2008 Utah Republican Convention Thoughts and Reflections

Well, today was an extremely long and tiring day. I showed up at the McKay Events Center by 8:30 this morning, ready for the Call to Order at 10:00 a.m. for the 2008 Utah Republican Convention. This gave me about 90 minutes to browse the candidates booths, but in all honesty I'd done all my research and decision making prior to arriving there this morning. It's what I believe an elected delegate should do. Waiting until convention to make your decision says to me that you haven't done the job you were elected to do. I'm afraid there were scads of those types of individuals there today.

I'm a staunch Chris Cannon supporter and I was called upon to defend our Congressman and his record over and over today. The amount of lies and misinformation which have been put out about him and his time in Congress were far greater than I could have imagined. The lack of research done to prove or disprove the candidates was never done, not that I could see.

One accusation leveled at Chris was his support of "No Child Left Behind." To that I answer:

He learned his lesson quickly and has launched and is pushing EndFedEd. If you really believe the federal government needs to get its nose out of education then it is time to stand up and be counted. Congressman Chris Cannon began the fight several years ago, join him and start to make a difference. He's doing his part on this matter, are you?

Politics aside, this is something every parent should become involved in. I urge you to drop by the above linked site and become involved.

This is only one thing his opponents chose to ignore when they leveled the complaint and accusation of federal interference in education. A lie of omission is still a lie.

Another issue raised, which was falsely related, was that Chris Cannon isn't a true conservative. Are you kidding me? Did anyone research that little tidbit of false information?

The non-partisan National Journal rates Chris as more fiscally conservative than 96% of House Members -- a stronger fiscal rating than even Congressman Ron Paul.

Chris holds the highest lifetime rating for any member of the Utah congressional delegation by the American Conservative Union.

The lowest lifetime rating for any member of the Utah congressional delegation from the ACLU belongs to Chris Cannon. (Go Chris!)

Not conservative enough . . . huh, do you think the people who think he's not conservative enough can put two and two together?

A bit caustic I know, but today I watched the supporters of Jason Chaffetz attempt to convince me he was the the better choice. The problem with Jason, he told three lies during his convention speech, two of which are listed above. If his people can't tell when he tells a lie then why should I listen to them?

Jason made promises that he would end amnesty, seal the borders, lower taxes, fix the economy . . . oh the promises went on and on. Just one little problem, he didn't explain how he was going to do that as a freshman Congressman with no connections, relationships or power. Yeah, sorry to say folks, but if you want to get anything done in Washington you have to be a bulldog, have the courage to back it up and fight hard to protect your constituents, your state and our nation. So I ask this of Jason Chaffetz, why have you continued to say you will do this when you can't, not at least for four to six years . . . oh yeah, Chris is already doing that.

Another outrageous accusation was that Chris missed votes, important votes. Well, some research has been done and the three times Chris missed critical votes the following events occurred in his life: His youngest child was born: His daughter, Rachel, was diagnosed with cancer; and The last critical vote was missed when Rachel died. Of course, his opponents didn't want that truth to be known. Other votes he missed? The naming of streets, post offices, parks, you know . . . important legislation like that. When he missed those votes he was in the process of creating legislation to protect us from the federal government. Chris has had more bills submitted, accepted and signed into law than any other congressman. Does that sound like someone not working hard for his constituents, Utah and the United States of America? I don't think it is honorable to accuse him of such a thing.

May I just share a few of my experiences with Chris, for these are some of the reasons I have become of his staunchest supporters.

Long before I ever became a state delegate or precinct chair I called Chris about a huge concern I had. To outline the situation I will quote Muriel Sluyter, a respected columnist on social commentary:

In California's Mojave Desert, a mine called Molycorp produces lanthanides, an essential mineral used commercially in aircraft parts, floor tiles, catalytic converters, communications and electronic products. We can get by without them only if we are willing to revert to a much more primitive lifestyle. They are critical for military use; for instance, we can't fire our Patriot missiles without them.

Molycorp is the only source of lanthanides in this country. In 1994 California Senator Diane Feinstein and Representative George Miller created a Dept. of The Interior National Preserve to protect the desert tortoise, one that carefully enclosed all of Molycorp. The tortoise is protected on their side of the Colorado River; but on our side it is not protected, because it is not endangered. The designation is a fake, as we will see. The mine pumps water across part of the Preserve's land, to an evaporative area it owns. In the summer of 1996, a pipe ruptured, spilling clean water onto BLM land a small distance short of the evaporative area. The mine reported the spill and arranged to clean up the sand made wet by the clean water, as per federal regulations.

Miller and Feinstein, having found their opportunity, each wrote letters of outrage, accusing the mine of endangering the citizens of California and demanding that the government take action. A month later, armed federal agents wearing flack jackets, showed up at the mine gate demanding entrance, which the guard denied. They told him they were armed and were going to come onto the compound, and they did. With guns drawn, they herded employees into a conference room and held them for hours, telling them nothing. They turned away the corporation's lawyers at the gate. After several hours of being held captive, some of the employees had to go to the restroom. They were escorted to and from the restroom by an armed guard.

The employees were unarmed; it is against federal regulations to have weapons on the mine property. The agents knew the employees were no threat, so the flack jackets and drawn weapons were strictly for intimidation purposes. The agents examined all documents pertaining to the spill. That's all they were after, although the employees thought they must be conducting a drug or weapons raid, because of the uniforms and the abusive swat team behavior of the agents.

The employees were not permitted to clean up the spill. It was designated toxic waste - even though only government environmentalists could call clean water a toxic waste with a straight face. They put up warning signs and brought full toxic waste gear; the mine employees say they are just putting on a show, since they work around the byproducts of lanthanides everyday, and there is no danger.

