Ken Paxton was acquitted of all charges. I watched or listened to almost every minute of this trial in the TX Senate.
Here’s what I wrote to my State Senator, Charles Schwertner, the last day of the trial.
Probably unlike most of your constituents, I have either listened to or watched almost every minute of every day of the Paxton hearings. I’ve been waiting for proof of the allegations against him, and even now that the House managers rested, I’ve not heard it.
It is very clear to me that there were lots and lots of assumptions made, and then actions taken in support of those assumptions. Example: the “apoplectic” reaction to subpoenas being issued, and the witness had no knowledge of the second referral at the time he went “apoplectic”. Reaction without knowing the facts. Actions, including the meeting with the FBI, taken as a result without knowing the facts.
One of these employees acknowledges that he sent documents to Johnny Sutton. Thus, documents could have been taken to the FBI. Claiming they couldn’t take internal documents externally is BS since they DID send internal documents to Johnny Sutton.
I’m not going to take the time to go through each and every Article of Impeachment. Suffice it to say that the case has not been made. A bunch of innuendos have been thrown against the wall to see what y’all will vote for to get rid of the most effective AG Texas has had.
The House Managers claim they brought these charges because Ken Paxton asked for the funds to settle all this. OF COURSE those have to be public funds. It was the OFFICE that was sued. Under the statute ONLY the office can be sued, not him personally. Isn’t it in everyone’s best interest to settle this and get back to work? As a mayor in the past, we settled many suits that were without merit because it was cheaper to do so than to go to trial.
I urge you to vote to exonerate Ken Paxton on each and every allegation.
Here’s how the Texas Senators voted:
2023-09-16PaxtonImpeachmentVotesMy thoughts on this whole thing:
- Thank you to the senators, including mine, who saw through this sham of an impeachment. Thank you for listening to your constituents, representing them. Thank you for upholding our votes.
- Dade Phelan should resign. He should resign because he was drunk on the floor of the House. He should resign because, when called on it by Ken Paxton, he did exactly what they accused General Paxton of doing: he retaliated by rushing through a bogus impeachment.
- Dade Phelan, if he doesn’t resign, should never again be considered for TX Speaker of the House. He doesn’t deserve a leadership position. He didn’t serve the people of Texas. He served himself and his cadre of compatriots, exactly what he accused AG Paxton of doing.
- House legislators who voted for this sham should be very circumspect about future votes. And, if they took money from Phelan, they should return it or face defeat at the ballot box.
- The cost of this fiasco should be made public.
- If there is any settlement for those alleged “whistleblowers”, the cost of this debacle, both houses of the legislature, should be deducted from it. If there isn’t enough, Dade Phelan should pay the rest out of his campaign funds.
- AG Ken Paxton has hopefully repaired his relationship with his wife. He, and any other cheating elected official, should remember this is a job they’ve been elected to do, not a party or a social gathering. If you fit that category, clean up your act.
- Ken Paxton should clean house in that Attorney General’s office as best he can subject to HR laws. As an elected official, you can’t work with people who refuse to support you or your agenda.
- Ken Paxton needs to remember to pick his friends and associates carefully. As an elected official, it’s hard to know who to trust and who is blowing smoke… well, you know. Learn to cut ties quickly and completely.
- Ken Paxton needs to find trusted, truly trusted, advisors outside his realm of business. As Ronald Reagan used his beautiful ranch to ground himself, Ken Paxton needs to do the same… find a grounding place and a couple of people who have no ties with government to give him perspective.
Bastrop County GOP swept every contested race in the County. Every GOP candidate won here. Congrats to Mike Gepner on providing the leadership, and hands on work, that a county chairman should. Congrats to Mike and his team on building the network needed to take us forward as a growing county with a growing Republican Party.
Texans continue to be represented by two Republican US Senators: Senator Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who handily won re-election. In our own Bastrop County, both Congressman Michael McCaul (CD-10) and Congressman Michael Cloud (CD-27) won re-election. 
Winning the special election at the ballot box on June 30 with more than 50% of the vote would be decisive. Strategically, Republicans should work hard to top 50% for our candidate, eliminating the need for another election. With many Republicans out of their home districts for an entire week because of the RPT Convention (June 11 – 16), we need to double our efforts when on home turf to make this happen. And, those not going to Convention need to double their efforts during Convention time.