He is delivering a series of attack ads and has built a hefty cash advantage over his opponent, Democrat Rochelle Garza, 37. His closest aides had just accused him of serious crimes, prompting some fellow Republicans to question his fitness for office and the FBI to get involved. From the moment the indictments dropped, Paxtons tenure in office was consumed by a desire to survive what he calledin a glimpse of the world to comea witch hunt. While Paxtons staff held down the fort in Austin and supporters financed an ad blitz denouncing the prosecution, the general (as he prefers to be called) was increasingly holed up at home. On September 24, Paxton triumphantly announced the indictment of a commissioner in a small East Texas county for alleged absentee ballot fraud in a local Democratic primary election. He bragged about a win in federal appeals court this summer in his challenge against President Joe Bidens mask mandates in schools. This leaves the chamber rife with conflicts of interest. And in the weeks that followed, as Trump pursued every avenue to thwart the certification of the election results and the peaceful transfer of power, Paxton was one of his most eager allies. And hes taking an axe to Roe v. Wade. Im concerned now for this election, Paxton told Salcedo this month. And in the sitting Republican president, Paxton had a worthy allytwo men of dubious motives who had something to gain from the other. It is the state-level analog to the position Trumps lawyers took in his impeachment trials: If an attorney general does it, it must be legal. Two more Paxton friendsthe trustee of his blind trust and a pastor at Prestonwoodare suing Cook and another witness for allegedly defrauding them in a land deal. Here at the Texas Attorney Generals Office, the way that we fight that war is, our soldiers are lawyers and our weapons are lawsuits, he said. It was here, at the conservative Baptist college, that he got his first major taste of political leadership when he was elected student body president on a platform of unity, according to the student newspaper. When Paxton was first indicted, his days in Austin seemed numbered. The injury to Texas, Paxton alleged, was that some of its people who didnt have health insurance now had it. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton put his job and ability to withstand legal troubles on the line Tuesday in a Republican primary runoff against George P. Bush, whose own family record was at stake. Webunl sorority reputations, michael jordan 4th quarter stats, shooting in coolidge, az today, baseball analytics jobs salary, , michael jordan 4th quarter stats, shooting in coolidge, Ken Paxton, who recently won the Republican primary, has a right lazy eye, also known as amblyopia. It causes poor vision in just one look. He has been suffering from an eye disease where the brain cant recognize sight in one eye. However, his left eye is doing well, and its helping with vision without any disturbance. A person who attended the meeting said Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, walked into the conference room holding hands. The scheme, which involved speculating in the states deregulated utility market, offered a window into Paxtons worlda tight network of suburban white men, linked closely by politics and faith, playing a little too fast with money. The effect is that whether he is posing for a mugshot or addressing a large group of people preparing to hang Mike Pence, Paxtons face appears fixed in a mischievous half-smirk. He has never had to appeal to the unconverted or deviate from what passes for the norm in Texas Republican politics. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on April 26, 2022. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was indicted 5 years ago. He still hasn't gone to trial. Read our timeline covering delays and side battles in the long-running securities fraud case against Paxton. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton narrowly won reelection in 2018. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./ The Texas Tribune Dozens more complaints followed. This is a familiar Paxton tactic: His lawyers in the securities case argued that the entire securities-registration law was unconstitutional. Paxton was born on Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota where his father was stationed while in the United States Air Force. He didnt send letters to the Cavalier Daily. Its hard to understand just how radical and frankly insane the lawsuit was, says Steve Vladeck, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Texas at Austin. Paxton has acknowledged knowing Paul, who gave his campaign $25,000 in 2018, but the full nature of their relationship has been unclear. The attorney general didnt want the public to hear what he was about to say. A top aide received advice from MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell, and last spring the agency organized a staff showing of 2,000 Mules, a debunked film that cast doubt on Trumps loss, according to text and email exchanges The News obtained from Paxtons office through public records requests filed in the last year. She loves cats, cemeteries and comic books, and cooks a mean steak. As soon as the results were in, Paxton embarked on a media tour to plant doubts about the outcome, hinting that Texas had detected something off about Dominions voting machines and amplifying false allegations of a vast conspiracy in key swing states. AP is not naming her because she is not a public figure. Paxton has scored one major blow already. Summary: Articles about ken paxton eye injury M.A.Sumanthiran He was again seriously injured while he was a student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Hes done right. The November election offered Paxton a shot at redemption. There was a real estate scheme with his local district attorney, which netted $1 million by flipping property to the county. Evaluate 4 (23374 Ratings) Top rated: 4 . I dont