This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz continues to camouflage his lackluster record in Congress by making unsubstantiated attacks on a variety of organizations and individuals. Take your pick, Planned Parenthood, EPA, the IRS and its Commissioner John Koskinen, global climatologists, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell's recent Utah visit, and anything to do with President Obama.
Truth and facts don't matter to Chaffetz, who does anything to bask in the spotlight. Each new inept attack reveals Chaffetz to be an uninformed, maladroit, political hack who speaks and acts without thinking. The absence of any genuine investigation or research during his many failed campaigns as chair of the House Oversight Committee has wasted tens of millions of taxpayer's dollars and diverted Congress's time away from accomplishing anything meaningful to benefit the citizens of the United States.
Chaffetz is woefully overpaid. He works about 30 weeks a year, is protected by overly generous and undeserved health insurance and pension benefits, turns away from the needs of those who live in poverty and continues to campaign for tax breaks to the rich while proclaiming fiscal responsibility.
With Chaffetz, whose re-election is virtually assured, and others of his ilk in positions of power, is it any wonder our country is in such turmoil?
Jonathan C. Seegmiller
Salt Lake City