Tag Archives: Ken Paxton

Paxton’s Pals Pay to Keep Politician out of Pokey

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“Friends” of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gave him almost $330,000 to help pay for his legal defense against felony securities fraud charges, according to Paxton’s most recent filing with the Texas Ethics Commission.   Paxton’s personal financial statement establishes that he is funding a high-profile criminal defense team with the help of so-called friends and associates.  And not a single one of those friends and/or associates expects a single favor in return for helping keep Paxton out of the pokey.

 Paxton is using a loophole in the state ethics laws that allow state officials to keep gifts from people who are allegedly not seeking anything in return.  Under state bribery laws, elected officials are not allowed to receive gifts from people or entities subject to their authority.  But as attorney general, Paxton has authority over a wide range of legal issues and controls the state’s largest law department   Nonetheless,  Paxton sought an exception allowing “gifts from family members and those ‘independent’ of an officeholder’s ‘official status.’” In essence if this passes muster, Paxton will be allowed to tap a few rich folks for unlimited sums of cash to pay his attorneys based on the idea that none of these folks have an interest in getting anything in return because they are long time friends, buddies, pals and confidants of the state’s embattled top lawyer.
And Red has a bridge to sell you.

Ken Paxton – Vexatious Litigant (cont.)

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Texas Attorney General and Tea Party favorite Ken Paxton has failed in another frivolous lawsuit.  Paxton sued the federal government seeking to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Texas.  Yes, that’s what it has come down to for the Tea Party fanatics – let’s keep refugees out of our state because . . . well, just because.

Paxton’s suit claimed the Obama administration had not adequately consulted with states before placing refugees in Texas.   Not surprisingly, U.S. District Judge David Godbey ruled that the state has no role in the resettlement of refugees handled by the federal government which has authority over immigration policy. And in a dope slap to Paxton, Godbey also found the state had failed to present plausible evidence that Syrian refugees pose an imminent risk.   Paxton apparently forgot about something called the Supremacy Clause and another detail of the Constitution which vests authority over foreign affairs largely in the hands of the Executive.  But the Constitution is only important when it supposedly supports Paxton’s Tea Party agenda.

For his part, Paxton said that he was “disappointed with the court’s determination that Texas cannot hold the federal government accountable to consult with us before resettling refugees here.” He said he is considering options to “guarantee the safety of Texans from domestic and foreign threats.”  Yes, Ken will protect us from the predatory families that are being resettled in Texas. Good luck with that Ken.

Ken Paxton – Vexatious Litigant (cont.)

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It’s not enough that Ken Paxton is suing the federal government (again) – this time over the important issue of who gets to pee where.  But now it comes out that Paxton went actively looking for a client to challenge new guidelines aimed at protecting the rights of transgender students.   The Texas Tribune reports that Paxton approached at least two school districts in his quest to find a client to represent.  Paxton was turned down after his assistants made a pitch to the Wichita Falls ISD to enact an identity at birth peeing policy.   But the WFISD board turned him down.

“I feel like in this situation we’ve been put between a rock and a hard place by both the federal and our state government where we are the ones who would be the sacrificial lambs effectively in this fight,” said board member Elizabeth Yeager. “I think that would be completely a waste of time and a distraction from our school business of educating students.”

Wichita Falls Superintendent Michael Kurht also came out against adopting the policy, citing legal counsel that the school district’s current policies were in compliance with the new federal guidelines.  “I don’t know that my time and the district’s time is best suited to do this,” he said.

Kudos to the WFISD for having the sense to not pick an unnecessary fight and to not make their transgender students into a political pawn.

Unfortunately, the folks at the tiny Harrold ISD were not so immune to the charms of the wily Paxton.   After being approached by Paxton’s surrogates, the Harrold ISD adopted a transgender policy clearly targeted to run afoul of the federal guidelines.  Finding a willing dupe for his political agenda, Paxton issued the following duplicitous statement:

“Harrold Independent School District fulfilled a responsibility to their community and adopted a bathroom policy that puts the safety of their students first. Unfortunately the policy placed them at odds with federal directives handed down earlier this month. That means the district is in the crosshairs of the Obama administration, which has maintained it will punish anyone who doesn’t comply with their orders.”

Yes, they were goaded into adopting a policy so that Paxton would have yet another chance to file a frivolous lawsuit and waste more of your taxpayer dollars.  When a non-government lawyer goes looking for a client unsolicited they have a name for it – Barratry.  When Ken Paxton does it nothing happens.

 

Ken Paxton – Vexatious Litigant (cont.)

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Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just can’t help himself from continuing to waste taxpayer dollars on important issues like who gets to pee where.  One might think that Paxton was merely trying to draw attention away from his own considerable legal woes – but then one would be a small petty-minded type of person – like Red.