~Muriel Sluyter, "When is Treason Just Good Business"

Okay, here's the kicker. Diane's husband owns a lanthanide mine in China, or the rights to it anyway. Guess why she was so gung ho to get Mollycorp shut down? Yeah, I knew you guys were smarter then some of the people I rubbed shoulders with today. When I explained the situation to Chris he looked into and tried to do something about it. He was a new Congressman and so Mollycorp was shut down anyway. But it wasn't from lack of effort on Chris' part.

Roll forward a few months and Bill Clinton, oh yeah -- sorry to bring him up, signed away all the water rights America held to the United Nations? Why? Pretty much because he wants to be the secretary general of the United Nations. Clintons don't care about America, she's just a stepping stone to greater things. Anyway, I digress. As soon as I found out about Bill's Executive Order, I learned that Helen Chenowith of Idaho was already fighting to protect Idaho's waters. I called Chris, told him what I'd learned and asked him to make sure Utah's waters stayed protected from the United Nations and Clinton's shenanigans. Chris was on the phone to Helen immediately and when the transfer of ownership took place only Idaho and Utah retained the rights to their waters.

I've called Chris about a number of issues over the years and every single time, without fail, I have received a letter, an email or a phone call. Some people suggested today that he only returned my phone calls because I was a precinct chair. Only flaw with that logic is that he's been speaking to me and responding to me long before I was a delegate. Nice try. He takes his responsibilities to his constituents seriously. But it is also important to remember that it takes a lot of hours, days, weeks and months to be our congressman. If he doesn't get back right away, don't go discouraged. He, or one of his staff (who are completely awesome) will get back to you.

Just for a little truth: Here's a small part of Chris' voting record:

• The National Taxpayers Union gave Congressman Cannon an “A” Rating and he was the 2006 Winner of the “Friend of the Taxpayer” award.
• Americans for Tax Reform made Congressman Cannon the only “Hero of the Taxpayer” award winner in the entire Utah delegation for his consistent votes against raising taxes.
• Chris was named one of the 2007 “Defenders of Economic Freedom“ by the Club for Growth.
• Congressman Cannon was the lead Republican on the Internet Tax Moratorium and was invited to the White House for the signing of his moratorium bill.
• Congressman Cannon voted against SCHIP expansion.
• Congressman Cannon votes against socialized or government-run health care every time it comes before Congress.
• Congressman Cannon voted for giving the President a line-item veto.
• Congressman Cannon voted for eliminating the death tax.
• Congressman Cannon voted for eliminating the Marriage Penalty.
• Congressman Cannon voted for increasing the Child Tax Credit.
• Congressman Cannon voted for the Bush Tax Cuts and to make them permanent.
• Congressman Cannon sponsored the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.
• Congressman Cannon voted for Welfare Reform.

All this and still his opponents perpetuated misinformation and lies about him. I was stunned at the brazenness of it all. Yeah, I'm used to that on the national level and all the shenanigans that take place there. But it had been my hope that the people of Utah conducted themselves at a higher standard, and many of them have and continue to do so. But I was ashamed over the some of the campaigns of the other candidates.

So after three long rounds of voting it comes down to this, Chris Cannon and Jason Chaffetz are going to a primary. I beg of the constituents of the Congressional 3rd District of Utah . . . do your research. Barring that, believe me when I say that not returning Chris Cannon to Washington D.C. will be a grave error.

He has been working on energy solutions for ten years. Through all his hard work the funding of the developing of the technology needed to drill for shale oil has finally come to fruition. It works and Shell Corporation has licensed the use of that technology. Shell and Chris are working hard to get the 47 permits from the 47 different government agencies to start the drilling in September. Once this is in full force Utah, Wyoming and Colorado will be providing more oil than the Middle East, or any other nation, could ever dream of. Guess where that income comes to . . . yes, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. We currently send over $460 billion dollars a day toward the purchase of foreign oil. Let's bring those dollars home and believe me, Chris is fighting hard for that very thing. If Chris loses this primary we will immediately be shot back five to ten years in energy solutions. Jason Chaffetz will not have the relationships and connections, nor the tenacity, I believe, Chris has fostered to keep this moving forward. Chris has proven himself in Washington, D.C. -- Jason Chaffetz will be starting at ground zero. Does Utah really want to digress in our progress? I think not.

Do we, as Utahns, really want to halt 11 years of progress for our state and vote a neophyte into office. Now, believe me if our congressman were a scum sucking pig you better believe I'd take a look at other candidates. But Chris is a man of honor, strength and integrity. He is dependable and a fierce defender of the Constitution of the United State of America. He stands for the 3rd Congressional District, the State of Utah and the United States and in no time during his tenure has our Congressman has he betrayed us. He's gotten the job done and if you don't believe that you need to get busy. Check the voting records. Check the opinions and results of respected agencies and polls. Check the opinion other legislators have of Chris Cannon. You'll find I am not alone.

Do not, under any circumstances, be swayed by soft promises about what you want to hear. Understand that Chris fights and fights hard for us. He is the man to represent us in Washington D.C. and he has many things he has worked long and hard on that are finally coming about.

I'm going to interview Chris via email and post that interview here. I want you to hear it from him, not just me.

People, I beg of you. You are citizens of the greatest nation on the face of the earth. The privilege you have to vote is something nations have fought and died over, indeed, the Founding Fathers and the soldiers of The Revolution bled and died for you. Please, pick up that torch and realize that it is your turn to vote responsibly.

Vote for Chris Cannon on June 24th. Believe me when I say that a vote for Chris is a responsible vote for Utah and America.