WASHINGTON -- It was 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Washington office of Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. All aides were answering phone calls about impeachment. It wasn't enough: lines were still ringing. But it was actually much slower than it had been in recent days.
"We think it's slowed down now because groups are trying to target the offices of undecided members instead," said Cannon aide Steve Taggart. Cannon, of course, is not undecided and is a strong supporter of impeachment."The phones have been ringing off the hook for days," said Cannon's press secretary, Jeff Hartley. "The number of calls have been in the thousands."
Sitting in the lobby was also a 2-foot high stack of letters on impeachment that had yet to be answered. "We've also had over 2,000 e-mails. It's been nonstop," Hartley says. Such traffic has caused the House's e-mail servers to crash at least twice.
The scene is similar in all offices of Utah's House members. Staffers say it is the largest, most impassioned outpouring of public sentiment they have seen on any topic as the nation braces for House votes on impeachment on Thursday or Friday.
That included eight death threats against Cannon -- a member of the House Judiciary Committee that recommended impeachment. The threats were referred to the FBI. Some came from people who may not have been, well, intelligent. They included return addresses.
Steve Petersen, state director for Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, said, "In the 10 years that I've worked for Jim, the only other issue that even came close to generating this many calls was the 1990 resolution for war (in the Persian Gulf)."
He said that when any phone at Hansen's Ogden office is hung up, it almost immediately rings. It may have been extra busy there because Hansen's Washington office is in the middle of moving, and has only a voice mail machine taking messages.
On Tuesday afternoon, Petersen had to run an errand to Hansen's separate campaign headquarters in Farmington -- where he expected to find some peace from ringing phones.
"But they found me here, too. I've had some calls here about impeachment," Petersen said.
"Our calls are running 90 percent for impeachment or resignation. Only 10 percent say don't impeach or are for censure," Petersen said.
Marnie Funk, press secretary to Rep. Merrill Cook, R-Utah, said calls to his Utah office had been two-thirds in favor of impeachment, until the Utah Democratic Party on Monday publicly urged him to oppose impeachment.
"Then they became 90 percent in favor of impeachment," as Republicans became more invigorated, she said. Cook has said he will vote to impeach, as have Hansen and Cannon. Funk said calls to Cook's Washington office are only about 50 percent in favor of impeachment and are coming more from around the nation.
"We've had a lot of people say they had trouble getting through to us," and reached recorded messages saying all circuits are busy, she said. Those lucky enough to get through often find that not enough aides are available to answer lines.
"If our receptionist can't get to calls fast enough, they go to voice mail," Funk explained. She added that 89 messages had piled up on it that aides had yet to sort through and answer.
Meanwhile, Hartley said calls from Utahns to Cannon were running 4-to-1 in favor of impeachment. Aides note that most people are polite but played some favorites saved on voice mail that ranged from funny to scary.
"Murderers. Murderers. Murderers," yelled one lady, complaining Republicans such as Cannon are unfairly persecuting Clinton. "Watch out, or we'll get you."
Another man laughed as he read from Cannon's resume and saw that he had worked in the Reagan administration -- which the man argued at length was one of the most corrupt ever. "And you're sitting in judgment of this president? Ha!" And he hung up.