Ken Paxton still hasn't disclosed donors who fueled most of his $2.8 million campaign haul

[TexasTowelie]

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


Attorney General Ken Paxton has not disclosed a large chunk of his campaign donors from the past six months, a week after he was required to report them to the Texas Ethics Commission.

Paxton, who is in a hotly contested Republican primary, had until Jan. 18 to submit his latest campaign finance report, which covers July 1 through Dec. 31, 2021. His campaign filed it a day late, citing technical issues, and left $2.1 million in donations unitemized out of the $2.8 million total that he raised. Campaigns are required to itemize — or provide donor names and other identifying information — for any donations they receive online or any that exceed $90.

Paxton’s campaign said on the report that it would file an amended report to fix the issue, but it had not done so as of Tuesday, according to the TEC website. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Paxton faces primary challenges from Land Commissioner George P. Bush, former state Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler. All are saying he does not have the integrity to be the state’s top law enforcement official due to his own legal problems, which include a securities fraud indictment and an FBI investigation into claims he abused his office to aid a wealthy donor. He has denied wrongdoing in both cases.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/25/ken-paxton-texas-campaign-donations-2022/

There is a simple solution. If Paxton hasn't filed his finance report at least one week ahead of early voting, then he is removed from the ballot. Early voting for the primaries begins on Monday, February 14.

[Midnight Writer]

1. Somebody needs to report this to the State Attorney General ASAP!

Such blatant disrespect for the law needs to be addressed, pronto!

(The problem with separation of powers is that if the entire Executive Branch tells the others to go pound sand, there's not much the other Branches can do. Republicans have figured this out and are intent on exploiting it.)