The alarm of corruption was sounded back in 2020, when the eight top people, division heads, in the Texas Attorney General’s office confronted their boss and complained of his improprieties. They knew he had a bully pulpit they did not have. They knew he could well come after them and destroy their professional and personal lives. But they loved Texas and they cared about honesty.
They hoped the Biblical values that Ken Paxton ran on in each of his campaigns would bring about the kind of remorse King David had when he was confronted with his wrongdoing. It turns out that the Attorney General had the sin, but not the remorse nor the correction of his ways of King David. Actually, it caused him to add to his improprieties by claiming the top employees he hired for their vast legal knowledge, their ethics, and integrity were rogue employees and were the corrupt ones. Those employees of course knew it was a crime to make false statements to law enforcement officers such as the FBI, but these dedicated Texas legal officials felt that they had to report the Texas Attorney General’s improprieties to the FBI in writing and the seven in the state at the time signed by the letter to the FBI.
Four of the original eight quit. The other four were fired, with claims by the Attorney General privately and publicly that they were basically crooks. That is what ultimately led to the agreement by Paxton to pay a settlement of a reported $3.3 million to those courageous individuals who served him and Texas, then sued him when his actions bludgeoned their good names. In the month of February 2023, Mr. Paxton requested that the Texas legislature vote to have taxpayers pay for the $3.3 million to resolve his improprieties. Unfortunately for Mr. Paxton, the Texas House decided they did not want to authorize taxpayer funds to cover the moral iniquities of the Texas AG. In fact, a majority of the Texas House of Representatives were fed up, and launched an impeachment committee that same month to investigate Paxton’s actions.
With impeachment efforts coming to a conclusion, Mr. Paxton went after the Texas Speaker of the House accusing him of presiding over the House while intoxicated. If that were the case, Speaker Phelan should resign as Speaker or be impeached himself. But that does not change the problem of Mr. Paxton’s alleged corruption which has significant evidence in support. Conveniently, knowing what was likely coming in mere days, Paxton posted a video of Speaker Phelan appearing to preside over the House while intoxicated, and demanded he be removed as Speaker. The impeachment vote came that same week on May 27, because it had to happen before the end of the session on May 31. I would prefer the Texas House had a more conservative Speaker, but a moderate Speaker is not a defense to the 20 impeachment articles against Paxton. Nonetheless, it caused some conservatives, who have not looked at the allegations and evidence, to defend Paxton. Hopefully, we will get a different Speaker next session.
Most Republicans and many others have noted what appears to be the perversion of justice in the federal DOJ and they know that there have been two different standards by which FBI targets are pursued or not pursued. They’ve seen the DOJ adopt Gestapo tactics used against people with no criminal history or no violent history, while letting horrendous crimes go unpunished. So it is not difficult for someone to take advantage of federal governmental corruption, and assert that he, too, is a poor victim of that same corruption rather than addressing evidence that he appears to be the heavy handed purveyor of his own corruption.
For those of us who have noticed vast federal overreach as well as corporate monopolies, we can applaud some of the lawsuits our Texas Attorney General has filed, as well as the competent attorneys he assigned to research, prepare, file, and present those cases. Some of those brilliant, ethical attorneys are his accusers now. But that becomes a tragedy when that same Attorney General uses popular Republicans to condemn others who are concerned about the potential crimes that appear to have strong evidence in support.
For those who are concerned Ken Paxton does not have enough time to mount a proper defense, he had over a dozen lawyers in his AG office back in 2020 tasked with doing a report on these allegations against him. Paxton said in January of 2022, “So we did that report with about 260 pages… The report indicts these guys for doing things that were illegal.” One of his problems that required settlement money to the whistleblowers against him was his claim that they were in essence crooks. Paxton has actually been working on his defense since 2020 when the allegations were first made.
Since the letter signed by the top officials Paxton hired was sent to the FBI in 2020, the DOJ has been investigating. Many of us, knowing that this federal DOJ often pursued conservatives most vociferously based on their political convictions, anticipated the DOJ would move swiftly to indict Paxton. But look what has happened by their slow motion investigation. Conservatives in Texas are viciously coming after each other, putting Texas in jeopardy for 2024.
People constantly ask me why I chose to leave Congress. I didn’t. I could only run for one office. Having looked into the allegations against Paxton, I saw impeachment and indictment would most likely come and that Paxton remaining in office could neutralize conservatives in Texas and cost Republicans the next election. Further, Paxton had not helped concerned locals fight voting corruption in the state’s biggest counties. My political strategy was that if I could force a runoff and be in it, that would give me 3 more months to rally grassroots and come from behind in the runoff as Ted Cruz did. I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try to save Texas from the results of what appears to be his clear corruption. A private poll in January 2022 showed I rose to second place and would be in a runoff, but then got hit from Paxton that I was against a border wall, was against gun rights, was a pawn of the Bush family, and voted more in line with Beto O’Rourke. He had $9+ million. I had $1 million. Hey, it’s politics and some politicians are not honest.
In seeking contributions from some of Texas’ biggest donors, I was met with what sounded to me like the old Huey Long defense that he may be corrupt, but we’ve invested so much in him, we’ll just see how it plays out. Paxton’s adroit use of the corruption in DC to say in essence, “What they did to Trump, they are doing to me,” is dividing Texas conservatives. Some Senators who know details of the corruption are being threatened with the end of their career and their lifelong efforts for truth and justice if they vote to remove Paxton.
I fought two unjust impeachments of President Trump. I went after witnesses who lied. I’ve gone after national Republican leaders who broke crucial promises. I continue to stand up against the constitutional rights violations that occurred after January 6. I’ve seen corrupt prosecution. Pursuing Paxton is not it.
That Texas Attorney General whom conservative Republicans supported because of his stances for issues they know could save their party and their country, appears will be the Texas Attorney General who divides and destroys his party and his state. Dividing and neutralizing Texas as a force for good in the United States could finish off what became the freest, longest lasting republic that provided more opportunities and assets for individuals than has ever existed. Now that would be quite a legacy for the Texas AG who does a remarkable job playing a self-proclaimed victim.
Louie Gohmert is a former United States Representative for the Texas’ First Congressional District.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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