Now, the speaker and his allies-both Republicans and Democrats-are attempting to remove Attorney General Ken Paxton from office through the impeachment process, accusing him of abusing the powers of his office to benefit a wealthy campaign donor and wrongfully terminating subordinates who questioned his actions.
The allegations stem from a November 2020 whistleblower lawsuit filed by four of these former employees, with whom Paxton's office agreed to settle for $3.3 million earlier this year.
Paxton's alleged crimes aren't the real reason why the Austin political establishment is trying to remove him from office, though.
Although Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan secretly appointed a committee to begin investigating Paxton in February-when Paxton's office asked the legislature to fund his settlement with the whistleblowers-the committee met to recommend impeachment charges the day after Paxton called on Phelan to resign for presiding over chamber proceedings while apparently drunk, as a viral video appeared to show.
During the campaign, Paxton's challengers repeatedly reminded voters about the allegations against him and argued he lacked the integrity to hold the office.
For Paxton to be removed from office, two-thirds of the Senate's members must vote to uphold the charges against him.
Interestingly, one of the members is Paxton's wife, but she won't get to vote on her husband's fate since the Senate passed rules stripping her constituents of a voice in the matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment