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Lynette Craig has a sort-of pet name for Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz: "would-be despot."
"He doesn't come out to talk to us," explained the District of Columbia resident, a 40-year-old stay-at home mom, during a recent trip to Salt Lake City. "He doesn't ask our opinions on anything before he decides to win himself political points by treating us like a punching bag."
The "us" she refers to are D.C. residents who, unlike inhabitants of any other city in the nation, are under direct oversight of Congress, although they have no elected representative or senator.
Craig says Chaffetz has unjustly interfered with local laws in the district — including the city's measures on assisted suicide, gun safety and legal marijuana. To stop him, she's banded together with a small group of neighbors to create a political action committee (PAC) with a single objective: unseat the Utah conservative.
In the three weeks since forming the PAC, they've raised $15,000.
"Every penny of it will be in opposition to Chaffetz," said Craig, who was raised in Roy and graduated from the University of Utah before moving east in 2002.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Chaffetz has tried for months to overturn the city's "Death with Dignity" measure that allows adults with less than six months to live the ability to choose an end-of-life option to limit suffering.
Craig suggests that bit of meddling by the congressman was "the straw" that catalyzed the PAC, called Americans for Self-Rule.
"It's a big city, and there are issues that we need to work on," she said. "We try to pass legislation to that effect. And to have someone who's elected 2,000 miles away come and try to tell us not to do that is un-American. It's undemocratic. It's frustrating."
On the home page of the PAC's website, americansforselfrule.org, is a photo of Chaffetz. A large red arrow points to his face with the note "Not the mayor of D.C."
PAC members are spreading that message during late-night meetings in their living rooms and basements. They're hosting fundraisers in their kitchens — complete with cakes depicting Chaffetz's face (in one version, his teeth are made of Chiclets and his hair blue and green sprinkles).
"D.C. needs the catharsis," Craig joked about the creative baking.
While Chaffetz described the dessert portrait as "very Eddie Munster-like," he declined to comment on the PAC created to oust him. He has previously suggested parts of D.C. be incorporated into Maryland, where residents would gain one representative and two senators. The PAC founders want instead to be the 51st state.
"We want to be able to make our own laws for ourselves," Craig said.
The group will officially kick off with a party April 18, tax day, which Craig chose because the city experiences "taxation without representation" — a rallying cry during the American Revolution and a sentiment that cheekily remains on license plates in D.C. today.
With mostly district residents contributing to the PAC, Craig hopes to raise about $100,000: "I don't think six figures is at all unachievable."
The group isn't sure yet just how they'll spend the money.
For now, the PAC will fund a "negative pressure" campaign aimed at what its supporters see as the congressman's hypocrisy. Craig says Chaffetz steamrolling D.C. initiatives mimics the type of behavior he denounces on the part of the federal government over public lands and national monument designations.
"It's really frustrating because I see how he rails about federal overreach with things like Bears Ears [National Monument]," she said.
Though Chaffetz has a handful of potential opponents — Republican Damian Kidd, Democrat Kathryn Allen, perhaps even 2016 independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin — none has so far struck the PAC's seven-member board as "the right person," Craig said.
The largely Democratic group has toyed with the idea of funding a GOP candidate, she said, who would likely have more chance in a run against Chaffetz. Utah's 3rd Congressional District hasn't elected a Democrat since 1994, and Chaffetz has handily won every election since his first victory in 2008.
"Everything is on the table," Craig said. "I want Chaffetz out of that seat, so whoever is the best option."
Twitter: @CourtneyLTanner