But the chances that Paxton would shy away from the most important legal and moral issue of the day, involving – as Red so crudely puts it – which hole gets to go in which hole, were slim to none.  Apparently there is not a single action of the federal government that Paxton does not feel up to challenge – at least until another Bush becomes President.  Paxton reflexively must challenge anything that might possible offend or cause the slightest consternation amongst his Tea Party followers – all the while maintaining his innocence in the face of what the legal experts refer to as “pretty damn good evidence” that he himself is the real lawbreaker.   Thus despite the lack of a shred of evidence that allowing the various varieties of our transgendered Texans to decide where they would like to evacuate their various by-products of human existence has endangered anyone or caused any of the Baptist women to cry “Oh, my!”, Paxton bravely soldiers on in the belief that only he knows best and that the very fate of the constitutional republic hangs in the balance on his briefs (no pun intended).

Red for one expresses no opinion (as yet) on the constitutionality of the Obama administration’s rule on bathroom equality.  What is clear, however, is that Paxton and ilk truly believe that this is the issue that will re-ignite the Tea Party movement (not just their bowels) and lead them back to national prominence in the wake of seeing their influence eviscerated by Donald Trump’s emergence (from the anus of the political sphere).  The right must have a bogeyman – real or imagined – and fear is the only thing they know how to properly manipulate into a position of power.  If not the Red Menace washing upon our shores, or the Hippies destroying our social fabric, or the Welfare Queens taking us to the cleaners, or Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll corrupting our youth anymore, then there must be a new cause.  And with the so-called War on Terror falling out of fashion after a sort, what can the denizens of the right latch onto now.  Aha, bathroom safety.  The terrifying image of a grizzled child molester tarted up in a chemise and sporting some f*#k me pumps coming in to the Women’s room to terrorize Ted Cruz’s daughters will certainly get the base riled up.  Except maybe enough Americans are not quite stupid enough to believe such nonsense.  And no one will ever accuse Ken Paxton of not being stupid enough.

Ken Paxton – Vexacious Litigant

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Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just can’t avoid the spotlight – or perhaps thinks that getting his office involved in a matter that doesn’t concern the State of Texas will divert the people’s attention from his own legal problems.  This time, Paxton is using Texas taxpayer money to intervene in a lawsuit on behalf of Exxon-Mobil – an outfit that typically is thought capable of carrying its own legal water.

The U.S. Virgin Islands’ Attorney General, Claude Walker, is seeking documents from Exxon related to an investigation into whether the energy giant covered up its internal investigation into climate change and misled shareholders about the impact of climate change on the company’s bottom line.  In that regard, the USVI issued a subpoena.  Exxon sued in Tarrant County district court seeking to quash the subpoena.  Paxton’s office filed a brief in support of Exxon.  Paxton decried the USVI’s attorney general’s investigation as “ridiculous” and a “fishing expedition of the worst kind.”  Kowtowing to his base in prototypical TeaPartySpeak, Paxton described the subpoena as “an effort to punish Exxon for daring to hold an opinion on climate change that differs from that of radical environmentalists.”

Red could probably not care less about whether Exxon has to cough up some documents or whether it was less than forthcoming with respect to its investigations into climate change.  Red does care about the limited resources of the Texas AG’s office being used for blatantly political purposes and to help line the coffers of Paxton’s re-election campaign fund.  Paxton was a major recipient of donations from the energy industry and his intervention in this matter in the week before Exxon’s annual shareholders’ meeting seems just a little too coincidental.  Texas has had some pathetic excuses for an AG before, but Paxton is putting the bar so low that no future AG will ever be able to limbo under it.

Texas Voter ID Law Ripped Apart

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Texas has the strictest Voter ID law in the U.S. despite there being no evidence of voter fraud to prevent.  As Red has said repeatedly, anyone who knows anything about elections knows that the mail-in ballots are the most likely place for voter hanky-panky and the Voter ID law does nothing about that problem.  The law is clearly designed by a Tea Party dominated Legislature to do nothing other than keep as many poor folks and minorities as possible from voting.  It is about the most shameless act of political pandering that Red has ever witnessed and it seems like to fail once the Fifth Circuit rules in Veasey v. Abbot.   But don’t take it from Red.  In a recent article, The Economist destroys the basis for the law and takes down criminally indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for his pathetic defense of the basis for the law as well.   

From 2000 to 2015, according to the New York Times, the 2011 voter-ID law could have prevented “no more than three or four infractions” qualifying as voter fraud. Yet Mr Paxton insists the rules are necessary to “safeguard the integrity of our elections process” and are “essential to preserving our democracy”. Judges have found quite the opposite. When the law was first challenged in federal district court in the weeks before the 2014 election, Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos struck it down as a violation of the 1st, 14th, 15th and 24th amendments. In her 147-page opinion, Judge Ramos noted “a clear and disturbing pattern of discrimination in the name of combating voter fraud in Texas”. Blacks and Latinos, she noted, are much more likely to lack the required identification and thus would be disproportionately roped out of the voting booth. The Texas law, she concluded, “not only had the effect of discriminating against minorities, but was designed to do so” and constituted a “poll tax”.

