It's Not a Big Mystery Why Jason Chaffetz Is Quitting Congress

[Judi Lynn]

KEVIN DRUM
APR. 26, 2017 10:43 PM

Ever since Jason Chaffetz announced he would be leaving Congress, people have been trying to figure out what's going on. Why would he do that?

But it doesn't seem like much of a mystery to me. Chaffetz is a very ambitious guy. Like everyone else, he assumed Hillary Clinton would win the election and provide him with endless fodder for high-profile investigations from his perch as chairman of the Oversight Committee. He'd be on the front page all the time, doing CNN hits, and just generally gaining lots of name recognition for the next step in his career. President Chaffetz? It could happen!

Then Trump won. Suddenly the Oversight Committee was all but shut down. There would be no investigations. In fact, it was even worse than that. There was a real possibility that Trump would do something so outrageous that he'd have no choice but to hold hearings. Then he'd really be in trouble. He'd be caught between loyalty to party and the need to avoid looking like a total shill. It's a lose-lose proposition.

tl;dr version: Trump's election transformed the Oversight Committee from a platform for fame and fortune into a backwater at best and an endless tightrope with career-ending risk at worst. So Chaffetz decided to quit. In the meantime, though, he might as well get his foot fixed on the taxpayer's dime, amirite? Plus it gets him out of the line of fire even quicker. What's not to like?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/04/chaffetz

[bottomofthehill]

1. Please tell me this is from the onion

Do your job you little shit

[ginnyinWI]

2. He could be there if he wanted to, foot or not.

This doesn't stand the smell test. John Kerry had a hip operation, I think it was, and hobbled around on crutches on the Senate floor! Of course, we must remember that Republicans are wimps.

[Demtexan]

3. Running away...

His ass is in trouble.

[Aleena]

4. Mystery

It's not a big mystery I think so.

[ehrnst]

5. Chaffetz pulled this shit before - foot surgery on the taxpayer dime, then quit

Chaffetz hurt his foot about 12 years ago, when he fell off a ladder while working in his garage, he said. "Yes, I wish I could say I was cliff diving in Mexico," he joked.

According to the Republican congressman, he shattered several bones, requiring 14 screws and a metal plate to be installed to repair the damage. The injury forced him into bed rest and onto crutches, but even as it healed, Chaffetz already had virtually disappeared from his job as then-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's chief of staff.

Though Chaffetz, a former Nu Skin executive, had repeated in August and September 2005 that he was happy in his post, a few weeks later he announced his departure to pursue a job in the private sector.

"I have a wife and three kids that I miss dearly," he said in October 2005. "Running a campaign and being chief of staff is a 365-day-a-year job, and I took a significant pay cut to do it."

http://www.sltrib.com/news/5223005-155/foot-surgery-again-pulls-chaffetz-from