need them tracking me and knowing what Im doing, Paxton said about the tech giant in the interview, which he eventually agreed to be recorded, at the special investigations unit of the Austin Police Department. Most of the fellowships members were married, and they would meet at each others homes once a week to have dinner and play board games, and sometimes chip in to assist fellow law students facing financial difficulties. That September, Paxton gathered a small group of top staff in his Austin campaign office. At the same time, his allies moved to defund the prosecution. The decorative lenses, also marketed as costume, fashion or colored lenses, pose potential serious risks to eye health, including infections and loss of vision. Wealthy Texans topple over in Forbes global billionaire rankings; Musk no longer No. In a college basketball game, he shattered the bones on that side of his face, the Chronicle story added. Some Texas Republicans, including Rep. Chip Roy, a former Paxton deputy, called for him to resign. However, Im hoping we survive this election.. The argument was batshit, one attorney wrote in an email, noting that Paxtons own solicitor general did not sign his name to the document. He has avoided answering questions under oath, and was accused of fleeing his home in September so he wouldnt be served a subpoena in a high-stakes abortion case. And this case wasnt going to be laughed out of courtin December, the Supreme Court ruled that the law could stay on the books while legal challenges from abortion providers move forward. Claim it! Texas AG Ken Paxton was indicted seven years ago. Suburbs like Collin County, north of Dallas, were the launchpad of the Christian conservative takeover in the state, and the Paxtons were deeply involved in the anti-abortion movement that powered it. The politically charged environment has turned off some agency lawyers. birther colleagues questioned Obamas eligibility to appear on the ballot. While some of the states most powerful Republicans have expressed concern about Paxtons troubles, most have been reluctant to call him out. a federal judge and the FBI broke the law. Then he found a parachute. But as he stood on the podium that morning, Paxton had good reason to smile. Before joining the investigative team, she covered Texas politics for The Houston Chronicle and Louisiana politics for The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Paxtons legacy cant be so easily undone because it was never really his legacy to begin with. The whistleblowers were no deep-state moles. Paxton acknowledged his affair with the woman during his hard-fought 2018 reelection campaign at least partially out of concern that it would become public, the people who he told about it said. Angela homeschooled their four children, then taught math at a private Christian academy they later sent their own children to. The disclosure of the affair is likely to deepen political problems for Paxton, who has gained a national profile in office as a crusader for conservative Christian legal causes, even while maintaining his innocence in the face of separate criminal charges. After the insurrection, Moody scrubbed her bio of her past affiliation with the Rule of Law Defense Fund, the group whose robocalls urged Trump supporters to march to the Capitol buildingto stop the steal. Her efforts to undermine the democratic process run deeper still. Rejecting centuries of constitutional law and democratic traditions, Paxton filed a lawsuit arguing that Pennsylvania and three other states won by Joe Biden had harmed Texas by expanding mail- and early-voting access during the pandemic. Could it all be a coincidence? I could immediately feel it the day I stepped in, he told Joni Lamb, the Christian broadcaster. Paul has not been publicly charged with any crime and alleges that FBI agents, a federal judge and others broke the law during the searches. Paxton was a major investor in a startup that produced dashcamsand then voted for a law making them mandatory for cops. Paxton wasnt on the law review. This reporting is based on public records, news clips, court files, Paxtons public statements and interviews with friends and colleagues. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. So did 17 other Republican state attorneys general. The indictments kicked off years of scandals and allegations, unmatched in recent Texas history, that have done little to slow his political rise. Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn 2020 election results in four key battleground states that went for Biden. Lauren is an investigative reporter based in Austin who focuses on gender, sexuality and politics. 1, Mark Cuban gives up, putting final touches on Dallas Mavericks lost, awkward season, Mark Cuban Q&A: I blew it on roster; keeping Kyrie Irving; Jason Kidd not the problem, National reaction to Mavericks playoff elimination loss to Bulls: Elite tank job, George Strait is returning to Fort Worth for back-to-back concerts, Not-so-subtle tank? Paxtons election lawsuit is now the focus of a formal bar investigation. Only a handful of dissenters have broken ranks. His parents and their three children lived in a trailer, often without air conditioning, parked outside wherever his father was temporarily stationed. FILE - In this June 28, 2020, file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton waits on the flight line for the arrival of Vice President Mike Pence at Love Field in Dallas. It sounds paranoid, but I cant let them the less they know about me the better.. By the time the crowded 2014 primary for attorney general rolled around, the resources of the partys anti-Straus right, including the National Rifle Association and anti-abortion groups such as Texas Right to Life, were at his disposal. A Dallas Cowboys fan from a young age, Paxton moved to Texas to study psychology and economics at Baylor University. Over lunch at a Dairy Queen, the companys founder had instead offered him a stake in the company