More Trouble for Ken Paxton

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Texas Attorney General and Tea Party Hero Ken Paxton faces additional legal troubles.  Numerous outlets are reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Paxton with misleading investors in a technology company.   The SEC filed the charges Monday in federal court in Sherman. The allegations are similar to those Paxton faces in a  indictment in Collin County.

Paxton is named in the SEC’s complaint along with William Mapp who founded Servergy Inc.   The SEC claims that Paxton raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Servergy without disclosing that he was earning a commission.  According to the SEC complaint, Paxton persuaded five investors to put $840,000 into Servergy.  One month later, Paxton received 100,000 shares of stock in the company. Paxton’s story is that the shares were a gift from Mapp and not a commission.

And this is the chief legal official of our great state.

Texas Ethics Commission Rules Paxton Can’t Accept Out-of-State Donations to Pay his Legal Team

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Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got more bad news on Monday when the Texas Ethics Commission narrowly ruled that he cannot accept money from out-of-state donors to pay for fees for his legal defense team.  A so-called anonymous inquiry was made to the TEC asking if an individual working in the attorney general’s office may accept “benefits” from people or entities outside Texas.  The Texas Tribune has more on the decision that might keep Paxton from using his influence to fight off the mounting criminal charges that he faces.

A draft opinion considered by the commission said a person in the attorney general’s office — including Paxton — would not be prohibited from accepting money in circumstances where an out-of-state donor does not have any pending matters before the attorney general’s office.

But three commissioners – Jim Clancy, Tom Ramsay and Bob Long – voted against the proposal. Four voted for it; five votes are needed to pass an opinion.  Clancy said the commission should not pass the proposal without knowing who requested an opinion.

“I don’t know how you can evaluate this without knowing who is the donor and who is the recipient,” he said. “I’m concerned about the unintended consequences.”

But Commissioner Tom Harrison reminded commissioners that Paxton already must report any gifts.  “There’s no doubt, at least in my mind, that some donations made are going to be extremely scrutinized by members of the public and the media,” he said.

Paxton Declares Daily Fantasy Football to be Illegal Gambling

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Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threw down the gauntlet on another front on Tuesday when he issued a non-binding opinion declaring daily fantasy football to be illegal gambling as defined under Texas law.  Paxton’s office issued an opinion in response to a request from Rep. Myra Crownover asking whether daily fantasy leagues such as DraftKings and FanDuel were illegal, and whether fantasy sports leagues where the house does not take a rake and the participants wager only among themselves are legal.

The issue turns on the application of Chapter 47 of the Texas Penal Code which prohibits betting on the outcome of sports games or contests or the performance of a participant in a game or contest.  The crux of Paxton’s opinions revolves around the question of whether participating in a commercial daily fantasy league constitutes a bet.   Paxton concludes that because there is an element of chance in those games, then regardless of the skill level involved in picking particular players, participants are placing a bet when they participate in fantasy football.  Therefore, Paxton concludes that commercial daily fantasy football is illegal gambling in Texas.

With respect to the more traditional season-long fantasy leagues where the participants are betting against each other and the house does not take a rake, Paxton concludes that such leagues fall under an exception to the illegal gambling laws.

“Under this statutory framework, odds are favorable that a court would conclude that participation in paid daily fantasy sports leagues constitutes illegal gambling, but that participation in traditional fantasy sport leagues that occurs in a private place where no person receives any economic benefit other than personal winnings and the risks of winning or losing are the same for all participants does not involve illegal gambling.”

In other words, Paxton is going long on the courts finding that your friendly workplace fantasy football league is okay.  Red predicts that this non-binding decision – more than his other well-documented legal problems – will hurt Paxton’s chances for re-election.

Texas Police Shooting Database Now Available

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The Texas Attorney General’s Office is developing a basic database that will allow the public to track all police shootings in Texas.  According to the OAG:

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) will be adopting and publishing reporting forms for Officer-Involved Shooting Incidents, as required by H.B. 1036, 85th Leg., R.S. (2015), which became effective September 1, 2015.  Until the OAG has adopted and published a final version of the form, and rules governing its completion and submission, all law enforcement agencies should begin using this interim form in accordance with the instructions contained therein.

The interim form posted by the AG is fairly bare bones and will likely be revised to provide more information.  So far there are about a dozen filed reports from various police departments across the state.  There is not a compilation of the reports, but someone will certain began using these reports to analyze and track what is actually happening when Texas peace officers shoot someone.

Red supports any efforts to reduce police shootings and the shooting of police officers.  But it seems clear which is the bigger problem right now.  According to The Guardian which is tracking all States, 891 people have been killed in the U.S. by police this year.  Contrast that to Great Britain where there have been no fatal police shootings since 2012, or Germany where there have been eight police killings over the past two years.  Even Canada, a country with no aversion to firearms, had a total of 12 police shootings between 1999 and 2009.  Of course, these numbers would have to be adjusted for population, but even so the U.S. is not just an outlier it is a complete aberration from the rest of the democratic industrialized world.