Two brothers have crowdfunded over $12,000 to erect billboards calling on Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to investigate connections between Russia and the Trump administration.
Jeremy and Chris Voros formed their own political action committee called U Work 4 Utah in March, aimed at erecting several billboards around Utah County, near Chaffetz’s local headquarters. The duo launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise up to $22,900 to display the messages for a month.
“We believe in using modern fundraising tools in creative ways to persuade our elected officials to act in accordance with real Utah values, instead of doing the bidding of their donors, friends in DC, or dictators in Moscow,” the pair wrote on their funding page.
On Tuesday, the first billboard went up.
“Why won’t Chaffetz investigate the Trump-Russia connection?” reads the 48-foot-wide billboard, erected in Provo.
In February, Chaffetz announced he wouldn’t be looking into the questions about Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, being in contact with the Russian government before Trump took office. Flynn was embroiled in a firestorm after The Washington Post revealed he’d misled Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he’d had with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. Flynn resigned days later.
Despite calls from his colleagues to investigate the connection between the administration and a foreign government, Chaffetz said the situation was “taking care of itself.”
The Voros brothers, both registered Republicans, say they tried to ask Chaffetz about the decision at his town hall in February, but were dismissed alongside other attendees. Chaffetz later claimed the hundreds of angry, shouting voters at the event were paid protesters sent to “bully and intimidate,” prompting the brothers to launch their PAC.
“The more traditional methods of getting our elected officials’ attention do not seem to be working,” Jeremy Voros told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The crowdfunding campaign is ongoing and, if fully funded, would result in several printed billboards and one electronic sign to be displayed near busy transport corridors in Chaffetz’s home district.
Chaffetz himself, alerted to the billboards by the Tribune, had a simple message for the brothers: “They can keep wasting their money. It’s up to them.”