This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Washington » Rep.-elect Jason Chaffetz doesn't have a tape measure, but he feels the office fits him nonetheless. The suite may not be the largest or have the best view, but it smells better than the last one he visited.
"Put the cigar office sixth" on the list, Utah's newly elected congressman tells his just-hired chief of staff, Justin Harding. "It's thick in there," he says of the former suite where the current occupant likes to light up a stogie.
Chaffetz is capping off his first week in Washington for freshman orientation by hunting down a new office suite. With only 30 minutes until the office lottery, he and Harding are scurrying between floors of the Longworth Office Building, prioritizing the best space available.
The new 3rd District representative-elect spent a whirlwind week in the nation's capital, learning his way around the Hill, hob-nobbing with new members and fellow Republicans and lobbying for committee assignments.
But it was a trash-bag-wrapped cot that earned Chaffetz the most notoriety in his first week. CNN, Fox, Politico, Congressional Quarterly all mentioned the fact that Chaffetz plans to sleep in his office -- on a cot purchased at Smith's -- instead of renting an apartment in the pricey Washington area.
"I'd like to be known as something other than the guy who sleeps on a cot," Chaffetz says as he walks to the office lottery room.
"So, you've got a cot?" a woman asks Chaffetz as he approaches the lottery organizers.
The baby-faced congressman-to-be isn't too upset about being classified as the "cot guy" for now. He says that when it comes down to policy issues, he'll expand his reputation.
For now, Chaffetz is hoping to land a spot on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which the man he ousted, Rep. Chris Cannon, is a senior Republican member.
"That's a situation in which I'd thrive," Chaffetz says. "It's highly combative and it touches on all area of government."
Chaffetz, who ran to the right of Cannon in the conservative Utah district, has pledged to be a vocal member of the minority. He says GOP House leadership has urged the new members to spread their message, and Chaffetz says he won't disappoint.
"It's what I got elected to do."
But, first, he needs an office.
Sixth in line for the lottery, Chaffetz bides his time in the hearing room sitting next to his wife, Julie, who stocked up on souvenirs at the House shop. The first pick takes the cigar office. Chaffetz grabs his second choice, a three-room suite with a view of the columned Rayburn House Office Building.
Outside the room, Chaffetz is greeted by two television cameras and three reporters. They want to know about the cot.