He's spent more than 1,500 nights away from his family, and he's decided to throw in the towel after prayerful reflection.

He's a better man than most.

""After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018," he wrote on Facebook. "I have long advocated public service should be for a limited time and not a lifetime or full career. Many of you have heard me advocate, 'Get in, serve, and get out.' After more than 1,500 nights away from my home, it is time. I may run again for public office, but not in 2018."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-rep-jason-chaffetz-announces-he-won-t-run-re-n748281

Good.

Amyjo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He's a better man than most.

Or he got caught doing something and is trying to evade public scrutiny long enough for it to blow over.

"I want to spend more time with my family" is the classic excuse politicians and executives give when they're being forced out.

Time will probably tell.

He knows he can't win against his challenger.

In Utah? All he has to do is show up and he wins there. How many people in his district would even consider voting for a Democrat? I think he wants to get back to living in Utah instead of Washington, D.C.

But the Dumbster® isn't that popular in Utah, and the groundswell against him was going to swallow him.

BTW, I'm one of his constituents, and my take is some of higher-ups in the Repubs probably had a talk with him.

He'll have a prosperous future as a lobbyist; you should have seen the house Wayne Owens--a Democrat and good Mormon--lived in after he left Congress.

Anyway, that was last night's good news... Today's was about Bill O'Reilly...

I remember this being in the news, at a town hall meeting, and people were shouting "Do your job!"

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rep-jason-chaffetz-faces-angry-town-hall-crowd-utah-n719231

So often parents decide they have spent too many nights away from their family when it's too late.

I suspect he knows he can't win.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2017 01:09PM by liesarenotuseful.

Chaffetz was looking and acting real smug when he walked on to the stage.
He looked a bit scared when he walked off the stage..
These were his very own constituents and they were very angry.
Hundreds of protesters couldn't even get into the building.

The concern about this doofus not running in 2018 is that he wants things to cool down so he can run for governor of Utah, and for us Utahns (oh,gawd.How I never wanted to say that again) him being governor is worse because we'll have to look at him in the local news.

UGH.

If he isn't making a national run in 2018, word is he won't be seeking Orrin Hatch's seat coming open, now that Hatch is finally retiring.

Governor? No, he has bigger plans.

Two weeks before his announcement, his PAC registered two domain names

jason2028.com
jasonchaffetz2028.com

Aiming for the White House, perhaps?

"Prayerful consideration." LOL.

Internal polling didn't look good.

He'll be fine. The church will have some cushy spots lined up as a reward for his "meritorious service." Maybe a seat on some MLM boards.

Besides, he can still change his mind. Many do. If nothing else, he'll form an "exploratory committee" for POTUS 2024.

He'll be back. At age 50, he's still got a lot of life left in his chassis.

I agree. After the dust settles and he realizes that nobody is giving him the respect that he thinks he deserves, he will return in a delusional hope of making a giant comeback.

He will always be the seductive beaver to me.

You mean he's been the subject of a salacious scandal?

Love Stephen Colbert. Why can't he run for office? ;)

That's five years, on average, he's been away from his family.

That would be an incentive for a family guy to throw in the towel. I give him credit for putting his family before his political career (unless it's a PR stunt, which I kind of doubt.)

I just did the math. Since 2013, I've away from home 812 days and headed back to work in the morning. That's almost 2 and a quarter years.

And I don't have kids. I have a dog. Can you imagine being away from your kids that long? It would suck.

So I'll give him that excuse, but we all know the real reason

The guy's a self promoting douche bag. Remember his Planned Parenthood attack? Remember when he declared Trump was unfit for office and he "couldn't look his daughter in the face" if Trump was the nominee? Now he's Trump's lapdog. I'm betting his family is wishing he was staying in DC.

practically announcing a run for Governor in 2020. For us poor Utahns, we haven't seen the last of this prancing pack of peckerwood.

"Prayerful consideration", eh?

Since he's publicly implying that God inspired his choice, that should make it awkward for him to change his mind (as politicians do FAR too often).

I just want to get it out there that it REALLY annoys me when people announce they have prayerfully considered anything. I don't care if they consulted their God. And by mentioning it, they come off as either self-righteous, or unwilling to take full ownership for their choices. Probably the former. If there is a God, I doubt he guides Mr. Chaffetz's choices.

