ProjectUSA Challenge:
Does Congressman Chris Cannon support amnesty for illegal aliens?

Original text
May 21, 2004

Candidate Chris Cannon
Candidate Matt Throckmorton

cc: local media

It appears that the question of whether Congressman Chris Cannon supports amnesty for illegal aliens has become a decisive campaign issue in Utah's 3rd District. On one side, the Cannon campaign maintains the Congressman does not support amnesty, on the other side, the Throckmorton campaign maintains that he does.

In the interest of an informed electorate, honesty in politics, and healthy democratic debate, I propose a challenge:

ProjectUSA will sponsor a panel of five attorneys -- three constitutional law attorneys and two contract attorneys -- randomly chosen from anywhere in the country (outside Washington DC or Utah) by an independent non-political, non-lobbying arbitration organization to determine which campaign is telling the truth.

We will ask the panel to examine the legislation (H.R. 3142, H.R. 2899, H.R. 1300, and H.R. 2843) Rep. Cannon is currently signed onto that the Throckmorton campaign claims are amnesties, and that the Cannon campaign claims are not. We will ask each member of the panel to provide an answer in writing whether each of the bills constitutes an amnesty.

The independent objective outside group will tabulate the answers. If a member of the panel finds that any of the bills is, indeed, an amnesty, then that member will be considered a "yes" vote on the question: Does Congressman Cannon support amnesties for illegal aliens? If the panelist finds that none of the bills constitutes an amnesty, his or her vote would be marked down as a "no."

We will sponsor a press event sometime before June 22 at a hotel or other suitable location in Salt Lake, co-hosted by the district's media organizations, at which the findings of the panel are publicly revealed and the question definitively answered by a majority vote of the panel: Does Congressman Chris Cannon support amnesties for illegal aliens? Until the announcement, no one but the outside independent non-political organization will know the results -- including ProjectUSA.

__________________

The challenge:

If the panel finds that Congressman Cannon supports amnesties, Chris Cannon will publicly admit that he does indeed support amnesties for illegal aliens and his claims of distortion by his critics were false, and he will issue a public apology to Matt Throckmorton.

If the panel finds the Congressman does not support amnesties for illegal aliens, Matt Throckmorton will publicly admit that his claims that Congressman Cannon supports amnesties were false, he was distorting his record, and he will issue a public apology to Chris Cannon.

__________________

I sincerely hope, in the interest of fairness and honesty, both candidates accept this challenge; I submit that any refusal on the part of either candidate to accept it is a tacit admission of duplicity.

There are in the world nearly five billion people living in countries poorer than Mexico . Thus, as a nation, we simply must get serious about enforcing our common sense limits on mass immigration.

The American people understand this and agree -- hence the overwhelming opposition, among both Republicans and Democrats, and among both the native-born and immigrants, to amnesties for those who disrespect our limits.

Therefore, in a campaign in which amnesty has become an issue, we owe it to the voters, to the country, and to our children to make sure the terms are clear, that the positions of the candidates are well known and accurate, and that all sides are being truthful.