Another One
Robert Gehrke of the Salt Lake Tribune offers us another glimpse at one of my opponent’s many misleading assertions and statements.
One of the nagging issues in the 3rd District battle between Jason Chaffetz and Rep. Chris Cannon is the fact that Chaffetz actually lives in the 2nd District. Now, as we explained in a story last month, there’s nothing legally wrong with that, but it could pose political problems for GOP voters who wonder why he didn’t run against Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson in the district where he lives.
But Chaffetz’ campaign and his supporters have put forth an argument that needs a fact check. In a letter to delegates sent before the Republican State Convention, Rep. Craig Frank, a Chaffetz supporter, appears to try to clarify the situation, but instead muddies it with pretty overt misinformation.
“Some of you have expressed concerns to me about the fact that Jason lives in Alpine — two miles outside the Third District,” Frank writes in the letter. “Let me assure you that this is not a problem. As a legislature, we have already approved a new boundary for the Third Congressional District which wil include Jason’s home in Alpine after 2010. In reality, Jason lives closer to you than either Mr. Cannon or Mr. Leavitt and can certainly relate to the issues that matter most to all of us.”
This is the same logic that Chaffetz has offered.
But Chaffetz knows better and Frank certainly does.
After all, Frank was one of the legislators called into special session last year to adopt the four-district map in a frantic effort to get Congress to buy off on Utah’s fourth seat in exchange for a representative from Washington, D.C. — a proposal that Chaffetz opposed.
But there are two reasons the old four-district map will never take effect: population and politics.
First, population trends mean the districts will have to be changed after the 2010 Census if for no other reason than to account for the population growth.
Second, and this is the big one, politics will rule.
Re-drawing political boundaries is one of the goriest exercises around, fueled by boundless ambition and giant egos, not to mention vendettas and self-preservation, as politicos try to squeeze out opponents and stack the electorate in their favor. Last time around, The Wall Street Journal called Utah’s map one of the worst, most politically craven exercises in the country — a Republican scam.
So, when legislative leaders and GOP operatives meet with new Census data to redraw the 2012 map, you can bet anyone with political ambitions through 2022 will want to have a hand in it, there will be some creative lines drawn, and the map will look very, very different.
There is no telling if Chaffetz will ever end up back in the 3rd District, and it won’t be until 2012 if it does happen. That is the fact, and if it’s not an issue, as Chaffetz and Frank claim, they should be honest with voters about it.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:24 am
With all do respect, your article makes little sense, and does not address the issue at hand. It sounds more like pouting, than well thought out reasoning.
The only important comment is the one you made at the begining. Which is that ‘there is nothing legally wrong with” Chaffetz running in the third district. He lives in a sliver of Utah County that by the luck of the draw was left out of the 3rd district. however, Jason Chaffetz is a concrete member of the area that makes up most of the 3rd district.
As a voter, I get very tired of the Cannon campaign. It seems like each election round, they prefere to attack their opponent on everything but the actual issues. Not sure why. Perhaps Cannon and his team do not feel they can run on the issues.
In any event Chaffetz commitment to running a clean issues based campaign is refreshing.
If he lives two miles outside of the district, (closer than my kids high school) so be it.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Okay, I think we could argue until we are blue in the face about this redivision. But, in the end it doesn’t matter. I would like to know why Cannon feels I would be better represented by someone living in Alpine than someone living in Mapelton or Washington D.C. The reason this law was made was because we wanted anyone who was capable and the best for the job to run in any district.
May 19th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
[…] made a comment in response to an entry that Chris Cannon wrote on his blog. Unfortunately the moderators on the blog removed my comments. I was a little surprised that […]
May 19th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Go Chris! Way to make a mountain out of a molehill!
May 19th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Funny how none of the Chaffetz lackeys (Because anyone who would support someone who yells at teenage girls is not worthy to be a Congressman and as a Mormon, should be ashamed of himself) never address the issue of why their guy didn’t run against Matheson or flat out lied in his letter?
He didn’t run against Matheson because he knows he would never win, much like he knew he had to get out of the convention with 60% because he will never beat Cannon in a primary.
If he worked for the Governor, he knows that the 4th seat map of yesteryear will not be the 4th seat map in 2012. So he knowingly lied about that too.
Funny how you guys don’t address him lying about the budget vote, or No Child Left Behind, or putting illegal immigrants in camps.
Jason has run a dirty, selfish campaign built in anger and those kind of campaigns never win.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hopefully they don’t moderate too many other comments out of here.
First of all, if a person lives in the same area as me and shares my views, of course I’ll vote for him. Second, there were very good reasons for rules allowing a person to run for Congress regardless of district…politics! District border moving has been a sham in Utah for years. Jason is a prime example for Utah law being the way it is, what is two miles???
And a special thanks to those who yell “liar liar” while name calling, especially while commenting in a post on a specific topic that they ignore. Well done, way to represent.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
You’re right. Those kind of campaigns never win. FORTUNATELY, Jason’s hasn’t been that kind of a campaign. Have you met him? Do you have any idea what the context is of any of your assertions?
Cannon did vote for No Child Left Behind. If he’s changed his mind since then, he should say so, rather than making it seem like he’s always been against No Child Left Behind. I haven’t looked into the budget vote issue yet, but I’m sure there is an explanation.
As far as the camps for illegal immigrants, I see no problem with it, especially in context of how Jason put it: “If it’s good enough for our soldiers in Iraq, it’s good enough for illegals.” (Most likely, whatever camp we provide for illegals would be better than where they’ve come from anyway.) Remember how the word ‘illegal’ means ‘against the law’? I think a lot of people have lost sight of that. People who break the law need to be held accountable. No matter how badly we want their labor, we are doing them a huge disservice by not holding them accountable. Imagine telling a young child, ‘It’s okay for you to lie, because I benefit from it.” Ridiculous.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:56 am
Chaffetz lives closer to me than Cannon does and Cannon has TOTALLY disenfranchised the west side of salt lake county that is part of the third district. Chaffetz knows about what WE care about and is in touch with WHERE I LIVE… artificial boundary lines do not change that fact.
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 am
Is Mr. Cannon so afraid to debate Mr. Chaffetz on the real issues, that he has to address his time with lines on a map? The whole point is that Utah wants straight answers to direct questions. Utah wants someone who will practice the fiscal responsibility that they preach. We want Utah interests represented in DC, not DC interests represented in Utah. Don’t say immigration is better when statistics show otherwise. If you disagree, then lets see a debate of the facts, not diversion and distraction from what Utahns really want discussed and pursued. We need results not more rhetoric. We need clarity and focus on the issues that matter, not boundary lines. Any continuation of this argument just puts more of an exclaimation on the point that Mr. Cannon feels inadequate to address the real issues. Prove me wrong. Lets get to a discussion on the real issues. Otherwise, politics as usual is not what Utah wants.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Chaffetz not living in the 3rd district?
How many stoplights are you working on out there Chris? Or, better yet - how many
freeway on-ramp controls are you monitoring during rush-hours in UT Co. when traffic is at a standstill?
Is there really anything significant at work in Utah County that is directly related to your
living there?