This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
WASHINGTON - Running for re-election, Utah's senior U.S. House member was a prophet of doom, issuing dire warnings of the chaos that would swallow Congress if Democrats took control.
"You are probably going to have an impeachment proceeding with [Rep. John] Conyers leading Judiciary and you are going to have a raft of . . . legislative inquiries by [Rep.] Henry Waxman," Rep. Chris Cannon predicted on election night.
Cannon said he would be the administration's "go-to guy" to defend President Bush against the mob.
In just a month, he has turned 180 degrees.
The moderate Democrats who gave their party control will force the new majority to govern from the middle, Cannon now says, abandoning his slash-and-burn scenario.
"My sense is, with all the other things going on, the Democrats generally would like to pretend they're Republicans and therefore not raise too big an issue about impeachment," Cannon said in an interview last week.
His election opponent, Christian Burridge, who heard Cannon's dire warnings time and again, is not surprised Cannon has dropped his refrain.
"This is part of a pattern where Chris opens his mouth and says things before they're verifiable," said the Democrat. "It's just more of the Cannon political machine of scare tactics and not using facts to back up his claims."
Before the election, Democratic leaders tried to douse rumors that they would try to impeach the president, but Republican candidates, like Cannon (who was one of the House managers who prosecuted the impeachment of President Clinton) fanned the flames.
Former Rep. Jim Rogan, another Clinton impeachment manager, said he doesn't see any moves by Democrats toward impeachment, which is a bruising process.
"I can give first-person testament that impeaching anybody isn't easy," said Rogan, who is now a state judge in California. "It's a very emotional, very dividing thing to go through and I'm not sure anybody at the end of it is happy about it."
While some Democrats, like Rep. Conyers, D-Mich., made early rumblings about impeachment, Democrats have simply had to yield to political reality, says Cannon.
"After they took a breath and looked at who . . . got them over the hump to get the majority, they're seeing a lot of guys who look like Republicans," Cannon said. "From my point of view I'd be just as happy if they'd go berserk and say nasty things and impeach the president."
If Democrats make a mark, it will be more subtle, Cannon said.
"Left-wing groups are going to tend to get more funding and less accountability," he said. "I suspect groups that are pro-abstinence, those kind of things, are going to get less funding and [there will be] more funding for birth control and family planning kinds of activities."
Cannon may lose his seat on the House Resources Committee in the next Congress, and he is concerned Democrats now will slow down oil and gas drilling in the West.
But he says the changes will smooth the path for comprehensive immigration reform, an issue in which Cannon has been deeply involved and taken heat from his conservative constituents.
"I'm sure we'll come up with a bill and it will probably be pretty good legislation. It would probably be a lot like the McCain bill," Cannon said. He referred to a proposal by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others that would allow undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship without having to return to their home country.
It would also likely include Cannon's agriculture jobs bill to allow immigrants to work in farming, as well as tools to enable businesses to check if they're hiring someone legally.