Paxton staffer who raised red flags was fired, paid 'emergency leave' to keep quiet
AUSTIN -- A top lawyer at the attorney general's office was fired last year when she raised concerns that her bosses were breaking federal rules as they scrambled to salvage a foundering technology deal that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
After Martha Fitzwater Pigott filed a grievance of her termination in September, records show, Attorney General Ken Paxton's office offered and signed a settlement to keep her on the state payroll for nearly six months and to keep the details of her complaint secret.
Fitzwater Pigott was overseeing a contract with tech giant Accenture, which was hired in 2010 by then-Attorney General Greg Abbott to overhaul Texas' antiquated child support system. In his run for governor, Abbott routinely touted the success of the Child Support Division.
But the nearly decade-long effort to super-charge child support investigations and streamline loads of data has been plagued with problems, including numerous documented failures by the lead contractor, which independent reviewers said lacked the technical skills to do the job.
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