Matheson vows to work with legislators, praises Huntsman

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, the lone Democrat in Utah's five-man congressional delegation, told state House members Friday that he plans to be in his job "for a long time, and I want to work with all of you."

Republicans routinely come after Matheson each election. And in 2001, legislative Republicans redrew his 2nd Congressional District, pushing much of it outside Salt Lake County, making it much more Republican. Matheson has won two tough re-elections since.

Matheson praised new GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (who defeated Matheson's older brother, Scott, in last November's election) for taking steps to stop hotter radioactive wastes from coming to Utah and trying to stop old Army weapons containing mustard gas from being transferred here for disposal.

Rep. Matheson pointed out that he's the only Utah congressman to vote against at attempt by President Bush and congressional Republicans to start up a new nuclear weapons program, which Matheson claims could lead to renewed underground nuclear war-head testing in southern Nevada.

"The (federal) government lied to us" about open-air nuclear testing in the 1950s, which ended up radiating a number of southern Utahns, giving them cancer.

Pamphlets and short films produced by the government told St. George schoolchildren back then "A is for atom and B is for bomb," said Matheson. "They didn't say C is for cancer and D is for death."