What's the real reason Jason Chaffetz is quitting early?

Any thoughts on why he'd chose to leave in the middle of his term?

Because Washington DC does not have a Bam Bam's BBQ, and Chaffetz can't take it anymore.

That does make sense.

Chaffetz doesn't want to be in Congress when people expect productive things out of him.



It's easy to be an opposition-party representative, especially when you chair the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. All you do is vote "no", propose one-sentence feel-good bills that have zero chance of passage, and call for investigations of every little ninny thing the president does that you don't like. In short, you get to be a negative nellie and throw tantrums and hint and conspiracies and your base loves you.



Once Trump won, Chaffetz's role in DC suddenly (and very unexpectedly) shifted. Now he's expected to help put forward reasoned legislation that will actually become law, help advance the president's and party's agendas, and use his chairmanship to stifle and slow down the democrats from trying to do to Trump what Chaffetz did for Obama.



I think Chaffetz is extremely self-interested and has no interest whatsover in constructive governance. Once Hillary lost, his gravy-train to free media and self-promotion dried up. No one in the media cares about Hillary's emails, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, or any of that any more, so he's lost the lust for those inquiries, and he has no interest in taking hits for the team under Trump because there's no glory in stone-walling investigations into Trump's bumblings.



Chaffetz never thought Trump would win. If Hillary won, he'd be all Orrin Hatch on us -- telling us how important his seniority and position is and if people wanted term limits they'd vote him out. Instead, Trump ruined his party, so he's trying to leave with his "reputation" intact as a springboard into something else to bide the time until he makes a run at either the governor's seat or Hatch's seat in 2018.

Maybe he wants to pull a Sarah Palin and see if he can make big bucks?

I've heard there's some dirt that got out on him too, but I don't know if there's any truth to that. I can understand the idea he wants to run for a higher office so is taking a year to go make a million bucks at Fox News, but it's not like you run for office with your own money anyway, you get rich idiots to finance your campaign. So I don't know.

All seems just a bit fishy. I'm really surprised he's been doing interviews with.... TMZ?

Sno, I think your assessment is very astute. It rings true. I think the fact that he's pulling the plug on Washington 2 years before the elections here in Utah show how serious he is about running for higher office. 1 year to line up donors, endorsements, get his team in order, and develop a solid platform based on 1 years worth of polling. It will be interesting to see if Chaffetz opts for the UT governors office or chases Hatch's senate seat. If he is a lazy guy, I bet he opts for the senate. It requires less work, and you are locked in for a 6 year term ....... perfect.



It's priceless. Our government officials toiling for the good of the people. :whistle:

I can honestly say I won't vote for a quitter and Chaffetz is nothing but a pathetic quitter. I'd vote for a democrat before him, so I hope this whole thing blows up in his face.

I've heard his wife is done with the part-time father and husband who is in DC half of the time.

First, I think he's a tool. A self-important, me-first guy who wanted to make a name for himself in a role that could lead to bigger roles. That said, I haven't heard any grounded info that there's dirt on him. I happen to know what his protocol was for dealing with female staffers who worked late at the office when he was sleeping there, and it was designed to protect them both. Not saying he's completely clean, but no rumors to date have traction.



Second, I think there's some legitimacy to the idea that his family is tired of him being gone. I can relate and I only travel about half as much as he does.



Third, the opposition thing Sno mentioned is real. The GOP has been a better opposition party than leadership party for most of my life.



Fourth, you can't finance kids' college and weddings with campaign donations, so if he makes a cool million in the next year and then runs for office again (2020 and beyond will have a lot of options for him), he'll have a personal account that is flush to take care of the stuff he needs/wants to do.

A family that is sick and tired of his travels probably should have mentioned that 6 months ago before the election, not 6 months into his term. There's no legitimate reason to quit this service.

hawkwing wrote:
A family that is sick and tired of his travels probably should have mentioned that 6 months ago before the election, not 6 months into his term. There's no legitimate reason to quit this service.

Agreed. But let's be honest, it would have been EXTREMELY difficult for the GOP to have nominated another candidate and have won that seat if Chaffetz had hung it up before the election. I mean, we're talking about Utah County. That's a tough district for Republicans to hold onto.



Anyone know how a replacement is chosen? Is it just vacant for 18 months? Does the governor appoint a successor? Is there a special election?

Special election.

hawkwing wrote:
Special election.

It's actually a muddled mess in the State of Utah. The Governor has called for a special election under statutory authority, but the Republican Party and the Legislature are going to sue because they think that law is unconstitutional under the Utah Constitution which puts election authority squarely in the Legislature.