A Week Full of Texas Political Scandal
Texas is among the best states to work in as a political reporter because there’s unending petty corruption, political foibles and scandals that swirl like a dust devil on a hot summer day, fun to look at but changing little in the end. Even by Texas standards, this has been an impressive week.
The Dallas Morning News is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate barely in office Attorney General Ken Paxton. Finding cronyism under new Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller apparently is as easy as shooting hogs from a helicopter. The state auditor is shocked, shocked to find a lack of ethics in contracting at the Health and Human Services Commission. And finishing off the list: a Travis County grand jury was so frustrated that it was unable to indict controversial University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall that it gave him a blistering scolding instead.
The only thing missing from the mix is some sort of update on the indictment of former Governor Rick Perry for vetoing funding for the Public Integrity Unit after threating to do so if Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg did not resign due to her drunken driving arrest.
The Morning News’s editorial on Paxton raises some serious points, and the public good probably would be best served by the appointment of a special prosecutor. Paxton last year admitted to the Texas State Securities Board that he had repeatedly violated state law by soliciting investment clients and commissions without registering as an agent, a possible third-degree felony. The board issued a reprimand and fined Paxton $1,000. When a criminal complaint was filed with Lehmberg, she decided the proper venue for the case was Paxton’s home county of Collin. That has prompted today’s Morning News editorial calling for a special prosecutor.
Read more: http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/week-full-texas-political-scandal
