Thread: UT: Congressional candidate Chaffetz a polarizing voice on i

Rolly: Congressional candidate Chaffetz a polarizing voice on immigration
Paul Rolly
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:09/13/2008 10:59:38 AM MDT

If tension made a sound, you would have heard it blaring through the radio last week when KSL Newsradio's venerable talk-show host Doug Wright took off his headset, threw his hands up and told guest Jason Chaffetz that he could take over the show.
"Don't throw up your hands," Chaffetz, the Republican candidate for Utah's 3rd Congressional District seat, said in frustration.
Wright, whose strained voice betrayed his attempts at serenity while trying to continue his morning program Tuesday, put his headset back on and proceeded with the interview. But he didn't seem to like it.
Wright and Chaffetz both came close to losing their cool during their nearly half-hour discussion about the candidate's position on illegal immigration. Wright accused Chaffetz of insensitivity bordering on barbarism for his desire to deport all undocumented workers, regardless of their personal situations, and stick those who are criminally charged in fenced "tent cities."
Chaffetz, in turn, accused Wright of unfairly demeaning him without getting his side of the issue and what he was trying to accomplish.
The lesson I got from the heated exchange that highlighted Chaffetz's aggressive style is that if he wins in November and becomes Utah's newest congressman, he could quickly alienate his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and become as effective a voice in a Democratic-controlled Congress as, say, Doug Wright.
Wright nearly ended the interview in disgust after repeatedly being interrupted by Chaffetz while trying to make his points against Chaffetz's desire for harsh treatment of illegal aliens. To Chaffetz's credit, he did try to control himself better and let Wright complete his sentences after the host nearly walked out of the studio. But until then, Chaffetz appeared to be morphing into Bill O'Reilly.
Wright, a self-described conservative, has suggested a humanitarian policy in which illegal aliens could earn guest-worker status with an eventual pathway to citizenship. He believes in some sort of punishment for coming to the U.S. illegally, but one that allows for redemption.
Chaffetz favors guest-worker status, but only to give immigrants time to get their affairs in order before they are deported. Then they would have to start from the beginning of the application process to get the credentials to return.
His combative style might be playing to the choir of 3rd District Republicans, centered mostly in the hot-blooded conservative mecca of Utah County. Many of those constituents have blustered at Congressman Chris Cannon, who Chaffetz beat in the Republican primary, accusing Cannon of being too forgiving of immigrants in the country illegally.
While most other Utah officials oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, their positions are not as Draconian as Chaffetz's. The candidate also has said that he would go back to Washington as a close ally to the polarizing Republican congressman from Arizona, Jeff Flake, whose shrill opposition to earmarks has angered many of his GOP colleagues.
Chaffetz admires Flake, who, as a graduate student at Brigham Young University in the 1980s, persuaded his state senator to introduce a resolution praising the brutally racist policy of apartheid practiced by the then white-minority government of South Africa.
Chaffetz has a history of being a polarizing figure himself. As Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s first chief of staff in 2005, he angered many legislators who felt he was too strident in protecting the governor's time and schedule, often blocking their access to him. The lawmakers had an over-under bet going at the Legislature - guessing whether Chaffetz would be gone before or after July 1.
He actually lasted until the fall.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_10456191

[b]Jason.. www.JasonChaffetzForCongress.com JasonChaffetzForCongress.com

..a friend of mine , ..I'd describe him as a [color=blue]“Cool, Calm and Collected MAN of Integrityâ€