Along the same lines, I don't also don't care if they consulted their mother, consulted their campaign strategist, if they made a list of the pros and cons, if they consulted a psychic medium, or used their magic 8 ball. I'm just glad he won't be embarrassing the state of Utah anymore.

Cabbie nails it once again.

He was saying the whole 'Get in, serve, and get out' stuff back in 2007/2008. He stayed longer than he originally promised, and I don't think he put forward any bills supporting term limits, eliminating special benefits and pensions for members of Congress, etc...

He can't go after HRC any longer ? She is yesterday's news.If I can't grandstand as a Tea Party darling and go after the Clintons then Jason can't play any longer on his terms . prayerful my arse.

"I want to spend more time with my family". That is the most hackneyed, clichèd excuse imaginable. If that were the case, there would have been some agonizing over the decision over a period of time, and a swirl of rumors. This came totally out of the blue.

Not buying it for a minute!

I also think he's just doing that so he can plan to run for the governor of Utah. If that's the case, I feel sorry for those who live there who will hear about him in the local news.

Good strategic decision.

He's in a guaranteed district but knows that he's making enemies in the broader state. That's what Trump has done. If a Republican fights the president, he is disloyal. If he supports the president, he loses support for statewide and national campaigns down the road.

By leaving office now, he avoids the impending train wreck. In a few years he can return to the arena as an outsider, someone without too much damage from the Trump years. That's why he's surrendering his guaranteed seat.

The only real alternative given the state of the GOP is to do what Huntsman is doing: take an administrative job where you are in the public eye but above the fray. No one in his right mind would want to be involved on either side in the fratricide that is the Trump wars.

After prayerful consideration he was told by God that he will be the next member of the Qof12 after the next one dies.

The slime ball should have been kicked out years ago.

That's great Jason - I encourage you to disappear before you're voted out of office! Just think for a moment, maybe you can continue your life long dream of investigating Hillary Clinton into your twilight years in seclusion rather than subject yourself to the temptations/frustrations of Washington D.C. - what say you!? If pursued, this endeavor should allow someone with your limited skill set to keep occupied while the rest of us recover from your tenure in office! If for some reason you should lose interest in Hillary or simply feel motivated to do so, you might want to take it upon yourself, after sincere prayer/fasting - of course, to volunteer to revitalize/manage what's left of the mormon Cult's janitorial services! You may also want to add your name to a temple roll of choice for an added bonus!

Disgusted visitors/members have in recent years noted that an ungodly number of mormon church buildings stink from general neglect, must, mold/bathroom odors with greater frequency these days! Leadership's loss of credibility exposed by a culture obsessed with institutional lying, compounded by poor housekeeping practices/general disarray in management are also sources of much chagrin/undue stress placed upon the local, Little People in the kingdom of absurdity/lies! Remember, you can only beat a beast of burden for so long before it collapses from complete exhaustion! Abused, Cult drones should beware!

Personally, I find this condition to be quite unnecessary, unsightly/vulgar! Maybe someone coming from a high profile, representative position like you can persuade your so-called profits who run this corporate, criminal empire to tidy things up a bit! Time is running out for your movement - before to long, even operatives with an agenda/die-hard, mind controlled, tbm zealots will be staying home in droves! Jason, they'll be no one left! As you know, the thinkers/truth seekers are already gone! Maybe your controversial, fringe approach to Government, combined with insatiable devotion to your one true Cult on earth will finally allow you to distinguish yourself above the rest of the operatives with an agenda as possibly a complicit player of note on mt. zion! Remember, everyone needs to feel a sense of accomplishment in life! Good luck! As Always, tnurg (GRUNT)

I would have brought the family to DC. Hatch did.

He invited me out to his family home for dinner, which was located in the Virginia 'burbs of D.C.

I stayed in their home several nights when I was a state senator in Connecticut! I was attending a political conference at the airport Marriott.

Frankly, if I were a Republican congressman (and I ran for it many years ago), I would not run for re-election either. I would be too frustrated and embarrassed.

Today, he seemed to indicate he might leave office soon, rather than at the end of his term. Now the state is in a dither about a special election. As one reporter said, "There will be a lot of fuss"

If that's so, it sounds like there's something urgent or pressing in his personal life he isn't disclosing. I wonder if someone in his family has fallen ill, or a family crisis has arisen?

Leaving before his term is over suggests a personal crisis.

