Hatch sees ‘chaos’ in Chaffetz bid for Speakership

Sen. Orrin Hatch said fellow Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz is too inexperienced to be Speaker and suggested his bid is leading to further chaos in the House.

{mosads}“The more the House stays in chaos, the worse it will be,” Hatch told Politico.

“What will be held against him by some is he has only been in Congress for a short period of time, and may or may not have built up enough cachet to be Speaker,” added Hatch, who Chaffetz considered challenging in a GOP primary in 2012.

“McCarthy hasn’t been here that long either, but he’s been here longer than Jason,” Hatch said, referring to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the odds-on favorite to be elected House Speaker.

“It does take a lot of experienced to be able to run some of these things,” Hatch added. “Just look at [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell [R-Ky.]. He’s a master.”

House Republicans will vote behind closed-doors Thursday on a new Speaker. Chaffetz is battling McCarthy and Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) for the post.

Chaffetz ruled out a primary challenge against Hatch in 2011 after months of threatening a run.

“If I were to run an interparty battle it would be a multi-million dollar bloodbath,” Chaffetz said in August 2011 about his decision.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily in my best interests,” he added.  “I don’t think it’s in the best interests of our party, the nation or our state.”