Assistant Texas AG fired over tweets was repeatedly warned about behavior in past
AUSTIN — An assistant attorney general, who was recently fired after a report detailed his history of questionable Twitter posts, had been repeatedly warned about his behavior in the past.
Nick Moutos worked under Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the criminal prosecution division until Sept. 4, when he was fired for violating the office’s social media policies and for behavior that could “discredit the agency.” The day before, the left-leaning website Media Matters for America published a story that Moutos had repeatedly tweeted bigoted views and support for the conspiracy theory QAnon.
Moutos is the third Paxton employee whose social media posts have been the subject of public exposés in three years. But each man was singled out only after public outcry, raising questions about whether the agency is monitoring whether its employees are misusing social media.
The agency ordered Moutos' involuntary separation after “external complaints” about his Twitter account triggered an internal investigation, according to Moutos' personnel file released to The Dallas Morning News on Friday. Moutos, who lost a bid for Congress in March, was tweeting during the work day, which is a violation of the agency’s social media policy.
Although the policy allows “incidental use,” Moutos' continuous tweets were “disruptive” and "involved political activities,'' the agency wrote in its explanation for why he was fired. He also violated the agency’s policy that says employees could not exhibit behavior “that could discredit the agency.”
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2020/09/11/assistant-texas-ag-fired-over-tweets-was-repeatedly-warned-about-behavior-in-past/
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