IF YOU SAY SO

Chaffetz: ‘Absolutely’ No Scandal Forcing Me Out

Said he’ll stay in office at least several more months.

In an interview with Politico on Thursday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz tried to clear up some of the rumors about his surprise announcement this week that he was planning on leaving Congress. “I started poking around to see what I might be worth and what sort of possibilities are there,” Chaffetz said. “And I got a series of ‘Let us know when you’re serious.’ Well now I can say, ‘Can you tell I am serious?’… I’ll take a little bit of time to sort out. I’d be thrilled to have a television relationship. But there’s a number of things I’d like to do.” The Utah Republican, who is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was first elected to the House in 2008 and had previously indicated that he would stay until he reached his term limit. This week, however, he announced would not seek re-election and subsequently said he might leave Congress in the next few months. Asked if the sudden decision was due to a scandal, Chaffetz said: “Absolutely, positively not.