--- title: Jason Chaffetz Drops by Ted Cruz Event for 'Oversight' description: "I'm just doing a little oversight myself." canonical: https://time.com/4231995/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-jason-chaffetz-nevada/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-22T03:36:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:15:12.126Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Surrogate Drops by Cruz Event og:description: "I'm just doing a little oversight myself." og:url: https://time.com/4231995/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-jason-chaffetz-nevada/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc48f80d2798b1917/69887e7c0b72e344066e839f/jason-chaffetz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, right, listens as Representative Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina and chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghaz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Surrogate Drops by Cruz Event twitter:description: "I'm just doing a little oversight myself." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc48f80d2798b1917/69887e7c0b72e344066e839f/jason-chaffetz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Surrogate Chaffetz Drops by Cruz Event for 'Oversight' by [Zeke J Miller / Pahrump, Nev.](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Pahrump, Nev. Feb 22, 2016 3:36 AM UTC  Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during a campaign event for Senator Marco Rubio on Feb. 5, 2016. Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during a campaign event for Senator Marco Rubio on Feb. 5, 2016.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Zeke J Miller / Pahrump, Nev.](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Pahrump, Nev. Feb 22, 2016 3:36 AM UTC When Texas Senator Ted Cruz took the makeshift stage on the back of a pickup truck Sunday, he addressed a crowd of nearly 200 gathered in a restaurant parking lot with his call on Republicans to embrace a trusted conservative as the party nominee. But at least one person in attendance wasn’t buying it. Standing outside the roped-off area was Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and a supporter of Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s candidacy, who was there to shadow his preferred candidate’s frequent sparring partner. “I was just walking by,” Chaffetz joked, as he was quickly surrounded after texting one reporter of his presence, along with a Rubio communications aide. Chaffetz was there to raise doubts about Cruz’s record and public statements. “He has a propensity to mislead and not tell the truth, so I find his ‘trusted’ slogan ironic,” he told reporters, joking, “I’m just doing a little oversight myself.” After a few minutes, Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier walked over for some good-natured ribbing with the rival endorser. “Are you coming to endorse Ted?” she asked. “I thought we, like, won you over or something?” “What can we do \[to win you over\],” she continued with a laugh. “You can drop out, that’d be great,” Chaffetz fired back. “Oh, not today,” Frazier replied with a smile. When a reporter joked she should put a Cruz sticker on Chaffetz, Frazier said she had run out of them. The role of interloper is one Chaffetz has played before. In 2012, Chaffetz, then a supporter of Mitt Romney, appeared at more than a dozen Newt Gingrich events in Florida, where the pair were locked in a bitter primary battle, [frequently](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/27/romney-surrogates-shadow-gingrich-campaign/) [getting under the skin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOJcFfzE3wM) of Gingrich and his aides. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4231995/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-jason-chaffetz-nevada/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4231995/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-jason-chaffetz-nevada/"},"headline":"Rubio Surrogate Chaffetz Drops by Cruz Event for 'Oversight'","datePublished":"2016-02-22T03:36:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:15:12.126Z","description":"\"I'm just doing a little oversight myself\"","url":"https://time.com/4231995/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-jason-chaffetz-nevada/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Sen. 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