cause. Garn's deceit, once uncovered and confessed, resulted in a standing ovation from his peers in the Utah House of Representatives. Little wonder that we have an epidemic of this sort of behavior.

Richard W. Trevithick

Salt Lake City