Chaffetz's first year mix of media and red meat

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Washington » By now, everyone knows Jason Chaffetz.

He's the "cot guy," the Stephen Colbert leg-wrestler, the guy who never saw a television camera he didn't jump in front of.

The Utah Republican walked into Congress one year ago this week, already somewhat of a known quantity for his plan to sleep in his congressional office. Twelve months later, Chaffetz has earned a reputation as a media-savvy politician who is unafraid to criticize his own party's past actions and yet acts as a solid voice and vote for conservative causes of the day.

He wasn't a quiet freshman.

In his first months, Chaffetz jumped on board with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in trying to ban the importation of Italian low-level radioactive waste, held to a campaign pledge against seeking earmarks and spent plenty of time on the House floor complaining about federal spending run amok.

Later on, he opposed Utah getting a fourth congressional seat by joining the District of Columbia's efforts at gaining its first voting House member, and later became the leading congressional voice against legalizing same-sex marriage in the nation's capital.

In November, Chaffetz attempted to pre-empt President Barack Obama's Afghanistan troop surge announcement by saying the United States should either commit to giving commanders on the ground everything they want, or just withdraw now. To his own surprise, Chaffetz passed his first bill, this one banning primary screening of airport passengers by whole-body imaging machines. (The House-passed bill remains stalled in the Senate.)

And at one moment, he shed tears on the House floor when lauding Abraham Lincoln.

Along the way, he appeared in countless stories in newspapers, online sites and on television thanks to his propensity for providing his cell phone number to everyone.

"Without question, he's one of the most available guys," says Anne Shroeder Mullins, a gossip columnist for the D.C. political publication Politico. "As a reporter, how can you not love Jason Chaffetz? He's around for a quote and he's around for a pretty good quote."

Even on his first day in Congress, he garnered media attention from NBC, CBS and CNN.

Media attention aside, Sen. Bob Bennett, a Utah Republican whom Chaffetz had considered challenging, says the freshman has gained a good reputation among his peers for working hard, speaking out and pushing conservative issues.

Even though House Republicans were chagrined that an upstart who didn't rise with party support or guidance ousted 12-year Republican veteran Chris Cannon, most members have come to accept the new representative of Utah's 3rd Congressional District, Bennett says.

"Frankly, I think all the media stuff is irrelevant to how your colleagues view you," the senator said. "If you are doing a good job within the institution, they really don't attach much relevance to the publicity you get or don't get."

Reviews from home have been mixed, with some constituents concerned that Chaffetz was becoming a joke, or, on the opposite side, applauding him for standing up for fundamental GOP principles.

Pleasant Grove Mayor Mike Daniels criticized Chaffetz last year for his zero-tolerance earmark position that Daniels said was hurting the district's ability to reap federal money that other districts were getting.

Chaffetz has since revised his earmark stance saying he'll seek legitimate earmarks for his district that have a federal component and Daniels says that's a good step but he wants to see how it works out in the end.

"His ideals that he wants to achieve are good," Daniels said. "I think his method of how to achieve it is, I think, exclusionary. It alienates him from most other members of Congress and in the process, penalizes his district and his whole area."

Daniels noted that getting something accomplished in Congress requires working with your 400 closest friends and that while taking hard-line stances might be what voters sought by voting out Cannon in 2008, Chaffetz will eventually have to form relationships across the aisle and within his own caucus to get something accomplished.

Chaffetz spent a fair amount of time in Washington or at home, but he also saw the world during his first year, traveling to Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Germany, Israel and Antigua, all on congressional fact-finding trips, most of which were paid for by taxpayers.

The congressman says he didn't spend four contiguous days in Utah in his first five months in office.

As for his own rating, Chaffetz says he's succeeded in what he wanted to do his first year in office: to communicate with his constituents and be a voice for constraining spending.

Part of that effort, he notes, was to appear often in the mainstream news media as well as exploit available technology from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube to make his voice louder. Combined, Chaffetz now has about 15,000 friends or followers on Facebook and Twitter and his YouTube videos have garnered 42,000 views.

"There is a method to the madness," Chaffetz says of his media frenzy. "I want to become as influential for Utah as possible. And I want to have that open door, not just to the media but also for my constituents."

Chaffetz is fully aware he's gained notoriety partly because of his ability to poke fun at himself or laugh when others do it to him. In March, Chaffetz brushed off criticism that he was star-struck -- he was literally pointing out how many Hollywood or political luminaries he'd met -- but soon refocused his Twitters and Facebook messages to policy issues.

"I have no problems joking and laughing about my own personal life and the self-deprecating humor has opened a lot of doors for me," Chaffetz says. "We can joke all day long about me personally, but I take public policy seriously and I do believe that if you can joke and laugh and break bread with someone then you have an opportunity to talk about serious public policy."

He's already gained one fan: House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Boehner asked the freshman lawmaker to help teach his fellow Republicans about social media and says Chaffetz represents "a new generation of leadership."

"He is passionate about the issues, articulate on the floor, and a hard worker," Boehner says. "He's been an impact player, even in his first year, and we expect even bigger things from him in 2010. Other than the leg wrestling, Chaffetz has certainly impressed us."

Even on the other side of the aisle, fellow freshman Jared Polis, an openly gay Democrat who appeared beside Chaffetz on a CNN weekly series, gives Chaffetz high marks for his social and mainstream media work.

Polis says national polls have dinged congressional Democrats, and to a lesser degree congressional Republicans, but that Chaffetz has been able to put a more friendly face on conservative ideas.

"Jason has been very effective in getting conservative messages out through new media," Polis says. "Through new media and through Jason's cot-side chats, it helps bring him right into the computers of the constituents in Utah."

Some people, however, still wish they could turn Chaffetz off.

Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland says in his conversations with 3rd District voters, they're tired of the clowning around and Chaffetz seems most interested in tossing out ideological red meat to constituents without actually doing any serious work.

"He's a very highly compensated nay-sayer," Holland says. "I guess his reputation in the first year is more about the antics than being really any kind of a serious lawmaker."

For his part, Chaffetz says he's working to build a stage from which he can argue for Utah and for conservative causes, even if that means he has to jump at most chances to get his name out there. He makes no apologies for his steady media appearances.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Chaffetz says. "Wait 'til next year."