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Deseret Morning News, Sunday, June 18, 2006

Immigration splits Cannon, Jacob

Incumbent a U.S. lightning rod

By Tad Walch
Deseret Morning News

PROVO — The phone recently rang in the middle of the night at Utah Congressman Chris Cannon's Virginia apartment. It was 3 a.m., and a man from South Carolina had a question.

"I want to know why you're such a traitor on this issue of immigration," the man said.

The next night, a man from Colorado called at 1 a.m. with a similar question.

And last week, a local paper published an editorial cartoon titled "Primary Colors" that portrayed Cannon as black-and-blue with bruises and a puffy eye. He was holding a paper with the words "Immigration stance," and the paper was riddled with holes.

So Cannon had to laugh when Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., proposed a new plan for comprehensive immigration reform just a few weeks ago only to be attacked by people on all sides of the issue.

"He came to me and said, 'Chris, how have you suffered these slings and arrows for the past two years?' " Cannon recalled.

The solution is simple for Cannon, whose primary challenge by fellow Utah County resident John Jacob is seen around the country as a test case on how immigration will play out in the November general election. The five-term incumbent said he just tries to cut through the emotion and talk policy.

"I'm thick-skinned enough that if somebody irrationally calls me a traitor, it doesn't bother me," he said.

The death of his daughter, Rachel, in December 2004 — just after Cannon won re-election after a race also colored by immigration — did get under his skin.

Rachel Cannon was 25, and her father dealt with a lot of anger after her death from cancer. The hurt remains close to the surface both for him and his wife Claudia, who has struggled as people on the campaign trail, who haven't seen her for two years and don't know about what has happened, ask how Rachel is.

It took more than a year, but by the time he announced he would seek a sixth term this year, Cannon said he'd found some peace.

"My experience with Rachel's passing was profound, but I think it only deepened my spiritual way of looking at life. It made me more sensitive, certainly more sensitive to the struggles of other people."

Cannon is more philosophical now, those around him said. Still driven and frequently wound up over issues, he shows a softer side more frequently, said Joe Hunter, his chief of staff.

"I probably am more philosophical," Cannon said. "I don't react emotionally as much."

Political target

That might prove helpful.

On various illegal immigration-restriction Web sites, Cannon's face is alternately seen in a circle with a line drawn through it or with a target laid over it. Other restrictionists have used a cartoon clown in place of his face, or a donkey, implying he's liberal on immigration.

Only in the emotional arena of the illegal immigration debate could President Bush and Cannon be labeled liberals. Cannon's voting record repeatedly ranks among the most conservative in Congress, but because he is to the left of some cantankerous groups on immigration, he has been a lightning rod since Bush announced his bid for immigration reform in 2004.

Bush proposed, and Cannon has supported, a guest-worker program that would allow some illegal aliens working in the United States to remain for a period of time, six to 12 years in various proposals, and for some of those to possibly earn the right to apply for permanent residence.

That irks many who believe it would reward people for a crime.

"Some see a real moral value in making them go home before they can reapply," Cannon said.

He said he does not believe in amnesty, saying his plan is not like the 1986 amnesty. Instead, with improved technology, borders would be tightened, the immigration system revamped and guest workers would be invited to continue contributing to the American economy.

Cannon's opponent in the June 27 primary, John Jacob, has called for sending illegals home with the promise they could use a Disneyland-style FastPass to return. Cannon said his own plan isn't an amnesty, but if it is, sending illegal aliens home with the promise of a return is the same.

Cannon has denounced the U.S. Senate bill that includes a path-to-citizenship provision. But he, like Bush, has indicated that he'd be willing to require illegal immigrants in a guest-worker program to return to their native country at some point before having the possibility of seeking permanent residence.

Cannon, like Bush, wants comprehensive reform now.

"This is one of the great issues of our time," Cannon said. "I hope we handle it well."

He also believes his stand is the most conservative, because it would protect America's economy and businesses. Illegal immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes and pour tens of billions into the Social Security fund, covering Social Security costs for thousands of Americans.

Groups against any guest-worker program are calling on supporters to attack Cannon, hoping that by knocking off one conservative, they would send a message to the White House and Congress. Cannon agreed that losing next week's primary would make comprehensive reform too hot in an election year.

"The result would be bad for America," he said.

If he wins, he plans to use his position as one of 15 Republicans on a House immigration committee to seek more high-tech visas so that the United States "can suck the brains out of all the other countries of the earth."

"The whole earth would be better off," he said. "If I lose, there will be no advocate for those visas at the table."

A pivotal primary

Cannon has lost weight recently but not because of an emotional toll. Instead, he wears a pedometer to make sure he takes 10,000 steps a day. He also takes a lot of nutritional supplements, more than a dozen a day.

Cannon can appear intellectually hyperactive at times, which doesn't always serve him well in debates or other public settings. He can lapse into a sort of congressional shorthand that might be fine in conversations on Capitol Hill but which voters can't follow as readily.

Interestingly, he is at his most personable on the radio, talking to KSL's Doug Wright or KFMF's Tom Barberi. A couple of weeks ago, his chair collapsed during a commercial break when Cannon was on Barberi's show. Barberi, once he learned Cannon was OK, teased him about being bucked off the chair.

"But you've got reflexes like a cat," Barberi added.

"And on the issues, too," Cannon gleefully shot back.

Campaign handlers would like Cannon to relax like that during debates. Jacob has seized upon Cannon's excitability, sometimes trying to goad Cannon in hopes the incumbent will appear flustered as he cranks into overdrive to defend himself or explain an issue with too much complexity.

Like trying to expound on the need for tighter laws so illegal immigrants can't use American emergency rooms as primary-care physicians or creating a law that would require anyone here on a temporary visa to have health insurance or a health-savings account.

Or how important it is to keep the Internet free of taxation. He is proud that he helped keep the federal government from regulating Internet phone service, which few knew about at the time but which is quickly becoming ubiquitous.

"I play a huge role in the future of America and the future of mankind. If we do things right with the Internet, the lives of people in America and around the world will be significantly improved."

Cannon has said that while polls show him ahead, they also indicate a low turnout on June 27 could lead to a Jacob win. If he loses, the millionaire who built his wealth as a venture capitalist is ready to pursue the same issues and policies through business.

But he doesn't want to go just yet.

"As long as my influence is increasing, I feel I have a moral responsibility to continue," he said. "My influence is increasing, significantly. I'm only the fifth or sixth Utahn to chair a committee, and I've been able to use it to beat up on New England lefties.

"The question is, are people going to be reasonable about this or decide I'm an ogre or a traitor and eject me from Congress?"


E-mail: twalch@desnews.com