Press Release - Puente challenges Chaffetz to Fair Election
Monday March 29, 2010 9:50 AM
SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Independent Candidate for U.S. Congress, Joseph L. Puente, fired his first political volley at Congressman Jason Chaffetz' reelection campaign by challenging the incumbent Republican to a fair election in Utah's Third Congressional District.
On a posting to his campaign web site at joepuente.org, Puente stated, "The issue that's at the top of my priorities is bringing about publicly funded elections. Until special interests are put into check in Washington, no other issues will matter. Efforts to reform them in the current political environment will be undermined by meddling lobbyists and their corporate backers to make sure that whatever laws are passed will work to their advantage and not for the public good. America has had enough of Government working for corporations and special interests at the expense of the people."
When asked about whether or not he would support the legislation for publicly funded elections in the form of House Resolution (H.R.) 1826, the Fair Elections Now Act, Mr. Chaffetz said bluntly, "I am opposed to publicly funded elections." When the Congressman was asked to explain why he opposed them, he chose not to respond.
Puente, who has no funding and is running his campaign with volunteer support, points to Chaffetz' campaign war chest which currently holds over $127,000, much of it from political action committees. In an effort to level the playing field and offer voters in District 3 the opportunity to participate in a fair election, Mr. Puente is committing himself to abiding by the donation restrictions outlined in the "Fair Elections Now Act," accepting campaign contributions only from individuals up to $100 and passing on any contributions from businesses, political action committees or other special interests. Said Puente, "Until the fair elections legislation is put into law, I think Congressman Chaffetz and I should put it into practice for this election and see just how fair an election can be between a government insider like Chaffetz and a regular citizen like myself."
When asked about the likelihood that Chaffetz would accept his challenge, Puente said, "I honestly doubt it. He still touts his win in the Republican primary in 2008 despite being outspent by over $600,000 by a 12-year incumbent but today the shoe's on the other foot. I'm the outsider with little money and grass roots support and Chaffetz himself is the incumbent insider with corporate sponsors. It's hard to give up all that PAC money and he's certainly earned it."
On March 23 Chaffetz announced his sponsorship of H.R. 4913, the so-called "Free Speech About Science Act"--Chaffetz' predecessor, Rep. Chris Cannon, sponsored similar legislation in 2008, H.R. 7120, the "Science Free Speech Act." H.R. 4913 would enable dietary supplement manufacturers to run advertisements that "cite legitimate scientific studies on the health benefits of their products." Between July and October of 2009 Chaffetz received $30,500 in campaign contributions from manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements, $14,400 of which came from the leadership of Salt Lake-based company Basic Research just three weeks after filing a law suit against the Federal Trade Commission over an advertising dispute.
Puente remarked, "The man gets over $30,000 in campaign contributions from the supplement industry and not even six months later he's resurrecting an obscure piece of legislation wrapped in the guise of 'science' and 'free speech' but basically designed to benefit the supplement industry. How can anyone not see the quid pro quo in that? What's particularly ironic is that Chaffetz himself accused two representatives from Tennessee of selling their votes for healthcare legislation in exchange for government assignments. This from a guy who basically accepted MONEY from an industry and is now sponsoring legislation that works in that industry's favor. Chaffetz is as much a corrupted, paid-for politician as his predecessor and every other incumbent in Washington and he needs to go. Publicly funded elections would eliminate the corporate element from our election process and get people into Washington who are beholden only to those who elect them, not those who fund their campaigns."
Sources:
Puente for Congress: http://www.joepuente.org (435) 554-VOTE (8683)
Fair Elections Now Act: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1826
Chaffetz campaign funding information: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00028958
Supplement makers give big money to Chaffetz: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13596206
Free Speech About Science Act: http://chaffetz.house.gov/2010/03/free-speech-about-science-act.shtml
Science Free Speech Act: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-7120
Chaffetz accuses Tennessee congressmen of selling their votes: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/mar/22/utah-freshman-accuses-tenn-congressmen-selling-the/
Photos by Robyn Adamson Photography
