Goodbye, Jason Chaffetz—For Now A dependable party

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Apr 19, 2017 at 11:09 PM 200

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Goodbye, Jason Chaffetz—For Now

A dependable party hack leaves at a very convenient time.

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By Charles P. Pierce
Apr 19, 2017

WASHINGTON—The Capitol's empty. Congress is on recess. But there's still a fresh breeze blowing down the marble hallways. The building's smarm factor was reduced by a substantial degree.

From the NYT:

Mr. Chaffetz, 50, a Utah Republican who plainly relished his oversight role more under a Democratic administration, said he was ready to return to the private sector after more than 13 years in public service, calling his decision a "personal" one.

"I have long advocated public service should be for a limited time and not a lifetime or full career," he said in a statement posted on Facebook. "After more than 1,500 nights away from my home, it is time."

He said his decision was not based on either health or political concerns, adding that he was "confident" of his re-election should he have pursued it and retained support from Speaker Paul D. Ryan for his committee chairmanship.

This, I confess, is something of a surprise, although I think he's going to run for governor of Utah in 2020. (He already was facing a primary as well as a surprisingly well-financed Democratic challenger for his House seat, so maybe this is just a waving of the white feather.)

Chaffetz established himself long ago as the hacko di tutti hacki of congressional investigators, a curly-haired McCarran with absolutely no shame at all

During the campaign, he stated openly that he planned to make a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency a living hell. Then, once the worst happened, and the crises began to pile up on the South Lawn, Chaffetz suddenly decided that his work as an investigator was done. Here's the Times being very discreet:

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Chaffetz has shown an opportunistic streak, often rushing toward television cameras with an eager smile. During the election, he vacillated several times before backing President Trump.

He said he would not be able to look his teenage daughter in the eye should he vote for Mr. Trump after revelations arose that Mr. Trump had boasted in 2005 of sexually assaulting women.

Then he voted for him. And he vowed to investigate Hillary Clinton whether she won or not. With a ready foil in Mrs. Clinton, whose brushes with controversy have sustained many Republican congressional careers, Mr. Chaffetz appeared primed to emerge as a chief tormentor for a new Democratic White House.

And even more discreet:

After the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, announced in July that the bureau would recommend that Mrs. Clinton not be charged over her use of a private email account when she was secretary of state, Mr. Chaffetz led House Republicans in rejecting Mr. Comey's conclusion. Five days after the announcement, Mr. Chaffetz asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Mrs. Clinton had lied in her testimony before Congress about the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Mr. Chaffetz had been one of the first lawmakers to raise questions about the Obama administration's role in Benghazi, traveling to Libya less than a month after the attacks to evaluate security standards.

"It's the nature of being the committee chairman to conduct oversight of the administration," he said last year, describing his role as a pursuit of facts, not a political agenda.

But with Mr. Trump's surprise victory in November, Mr. Chaffetz found himself in an uncomfortable position: a watchdog who often sounded disinclined to watch over a fellow Republican.

The man was a poison salamander. The Congress is well rid of him.

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