The well-known Grammy Award-winning producer, Dallas Austin, who is represented by the same law firm Hatch employs to handle his music dealings, pleaded guilty to possessing 1.26 grams of cocaine. He was sentenced to spend at least four years in prison in the United Arab Emirates, a country that has little tolerance for drug crimes or those who commit them, no matter their nationality.

But, after a few well-placed telephone calls from Hatch to the U.A.E. consul in Washington, D.C., with whom the senator has "good relations," Austin is on his way home.

Hatch's misplaced concern was put in accurate perspective by his Democratic opponent in this year's senatorial race, Pete Ashdown. He pointed out the irony of Hatch interceding for a man who admitted breaking the drug laws of another country but doing nothing to help an Indian national and his family, 16-year residents of the U.S. and business owners in Utah, who were recently deported because of a technicality in U.S. immigration law.

By contrast, Austin's trouble was the result of his own disregard for the strict and widely understood laws of the Persian Gulf emirate. Any college-age tourist could have told him it's not only illegal but stupid to be caught with drugs in a Muslim country.

Hatch's stated justification for interceding was his opposition to mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines that don't take into account the specific circumstances of each case. We agree with Hatch that mandatory-minimum sentences don't make sense in the U.S. court system, but Austin was not sentenced in one of our federal courts.

It was presumptive and an abuse of power for Hatch to pull strings to pre-empt the sentence, especially when there was a good chance Austin would have been deported anyway.

Hatch should save his influence for better causes. Heaven knows there are plenty around that don't involve admitted drug users with a stupefying lack of sense.