Texas
Related: About this forumRepublican AG Candidate Ken Paxton Voted on State Contracts for his Own Businesses in Legislature
State Senator Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) just can't seem to catch a break. Since improprieties in his financial disclosures were revealed last week, the leading GOP candidate for Attorney General has been MIA, canceling several scheduled campaign events over the past two weeks. His legal problems have already caused him to start losing endorsements.
Now, it's coming to light that Paxton has a history of voting on bills that directly impact his business dealings, violating the Texas state constitution.
Paxton, the self-proclaimed BFF of Ted Cruz, has a history of some unsavory business deals--he previously lost $100,000 in a Ponzi scheme run by a man who claimed to have found Noah's Ark. As the Dallas Morning News reported earlier this week, since joining the Texas Legislature in 2003 Paxton "has started or become part of 28 business ventures."
In the Legislature, Ken Paxton has voted on lucrative state contracts that directly benefit some of those business ventures which is against the law. As Texas Monthly put it, for someone running for the state's top legal position "he's either surprisingly uninformed about what the state's laws are, or surprisingly unconcerned about following them himself."
More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/15199/republican-ag-candidate-ken-paxton-voted-on-state-contracts-for-his-own-businesses-in-legislature .
[font color=green]The article also points out that this ethically-challenged candidate received $1,000,000 in federal stimulus money for one of his businesses.[/font]
TexasTowelie
(112,369 posts)Barry Smitherman, defeated in the GOP primary for attorney general, Wednesday endorsed former opponent Dan Branch for the May 27 runoff.
Smitherman, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, said he planned to stay out of the race but changed his mind after a state regulatory agency determined last week that front-runner Ken Paxton violated a state securities law by soliciting clients for an investment firm, receiving 30 percent of management fees, without registering as an investment adviser representative.
The attorney general is the chief law officer in Texas, Smitherman said. It is just the office, of all offices, that requires high integrity, honesty, and you just cant be a person who has broken the law.
Smitherman also praised Branch as an experienced lawyer, political leader, great family man, strong Christian (with) high moral values.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/smitherman-backs-former-foe-branch-in-ag-race/nfrbn/
Gothmog
(145,489 posts)Paxton is the likely GOP nominee for AG and has a host of ethical issues. The Democratic candidate has one of the best names in Texas politics (Sam Houston) and there is a chance that we could defeat Paxton