Is Jason Chaffetz on the phone with a resident of D.C. or Maryland? Probably not. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Jason Chaffetz is definitely not giving out his cell phone number to Washingtonians. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Jason Chaffetz, the Utah congressman who thinks he knows better than the District’s elected officials what’s right for D.C., changed his office’s phone options after Washingtonians flooded the phone lines on Tuesday.

Now, when you call his office, a recording picks up. It directs you to press one if you’re from Utah’s 3rd district, which Chaffetz represents, two if you want to comment about the House Oversight Committee, which he chairs, and that, “If you are not from Utah’s 3rd Congressional District but have comments for Congressman Chaffetz, please press three.”

Chaffetz’s press secretary MJ Henshaw confirmed that the recording is new. “Yes. You can call and hear it for yourself. 202-225-7751,” Henshaw says over email.

When asked whether the office plans to listen to messages left by people who select the third option, Henshaw replied, “Of course.”

Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen decided to call Chaffetz on Tuesday morning to complain about garbage pick-up after the Utahn’s latest incursion into D.C. politics—his pledge to block the District’s right-to-die law via disapproval resolution.

Dozens of people told Allen’s office they too called Chaffetz.

Allen “just did it as a citizen,” says Allen’s spokesperson Andy Le. “The reaction that he got just reinforced what we’re all feeling—a general frustration with regard to D.C. statehood.” As a reminder, there’s no senator representing Washingtonians on the Hill and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton does not get a floor vote.

Legislators on the Hill have been reporting a higher-than-usual volume of calls to their offices in the past few weeks.

Later on Tuesday, Chaffetz said during a hearing that he was “exploring” retroceding residential parts of D.C. to Maryland, without getting the input of people from either jurisdiction.

Some of Chaffetz’s other greatest hits when it comes to D.C. include trying to prevent implementation of a law that prevents discrimination based on reproductive choices and attempting to stop same-sex marriage in the District.

Burdening meddlers with constituent services requests is a tactic that D.C. residents have tried before for lawmakers like Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD), whose budget rider prevents D.C. from fully implementing marijuana legalization.

Allen was one of several D.C. elected officials on the Hill Tuesday to express their frustration with the GOP for messing with the Death With Dignity law without any input from Washingtonians.

In a Washington Post op-ed, Chaffetz pledged to “rage for the citizens of the District and ensure the seat of our federal government remains a place where the most basic right to life is protected for all residents.”

But instead, they seem to prefer raging at the congressman. In addition to the calls, D.C. resident Hilary Mossberg wrote a letter to the editor in Chaffetz’s hometown paper, The Daily Herald.

The letter says:

Mr. Chaffetz doesn’t represent me, but he has spent so much time meddling in our city’s affairs, one wonders if he perhaps cares more about my city than your district?

Are things so amazing and perfect in Provo that he doesn’t have any work to do? I suggest you ask your representative to spend more time representing his constituents and their interests and priorities. After all, what are you paying him for?

Le says that Allen is planning a “Hands Off D.C. Resistance Meeting” in the coming week.

“We’re going to have a meeting with the community about how do we protect D.C. How do we protect the progress we’ve made in the last couple of years and leverage the talent that lives in this city?” says Le. “We don’t have all the answers but if we get enough people we can find consensus.”

Filed Under: jason chaffetz, meanwhile on capitol hill, statehood,