Font ResizeAirports and Republican members of Congress don't mix.
Former Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., loaded 9 mm Glock in a briefcase, Louisville International Airport, 2004. Former Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, toilet-stall mating call, Minneapolis, 2007. And now, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, orneriness, Salt Lake International, just the other day.
Here's what happened:
Chaffetz and the chip on his shoulder were in the security line at the airport, looking for trouble, and they found it. Upon being patted down like a regular Joe, Chaffetz allegedly threw his business card at an agent, grabbed the guy's badge, was taking names.
Apparently Chaffetz, just out of congressional boot camp, has yet to learn the federal government pecking order. Here are the latest power rankings: TSA agents, Obama's mother-in-law, Barack, Michelle, Sasha, Malia, Bo the Portuguese water dog, Joe Biden, and eventually, way down at the very bottom of the list, freshmen Republican congressmen.
But, there are two sides to this story. As Chaffetz tells it, the mild-mannered, even-tempered congressman was proceeding down the regular metal detector line when he was provoked by an officer who tried to steer him into the line for the full-body imaging scanner, which penetrates clothing to reveal all, and I do mean all, of your junk. Upon Chaffetz' refusal, the agent frisked him instead, as per procedure, then declined to pass along the irate congressman's business card to
Facts are sketchy, but conspiracy theories abound. I have one: Chaffetz, who never met a camera he didn't like, made the news. They spelled/pronounced his name right. And he scored points with Ron Paul-types who don't cotton to hairy-palmed government snoops sitting at airport computer screens ogling their naked wives and daughters. Mission accomplished.
Chaffetz has several theories of his own. Just this month, he voted against allowing collective bargaining by TSA agents, which pretty much assured that he wouldn't be receiving a complimentary mimosa or hip, hip hoorays when he got to the front of the line.
Chaffetz also sponsored legislation that threatens to take all the fun out of protecting the traveling public by restricting the use of full-body imaging machines by T&A agents.
So, which Chaffetz was at the airport? The harried congressman, harassed for voting his union-hating, liberty-loving heart? Or an arrogant blowhard, throwing his weight and title around?
Either way, I'm siding with Chaffetz and the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches.
Hell, yes, airport security was harassing the congressman. They harass us all. We've committed no crime, yet we're forced to prove our innocence every time we board a plane. And we do this without protest, except for one man who's fighting for all of us -- Jason Chaffetz.
But Chaffetz, who flies home every weekend, may want to mend fences because there's no avoiding the airport.
By bus or train, it's a two-day trip between Utah's capital and the nation's capital, which means the Utah-bound Chaffetz would pass the D.C.-bound Chaffetz somewhere around Denver. But maybe, if he asked real, real nice, and promised to vote for the health care bill, he could hitch a ride with Nancy Pelosi in her government plane.
Casey Jones is a member of the Tribune editorial board. E-mail him at cjones@sltrib.com.
