Jeff Mateer
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appointed Jeff Mateer as Texas’ first assistant attorney general. Mateer replaces Chip Roy, who left the AG’s Office to join Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign.
Mateer was chief counsel for the Plano-based First Liberty Institute, a right-wing group that has been fighting LGBT rights in Texas for years.
Liberty Institute fought the first same-sex divorce case in Texas and, rather than allow the couple to divorce quickly, tied the case up in court for five years. Liberty Institute is the place all those homophobic florists and cake bakers who don’t want to cater a same-sex wedding can go to find attorneys who will defend them.
Mateer has called the criminal charges pending against Paxton frivolous.
Of note is this endorsement in Paxton’s announcement from another discredited crony:
Edwin Meese, 75th Attorney General of the United States, said, “Having worked with Jeff Mateer on major legal issues, I am pleased to learn that he is joining Ken Paxton’s fine staff, where I know he will do an excellent job.”
Meese was the discredited attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he abruptly resigned from office after a special prosecutor decided not to indict him for actions he took as a government official that benefited a longtime friend, E. Robert Wallach, by sending lucrative contracts to his company Wedtech. Wallach was indicted for racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.
