MALDEF buddy faces primary.

Congressman Chris Cannon (R-Utah), whose outspoken defense of illegal immigration earned him an award from the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), faces a June 22 primary challenge from attorney Matt Throckmorton. As previously reported in these pages (see "Stealth Invasion" in our April 5 issue), Rep. Cannon received MALDEF's "Excellence in Leadership Award" in June 2002--a profoundly dubious plaudit, given that the foundation-funded radical group openly seeks to subvert our immigration laws and undermine our national borders.

Cannon is perhaps the most outspoken supporter of the Bush administration's illegal alien amnesty proposal, a fact that led to extensive negative publicity in Utah. He blames that negative publicity for his failure to secure a 60 percent majority against Throckmorton in the May GOP state convention. "A lot of money has come into this race from out of state--all over the misinterpreted phrase 'amnesty,'" Cannon lamented to the May 9 Deseret Morning News. "We'll raise the money we need to get our message out."

Cannon will have no problem raising money, since nearly all of the "out of state" money raised thus far has flowed into his coffers. Federal Election Commission data reveal that 94 percent of the non-PAC money donated to Cannon's re-election bid comes from out of state.

Project USA, which erected several billboards in Utah to condemn the congressman's pro-amnesty stand, points out that 93 percent of the PAC money donated to Cannon comes "from business special interests--many representing industries that profit by Cannon's creative interpretation of the word 'amnesty' or his efforts to raise the import quotas on foreign labor." The single largest "industry" donating to Cannon, notes the group, is lobbyists.

Cannon's self-dramatization as besieged underdog notwithstanding, his campaign--which enjoys all of the perks of incumbency--out-spent the insurgent Throckmorton campaign 18-1 before the convention.