RENEER.ORG

Yesterday I came across some crude attacks against Bennion Spencer.  I’m not a Spencer fan; I’m supporting Jason Chaffetz.  But like other Chaffetz supporters I’m appalled by such crass tactics when used against any candidate.  Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Cannon explained away his lose to the superior candidate Jason Chaffetz by repeatedly calling all the people who voted for Jason “boors.” (Listen to the KSL interview.)

The Free dictionary has two definitions for “boor.”

1. A person with rude, clumsy manners and little refinement.

Since he can’t possibly know the manners of the thousands of people that voted for Jason I assume he meant the second definition.

2. A peasant.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jennifer Scott sent me this email. I’m putting the entire thing here because I think it’s telling. Of course once this analysis is public there is no guarantee that the Cannon blog won’t get edited.

Read the rest of this entry »

“The Framers wanted to minimize the barriers that would exclude the most able citizens from service in the National government.”

I consider Jason the “most able citizen” running in the 3rd Congressional race. Those who raise the “issue” that he is not a current resident of the 3rd district are just playing on people’s ignorance . . . which, I suppose, is just politics as usual. Where he lives inside Utah is not an “issue” for those that understand the Constitution and the Framer’s reasoning.

Besides, Jason was a member of the 3rd district and, barring an unlikely change in the redistricting plan, he will be in the 3rd district again. He hasn’t moved; the district was gerrymandered to move a small section of north Utah County into the 2nd district (see the links to maps at the bottom of the previous post).

Here is the legal background for why we are allowed to elect Congressmen from anywhere in the state.

Warning! Boring legal information follows–

The first test of this principle was when Maryland made a law, shortly after the Constitution was ratified, saying that a congressman had to be from the district where they lived. William McCreery was elected, in 1802, for a district where he did not reside. It was determined that the Maryland law violated the spirit and letter of the U.S. Constitution and McCreery was seated in the House.

You can read about a recent Supreme Court case that reconfirmed the principle that representation can be from anywhere in the state.

Supreme Court of the United States

In the court decision you can read that “Thomas Jefferson noted the argument that ‘to add new qualifications to those of the Constitution would be as much an alteration as to detract from them’;”

The principle is confirmed in a footnote to the court opinion. It discusses the related idea that “Money is not made a requisite.” An initial draft of the constitution included “property qualifications. . . . . The property provision was deleted, thus providing further evidence that the Framers wanted to minimize the barriers that would exclude the most able citizens from service in the National government.”

I consider Jason the “most able citizen” running in the 3rd Congressional race. I hope you’ll support him.

Vote for Jason Chaffetz on June 24th.

Campaign Fund Raising and Spending

The best site for campaign spending and fund raising information is OpenSecrets.org. You should refer to it in every election.

2008 Utah 3rd District Campaign Finances

These are numbers only for this campaign cycle and don’t accurately show Cannon’s cumulative campaign debt (currently $186,623). Cannon

Explore Cannon’s info and you’ll learn for yourself about many of the distortions thrown against Jason’s campaign.

For example, I’ve seen a few negative comments about Chaffetz working for a multi-level marketing company. I assume they mean Nu-skin, the only MLM Jason has worked for, which I consider a reputable company. Ironically Nu-skin was one of Cannon’s top contributors in 2000 and 2002 and they donated twice as much to his 1998 campaign than any other donor.

Hm, maybe the critics are right, maybe Nu-skin is an evil company. Interestingly enough Nu-skin hasn’t donated to Cannon’s campaign since 2002. Perhaps that’s why the more rabid Cannon supporters might think Nu-skin is an evil MLM. I’m just glad Nu-skin wised up. They seem to think he’s not such a good thing for Utah anymore. This year they donated to both Chaffetz and Leavitt.

You can also verify Chaffetz’s statements about running a thrifty campaign and his comments about the amount of out-of-state money that fuels Cannon’s campaign. Check out the Geography tab to see the disproportionate amount coming into Cannon’s campaign from out-of-state. (Leavitt’s in-state contributions are disproportionately large because of all the money from himself and his family’s insurance company.)

Another example of lies about Jason that are cleared up by this information — there have been negative attacks on Chaffetz claiming that the Huntsmans hate him. So, tell, then why has Huntsman Corp donated to his campaign but not to Cannon and Leavitt?

Maps

Best map I’ve found of the 3rd Congressional District.

Only map I’ve found for the planned 4th District (at the bottom of this pdf)

Jason Chaffetz for President, er, I mean Congress.

Jason has received some criticism because of his comment at the convention that Global Warming is a farce.

Read the rest of this entry »

Utah Republican Nominating Convention

Saturday, May 10th

Buying our votes

I was pleased to see that the majority of the state delegates from the 3rd district were not swayed by all the stuff being passed out. When Chaffetz received more votes than either Leavitt or Cannon in the first round I was pleasantly surprised. I was grateful that there are still delegates whose votes can’t be bought by hospitality suites and trinkets.

You can tell a lot about a person by how they try to get your vote. Read the rest of this entry »