Tag Archives: Texas Attorney General

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.

Is Ken Paxton Also Just a Bad Lawyer?

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Ken Paxton’s already shaky legal legacy took another hit this week when newspapers across the state began examining his role as an ad litem attorney for two children of Tanner Hunt – one of the children of Ray Hunt who killed himself in 2011.  According to the San Antonio Express-News, Paxton was an ineffective if not possibly corrupt ad litem attorney for the two young girls.  Paxton attempted to settle their claims to a multi-million dollar trust for $750,000 and would have had them disclaim inheritance rights to the larger Hunt oil family fortune.  Paxton appears to have been in way over his head in attempting to protect the rights of his clients.  Either that or something else was going on.  But either way, Texas’ top lawyer again has shown that he is simply not up to the job – whatever it is.

 Tanner Hunt, son of Dallas oil billionaire Ray Hunt, texted the mother of his two young daughters in fall 2011 for a picture of the girls in their Halloween costumes.

The next day, he took a Glock pistol, pressed it to his chest and fired a single shot, an Austin police report states.

At age 31, he left behind a $200,000 estate and no will, records show.

His daughters stood to inherit not only that estate but had potential inheritance claims on a $2 million trust that had been established for their father and possibly other trusts created by their great-grandfather, legendary wildcatter Haroldson Lafayette “H.L.” Hunt, who died in 1974.

But the following year, state lawmaker Ken Paxton was appointed attorney ad litem in Tanner Hunt’s probate case. He later put forth a settlement that called for Tanner Hunt’s daughters to receive just $750,000, which Paxton would invest for them — if they relinquished any claim on any further inheritances from the Hunt family.

That settlement was rejected by the girls’ mother, Crystal VanAusdal. It ultimately was replaced by a more generous, confidential settlement after the mother filed a motion asking the judge to recuse himself.

Red thinks there may be more.