Chaffetz joins race, opens fire on Cannon

WEST JORDAN — Four years ago, during an I-15 drive to Fillmore for a campaign stop, future Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. learned his campaign manager had resigned for health reasons.

Huntsman closed his cell phone, turned to former Brigham Young University placekicker Jason Chaffetz and said, "Congratulations, you're my new campaign manager."

Chaffetz asked Huntsman for a timeout. He had no experience. But he soon agreed to lead the ultimately successful campaign and later spent two years as Huntsman's first chief of staff.

Chaffetz took far more time this year to consider doing something else he's never done — run for office himself.

Nine months after forming an exploratory committee, Chaffetz launched Monday a frontal assault on 3rd District Congressman Chris Cannon in a bid to unseat the six-term fellow Republican.

Chaffetz clearly will attack from the right. He spent Monday criticizing Cannon for being in Congress while the federal budget nearly doubled from $1.5 trillion to $2.9 trillion, for lacking toughness on immigration and for voting for the No Child Left Behind law.

"What I saw back in 2006," when the Democrats took back control of Congress, "was the American people saying, 'You failed,'" Chaffetz said. "Republicans controlled the presidency, the House and the Senate, and we failed to address education, fiscal discipline, and we were mired in scandal. And guess what? It wasn't everybody else's congressman but ours. That's not an excuse. If you can't get done in 10 years, when your party's in control, what you wanted to do, then it's time to go."

Chaffetz said he will run a clean campaign but won't mince words about Cannon's record, which he studied as Huntsman's chief of staff.

"As I looked at the federal delegation," Chaffetz said, "I recognized how poorly the Cannon office was operating, how poorly they were representing their constituents. I've seen it up close and personal. ... I was the one who got to go with Gov. Huntsman and sit down with (U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret) Spellings and tell her why No Child Left Behind was wrong for Utah, because Chris Cannon wasn't. He was supporting it."

Cannon will have to fend off Chaffetz and at least one other challenger, former Juab County prosecutor David Leavitt. The three will face off May 10 at the state Republican Party Convention at Utah Valley State College, though others could still join the race.