Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton danced around accountability yet again - The Dallas Morning News

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has settled a lawsuit brought by four former top aides who had accused him of wrongdoing and retaliation.

It is a win for Paxton and the whistleblowers, whose careers in the attorney general’s office ended when they took on their boss. The settlement, however, is a loss for transparency and accountability.

The Texas Legislature would be wise to block the funding and force this back into court. If left to stand, this settlement would conceal the details of the underlying accusations from public view, leave the state picking up the check to the whistleblowers, and most of all, leave unanswered the ethical questions that in the public interest need to be resolved.

Paxton will apologize without an admission of liability or fault and the state will pay $3.3 million to the whistleblowers, if the Legislature writes the check. In exchange, Paxton averts a reckoning in court, something that he has avoided throughout his tenure as attorney general.

Aside from the unsatisfying end to this litigation, Paxton’s post-settlement statement epitomizes the passive-aggressive hypocrisy with which he has run the office. Paxton said the settlement will “save taxpayer dollars” and haughtily described the accusations as an “unfortunate sideshow.”

Yes, the settlement will save taxpayers from an even more protracted and expensive court battle. But no, this clash was not a sideshow. Paxton’s top aides, people who are unlikely to put their jobs on the line without reasonable belief of serious problems within the office, alleged corrupt behavior.

Specifically, they said the attorney general abused his office to help campaign donor and real estate developer Nate Paul. Paxton denied the allegations, rebuffed calls for his resignation and accused the former employees of pursuing a politically motivated vendetta against him. The allegations prompted an FBI investigation that has yet to produce charges against Paxton.

The reality is that the settlement doesn’t make Paxton’s tenure any less problematic. He remains at the center of other controversies that involve ethical choices, including an indictment for unrelated fraud charges brought more than seven years ago over investments in a McKinney technology company. Paxton also was accused of funneling clients to a friend’s investment firm without being registered with the state, leading to the Texas State Securities Board reprimanding and fining him $1,000 for this failure to register in 2014. And last year, the Texas State Bar sued him for professional misconduct for misrepresenting that he had uncovered new evidence to challenge the 2020 presidential elections results in several battleground states.

That’s why the outcome of the whistleblower suit is unsatisfying. As troubling as it is to have an attorney general whose actions while a private citizen have been called into question, the whistleblowers’ allegation of public corruption and influence peddling in his office are among the most serious accusations that can be brought against a public official, especially one whose title makes him the state’s top lawyer.

In a perfect world, this case would have gone to trial and an outcome based on the facts and credibility of the participants would have been reached. This isn’t a perfect world, but the Legislature still can deliver accountability and transparency by not writing a check.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton danced around accountability yet again - The Dallas Morning News
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