Roy was one of only seven members of Congress who voted against a measure to provide back pay to the 800,000 federal workers – including at least 35,000 Texans – who are going without paychecks because of Donald Trump’s government shutdown.
Under any circumstances, his vote was unfair and mean-spirited. Even whack-job tea partiers like Louie Gohmert voted “yes.” For Chip Roy, though, his “no” vote is also profoundly hypocritical. Here’s why:
In Texas, Chip Roy Double-Dipped on Salary and Took State-provided healthcare
In 2016 Chip Roy was on the official staff of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but he decided to leave the state job and go to work for Ted Cruz’s presidential Super PAC. Roy stopped working for Texas taxpayers and began drawing a full-time SuperPAC salary, yet he continued to draw government pay and remained enrolled in government-provided health insurance. Roy spent weeks working as a Ted Cruz dark money hatchet man while drawing tax-payer funded salary.
When Roy’s double-dipping scam was first revealed by the press, he tried to slide by on half-truths saying the pay was for accrued leave and vacation time, only later admitting that the arrangement was intended for longer term. Press criticism continued, and the Lone Star Project called for a formal Texas Ranger investigation of the scam. Only after the political heat reached boiling did Roy finally give up his work-free government paycheck and healthcare.
Chip Roy has Earned his Cruz/Paxton Protégé Stripes.
Chip Roy learned destructive partisanship and blatant hypocrisy from masters of the craft. While working for Ted Cruz, Roy launched a smear campaign against former Republican House leader Erik Cantor. His dirty work for Paxton included defending one of the state’s biggest boondoggle contracts that was over $100 million over budget.
Bottom Line:
Chip Roy barely won election in highly competitive Congressional District 21. Instead of spending his early days in office looking for ways to benefit his constituents and create goodwill to broaden his support, Roy has reinforced his reputation as a divisive, uncaring and hypocritical ideologue.
