Most days we each face decisions, few with serious consequences.
Others, however, can be harbingers of what’s to come, for good or ill.
Though we may be reading too much into it, an instance from 10 years ago gave voters an inkling of what could have been expected from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
At the time, Paxton was a state senator. The scene, a Dallas courtroom in which an attorney had left a $1,000 Montblanc pen in a metal detector tray. When the attorney returned to retrieve the pen, it was missing. Surveillance cameras revealed Sen. Paxton had pocketed the pen.
SADLY, the discovery did not appear to chasten Paxton, but instead solidified a sense of entitlement, as proved by subsequent failings.
In 2015, Paxton was indicted on felony securities charges for duping investors in a tech startup.
A multi-millionaire, Paxton opened a legal defense fund to pay for his defense to which donors have contributed handsomely. Eight years later, the trial is still pending, a perk of having friends in high places.
In 2020, eight members of Paxton’s staff contacted the FBI about their suspicions of Paxton’s involvement with Nate Paul, a wealthy real estate tycoon and donor embroiled in a criminal investigation, and accused Paxton of bribery, corruption and abuse of office.
The aides were all subsequently fired or quit. Four aides later sued Paxton under Texas’ whistleblower law.
This February, Paxton agreed to settle the case for $3.3 million, but rather than pay the fine out of his own pocket said he would use state funds, which requires legislative approval.
Paxton’s inflated sense of entitlement triggered the Texas House Committee on General Investigation to pursue the whistleblowers’ claims and on May 25 accused him of misusing his office to help campaign donors, hide an extramarital affair, accept extensive renovations to his million-dollar home from a donor, direct employees to violate state open records laws by hiding such transactions, as well as other underhanded activities.
On May 27, the Texas House voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton on 20 counts, immediately removing him from office. Both the Texas House and Senate hold Republican supermajorities. Paxton is a Republican.
His trial, to be conducted by the Texas Senate, is scheduled for August.
Among the senators who will serve as juror is Paxton’s wife, Angela Paxton, who during her two terms has worked to pass measures favorable to the attorney general’s position, including increasing his salary and the powers of his office. She has yet to say whether she will recuse herself from the proceedings.
As with her husband’s, her decision will speak volumes.