as a giftwhich prosecutors alleged was compensation for bringing others on board. Paxton was indicted for felony securities fraud charges several months after he first became attorney general in 2015. In November, Paxtons team was back at the Supreme Court for another big casea defense of the states abortion law, which bans procedures before many women even know theyre pregnant. DALLAS (AP) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had an extramarital affair with a woman whom he later recommended for a job with the wealthy donor now at the center of criminal allegations against him, according to two people who said Paxton told them about the relationship. AP is not naming her because she is not a public figure. Each time, Paxton has responded the same way: deny, deflect, delay. He pleaded not guilty in 2015 and went on to win reelection three years later. Ken served on the board of a crisis pregnancy center attached to a megachurch called Prestonwood Baptist (which they eventually joined); Angela, deeply influenced by her own adoption, has worked with an organization that sells upscale clothing and uses the proceeds to pay for sonograms. By 2020, with his case no closer to resolution, Paxton was being feted at the Federalist Society as a defender of the bulwarks of federalism and had served as chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association. It causes poor vision in just one look. Among his chief accusers was a Republican state representative and former friend who says Paxton duped him into investing in a tech startup while keeping secret that he stood to benefit from the deal. But hes a regular guest on conservative media shows. For all the turmoil, Paxtons office was giving these varied conservative constituencies their moneys worth. That Google, which he had sued that day, may track him through his phone. And yes, he kept his drivers license. Hes a fighter and when youre a fighter, theres people that are just going to try to take you down.. Less than a year later, he was back at that courthouse this time as a defendant in a criminal case. Though he was defeated for the speakership, Paxton continued to fight and was elevated by voters to an open Texas Senate seat the following year. / CBS Texas. Paxton had a nose for business ideas, but they were not always good ones. The AG had intervened in a lawsuit between Paul and a charity he owed money to. He was part of a wave of GOP candidates who flipped the chamber for Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction. David Lee / December 10, 2020. He produced no evidence of fraud, and he recycled absurdities. He once said that the key to his political success is that he has a three-syllable name. A succession of lawsuits from the Trump campaign were laughed out of court, and the RNCs own counsel privately called their arguments a joke. But the post-election landscape was shaped by the increasingly perverse incentives of Republican politics: The fact that there was no legal basis for such claims made it even more imperative that someone with power make those claims. But Paxton was trading legal credibility for political cover. Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond. He is not one of the Republican Partys big thinkers. Lowest rating: 2 . The two people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to fears about retaliation, said the high-profile Republican official acknowledged the affair in 2018 to senior members of his office and political staff. Paxton declined. Brian Wice, one of the prosecutors handling the case, declined to comment for this story. The allegations sparked new calls for Paxton's resignation and raised questions about his ties with the developer. Theres a legitimate reason to fear our own government at this point. A lifelong football fan, Paxton carried a jersey autographed by Bill Bates, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys. Paul, whose properties ranged from a collection of parking garages to a downtown bikini bar, was the kind of figure many politiciansto say nothing of an attorney generalwould have kept at arms length. But Ken is a common denominator, a white man in institutions made for them, carried along on the current of conservative politics and privilege. They soon moved to Charlottesville, where Angela taught public school and Ken studied law at the University of Virginia. Paxton met Angela Allen, a mathematical science major and member of the Delta Gamma sorority, at Baylor and married her the same year he received his MBA. 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. How could someone this corrupt, this incompetent, this unengaged, and with such extreme politics, continue to get elected in the state of Texas? When staffers in the Florida attorney generals office first saw Paxtons brief, they began emailing frantically back and forth. A primary opponent dug up a lawsuit from a couple alleging that Paxton, after being hired to prepare a postnuptial agreement, had pushed them to make a bad investment with a financial manager he was friends withwithout revealing hed get a commission. Angela, who would soon win election to the state Senate, sometimes appeared at rallies on the attorney generals behalf, strumming an acoustic guitar and crooning a country twist on Abbotts mantra: Im a pistol-packin mama, and my husband sues Obama.. 5. ken paxton eye injury M.A.Sumanthiran. It took a village to create someone like this, and he is molded in the image of his creators. Even the lawsuit he championed in Washington was borrowed from somebody else. Paxton points to his dozens of lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations as proof of his success. As one Collin County resident who was a member of the Rotary Club with Paxton during this time told me, Jesus is involved in every deal., Then, in 2010, Republicans took huge majorities in the legislature, powered by tea partyfueled margins in North Texas. 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