CD-25 Runoff: Roger Williams -- Economically Illiterate Liar

About a week ago, I received information from U.S. Congressional candidate Wes Riddle's campaign about opponent Roger Williams.  Because the information I received came from a rival campaign, I refrained from publishing it until I could do my own homework.  Having now done so, I can confirm that Roger Williams lobbied Congress for the first auto bailout under George W. Bush, then lied about doing so.

(Author's note: The CD-25 runoff is happening alongside the U.S. Senate runoff between Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst.  Cruz/Dewhurst is the first race on the ballot.  The Riddle/Williams race is Second)


Roger Williams, the current congressional candidate, is also the namesake for Roger Williams Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge-Jeep.  On November 18, 2008, as reported by the Associated Press at the time, Roger Williams' wife Patty, president of Roger Williams Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge-Jeep, personally lobbied the U.S. Congress in favor of the first auto bailout.  On March 27, 2009 Patty Williams rationalized her actions in a guest column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Yes, my business, Chrysler and the entire auto industry face significant challenges as this country works to unfreeze credit and moves through a deep recession.

Yes, the company needs bridge loans to successfully respond to these severe economic conditions and has turned to the federal government as a lender of last resort. 

Chrysler has a sound viability plan to not only get it through these difficult times, but position the business to be an industry leader.  Chrysler's survival represents good news for auto dealers, consumers, American workers, and suppliers.

 With all due respect to Mrs. Williams, this is self-serving, economically-illiterate, bull crap.  It is NOT 'this country's' (ie. Washington D.C.) responsibility to 'unfreeze credit' or act as a 'lender of last resort'.  Free enterprise relies upon a principle called creative destruction.  This means that if a company isn't viable, it should shut down and allow a better company to replace it.  America's failure to live by our values of creative destruction and free enterprise in 2008 is a major reason we're in the mess we're in today.

But it gets worse.  At a candidate forum in Hays County, Roger Williams was asked to detail a time he stood on principle against personal interest.  At the time, he said:

I came out early against TARP and against the auto bailouts....I said from day 1 you cannot bail businesses out. They need to take normal bankruptcies.  And I was attacked pretty hard by that, by my industry and a lot of people that were around me.

 As detailed above, this claim is a bald faced lie.  If Roger Williams had admitted to making a mistake and told us the lessons he'd learned, he might have a case.  Instead of repenting of his wicked ways, unfortunately, Roger Williams is covering them up.

The Roger Williams campaign failed to respond to request for comment.  The phone number listed on the campaign website doesn't reach the campaign.  This statement on the Williams website contains hollow rhetorical bluster, but fails to address the specifics of the allegation.

Roger Williams claims he's running for Congress to 'stop Obama's socialist policies.'  Unfortunately, Barack Obama's socialist policies since 2009 are the direct result of George W. Bush's quasi-Socialist policies in late 2008.  When tested, Roger Williams failed to live by conservative values.  Roger Williams took the path of least resistance.  That's why, if you live in CD-25 and you intend to vote for Ted Cruz, you should vote for Wes Riddle while you're at it.

Update: Apparently, Roger Williams has a less than stellar commitment to the Second Amendment as well.