STATEMENT ON
PAXTON IMPEACHMENT RESULTS
Political courage is in short supply.
During the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, the prosecution proved the following:
1. Ken Paxton hand-selected lifelong movement conservatives and a Hall of Fame Texas Ranger to lead various divisions of the office.
2. In the summer of 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, division leaders independently became increasingly concern about the volume of work conducted for Real Estate Developer Nate Paul. The work included fighting a Texas charity that Nate Paul was fighting, when the AG’s office is legally bound to protect them, and issuing an AG Opinion at 1AM on a Sunday morning to halt the foreclosure of Nate Paul’s properties on Monday. Interestingly, the “midnight opinion” issued was contrary to stated policy positions of the AG himself.
3. Ken Paxton hired an outside attorney with just five years of experience to be a special prosecutor. Nate Paul’s attorney wrote and helped deliver subpoenas to institutions fighting Nate Paul in court or investigating him. The outside attorney received his contract at Nate Paul’s home and the contract was only signed by Paxton, outside of official procedure. The special prosecutor was never paid for his work and was fired after the whistleblowers went to law enforcement.
4. As the last straw, once the division chiefs became aware the outside attorney had issued subpoenas alongside Nate Paul’s private attorney – subpoenas carrying the full weight of the State of Texas – they went to law enforcement. Within 45 days, each of them was either fired or constructively removed from their positions, violating the whistleblower protections given to government employees who expose corruption.
5. Four hours after Ken Paxton found out the division leaders went to law enforcement, he paid an invoice of over $120,000 for home remodeling services to one of Nate Paul’s companies, having already been back living in the home for approximately 75 days. This was September 30. On October 1, according to the meta data in evidence, the invoice was created by the company. The company didn’t officially exist in Texas when the invoice was paid.
6. Nate Paul created a separate Uber account Ken Paxton would use under the alias Dave P. Records in evidence showed all of the trips would pick up Ken Paxton (aka Dave P) near his Austin home and transport him either to Nate Paul’s home or the apartment of Ken Paxton’s mistress, who was a former senate staffer but who was then (and now is) employed by Nate Paul. Once the whistleblowers went to law enforcement, the data shows the trips stopped.
I’m disappointed that politics played such a huge role in this trial and I’m obviously disappointed outcome – not because of any current players in this saga, but for what it means for the future of Texas and corruption in government. No person should be above the law.
To watch a summary of the evidence provided in this trial, see the House Board of Managers closing remarks here.
With another special session looming, this time projected to be about parental choice in education and ensuring every student can choose the school that best suits their needs, it’s time to refocus toward legislative matters.
I will never compromise my principles for political expediency.
For Texas,
Jared Patterson
Father of three kids I can still look in the eye