February 11, 2023

Ken Paxton should probably be in jail, rather than serving as Texas’ highest legal officer. But hey, Texans just re-elected him despite the fact that he remains under indictment for securities fraud and that he's being sued for professional misconduct by the Texas State Bar for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The whistleblower lawsuit is right up there with the rest of those scandals.

As I wrote last year, eight of Paxton’s top employees accused Paxton of corruption and bribery, prompting an FBI investigation. The eight resigned or were fired. Four subsequently sued him.

The Texas Tribune explains what looks like shockingly blatant corruption:

Filings in the whistleblower suit revealed more details about the crimes the former employees alleged Paxton committed, including doing political favors for real estate developer Nate Paul, a friend and political donor who gave Paxton $25,000 for his 2018 campaign. The allegations said Paul helped Paxton with a home remodel and by hiring Paxton's alleged girlfriend. Paxton is married to state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.

The whistleblowers claimed Paxton pushed to have the attorney general's office get involved in Paul's legal disputes, even when lawyers in the office advised against it. Paxton pushed to get involved in a real estate deal involving one of Paul's companies and an Austin charity, and appointed a special counsel to look into claims Paul had made that state and federal law enforcement had improperly raided his home in 2019. Lawyers in the attorney general's office had found "no credible evidence" Paul's rights were violated, but Paxton appointed the special counsel despite their objections.

The whistleblowers said the special counsel, Brandon Cammack, then obtained more than three dozen subpoenas targeting people they believed to be Paul's enemies.

But Paxton thinks the public should pay the $3.3 million settlement, not himself. That means the money would have to come out of state funds and approved by the legislature. The Tribune reports that state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican who oversees the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee said he was “troubled that hardworking taxpayers might be on the hook.” Gee, ya think?

I’ve only scratched the surface of Paxton’s awfulness. He’s so bad that none other than Rep. Louie Gohmert gave up his seat in Congress to run against Paxton in the primary on an anti-corruption platform. Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush also ran against Paxton and made it to a runoff. But Paxton won the nomination and was re-elected to a third term.

Texas, you reap what you sow.

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