It could also be that he knows (FBI tip?) a major legal disaster is in the cards for the administration. If he is still chairing Oversight Committee, ignoring it could take him down, not ignoring it could take the administration down, with him holding the bloody knife.

Good time to exit, stage right, to get clear of the coming train wreck. I don't know that that's the reason, but it could explain an otherwise very surprising turn of events. He did reverse his rejection of The Donald, as did several other people, just 48 hours before Comey announced the FBI investigation of Huma Abadin's computer. There was wide speculation they knew something was up.

If that is the case here, we should know soon enough.

This is the right way to analyze the problem. I don't believe, however, that Chaffetz has, or at least needs to have, any inside information. The truth is that his position is untenable given what we already know.

There will be an investigation of the Russia problem, and it will be damaging for the administration. Everyone already knows that Flynn took money from foreign interests, including Russia, and failed to register as an agent of a foreign government until after he had been fired by the White House. Manafort companies received millions from Russia and the pre-revolutionary government of the Ukraine; and he too failed to register until this last month. Carter Page was recruited by the FSB and may well have been a knowing spy. Anyone watching events closely can see that the consequent investigation is going to be debilitating for the administration even if the FBI files, the UK dossier, etc., don't have compelling specific evidence.

There is also the cluster of ethics questions. The emoluments Trump is receiving from foreign governments, the degree to which his family is using White House positions to profit personally, the failure to divest, and the possibility that the tax reform package will benefit Trump himself are all topics that are going to garner investigative attention. In his present role Chaffetz will have to conduct those hearings as well as the inquiry into the Russia scandal.

How dangerous is this for Chaffetz? Anyone running a major investigation in today's climate will either have to side with Trump and thereby alienate half of the GOP, or take the other side and offend the Trump faction. Nunes was forced to choose and it cost him his chairmanship and very possibly his re-election. If a politician hopes to have a future in national politics, he almost certainly wants to avoid fights from which he will inevitably emerge badly bloodied and with lots of enemies. Chaffetz simply sees the writing on the wall.

Chaffetz's situation in Utah is secure. He could run an investigation of Russia, ethics violations, or most other things and, even if he makes modest mistakes, still win re-election. But if he wants to be governor or move to the senate or anything else national, he needs a broader base of support, one spanning the GOP and probably reaching into the independents as well. He conversely wants to avoid Pyrrhic wars that permanently offend powerful factions in the GOP. So he can't safely chair either of these investigations.

The interesting angle is how best to step aside. Does he resign his chairmanship and return to the backbenches, which may look weak, as if he fears power. Or does he resign his seat altogether and scamper back to Utah. I think that's why he's floating discussion of his family now: blaming them for a surrender of authority that would in other circumstances look craven. Can the this gloss make a strategic retreat appear honorable?

So Chaffetz's calculations are rational and his emotions genuine. He wants a political future, so he must avoid the fratricidal conflicts that are about to roil the GOP. Classified secrets within the FBI's or the NSA's files (and I do believe such secrets exist) might worsen the danger for a house chairman, but the situation is already perilous enough.

Chaffetz has a realistic appreciation of what is about to happen and he wants to get out of the way. That is an entirely prudent approach to take, assuming he can implement it in what appears to be an honorable way.

The DCCC says this as to why Chaffetz is *really* stepping down. No sense losing a moment for them to shine!

Reacting to the announcement, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, on Wednesday said Chaffetz “crumbled under the weight of the widespread backlash that’s he’s facing for refusing to do his job.”

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/the-conversation/sd-jason-chaffetz-wont-run-for-congress-2018-htmlstory.html

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/854751803681931267/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiegouniontribune.com%2Fopinion%2Fthe-conversation%2Fsd-jason-chaffetz-wont-run-for-congress-2018-htmlstory.html

Jason, Jason, hark unto me...come let us reason together...there are bigger things in store for thee. Thou, Jason, have been a faithful steward of the office I did give unto thee. As thou hast been faithful in the lowly House, I will increase thy calling ten-fold. What thou desires, thou shalt receive. Therefore strap on thy sidearm, fold up thy cot, gird thy loins with righteousness....

"Honey, it happened again, the sheets are all sticky. Please wash them. Thanks, I love you, and I'll see you tonight!" Jason's Boner.

Again?

Damn it, Jason. Why can't you just buy a magazine and spare the sheets?

Clean 'em yourself!

He may be on the hook for some kind of Russian collusion, and his stepping aside is part of some sort of deal.