Demo takeover will impact Utah delegation

The Democrats won the House Tuesday, putting Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in an unfamiliar position — the House majority — with election results too close to call to determine whether the Democrats would also control the Senate.

The House takeover will at least require a new leadership team — likely to be headed by California Democrat Nancy Pelosi — and a reshuffling of committee assignments.

But some Republicans fear impeachment proceedings for President Bush could not be far off.

If the Republicans keep control of the Senate, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, will help set the Republicans' agenda in the Senate under new Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. If not, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., will lead the Democrats in the Senate, with Bennett helping McConnell adjust to life in the minority.

"It's depressing to see the House shift to the Democrats' control," said Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah. "It is a lot harder being in the minority."

With the Republicans out of the majority in the House, Cannon will lose his chairmanship of a House Judiciary subcommittee, but he expects to continue serving on the House Judiciary and House Government Reform Committee, "which are going to be two nasty committees," he said.

The House Judiciary Committee would handle impeachment proceedings, and the House Government Reform Committee, which will "probably have a raft of nasty investigations" under presumptive chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

"I suspect that I will be on both of those committees as a go-to guy," Cannon said. "That's going to be a harsh and ugly environment."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he does not think the Democrats would resort to impeachment, saying he believes they know they would look horrible if they did.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, is on the House Rules Committee, which controls amendments and considers every piece of legislation that goes to the House floor. The majority party generally holds more seats on the committee, so Bishop's seat may not be there during the next session, but nothing is certain.

Bishop said he has "had a good relationship with Democratic leaders, so personally I'll be OK" but that the Democrat take-over "is a negative situation for the nation and Utah."

"Nancy Pelosi's agenda is something that is out of step with Utah," Bishop said. "With split government, in the worse-case scenarios, the president still has a veto. So that means nothing too bad can happen. The only caveat area are tax increases."

Matheson credits moderate Democrats, known as the Blue Dogs, with the takeover and points out that is it not just going to be Pelosi, a more liberal Democrat, leading the House, but all levels of Democrats.