You are viewing this post: Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican? Top 109 Best Answers
Are you looking for an answer to the topic “Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican“? We answer all your questions at the website Bangkokbikethailandchallenge.com in category: Bangkokbikethailandchallenge.com/digital-marketing. You will find the answer right below.
Keep Reading
Ken Paxton is an American politician and currently Attorney General of Texas. Ken previously served as the Texas State Senator for the 8th Circuit from 2013 to 2015, a position currently occupied by his wife, Angela Paxton. Ken was born at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, growing up he lived in different parts of the country because of his father’s duty.
Ken faces two counts of first-degree security fraud and one count of third-degree felony for failing to register with state securities regulators. Ken could reportedly face an FBI investigation over his misconduct allegations.
advertisement
Surname
Ken Paxton
birthday
December 23, 1962
Age
57
gender
masculine
nationality
American
profession
Politician
net worth
$1M – $5M
Married single
Married
Wife
Angela Paxton
children
Tucker Paxton, Abby Paxton, Madison Paxton, Katie Paxton
education
Profiles of Baylor University, University of Virginia School of Law
@KenPaxtonTX
10 Facts on Ken Paxton
Ken Paxton was born on December 23, 1962 in Minot, North Dakota, USA. He is 57 years old as of 2020. He has served as Texas Attorney General since 2015. He is politically associated with the Republic Party. The Texas Attorney General is currently married and has 4 children, their names are Tucker Paxton, Abby Paxton, Madison Paxton and Katie Paxton. His wife’s name is Angela Paxton, she is also a politician representing D8 in the Texas Senate since 2019. He has 63,000 followers on his Twitter account, most of his posts are related to politics. According to Wikipedia, his full name is Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. Ken is unlucky when it comes to games and sports. Once in his childhood he almost lost his eye while playing he and seek with his friends, the incent had serious and lasting consequences. His already damaged eye was further traumatized when he shattered the bones near his already damaged right eye while playing basketball. He’s a big football fan. A signed Bill Bates jersey from the Dallas Cowboys is one of his most prized possessions. He is a well educated person, he attended Baylor University and University of Virginia School of Law for his higher education.
Who is Paxton in Texas?
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr.
(born December 23, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. Paxton has described himself as a Tea Party conservative. Paxton was re-elected to a second term as Attorney General in 2018.
What is the role of the Texas Attorney General?
Protecting Texans from fraud, waste and abuse by enforcing consumer protection and antitrust laws, educating consumers on fraudulent scams, and seeking recovery from Medicaid fraudsters in civil action.
Where was Ken Paxton born?
Who is General Paxton?
Ken Paxton is the 51st Attorney General of Texas. He was elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn into office on January 5, 2015. He was re-elected to a second term in 2018. As the state’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Paxton leads more than 4,000 employees in 38 divisions and 117 offices around Texas.
What is the Texas governor salary?
The Texas Legislature sets the Governor’s salary, which remains unchanged at $153,750. The agency’s Chief of Staff is selected by the Governor and this position is a classified position subject to the Plan.
Who is above the district attorney?
In practice, district attorneys, who prosecute the bulk of criminal cases in the United States, answer to no one. The state attorney general is the highest law enforcement officer in state government and often has the power to review complaints about unethical and illegal conduct on the part of district attorneys.
Can a lawyer report you to the police?
So if the client is trying to use the attorney’s services to commit or cover up a crime or fraud, the attorney is not only permitted, but in some instances required, to disclose information to prevent the crime or fraud.
State Bar investigating AG Ken Paxton for misconduct over election lawsuit to protect Trump
Images related to the topicState Bar investigating AG Ken Paxton for misconduct over election lawsuit to protect Trump
See some more details on the topic Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican here:
Ken Paxton – Wikipedia
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Attorney General of Texas since January 2015.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Date Published: 10/15/2021
View: 661
Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family – 650.org
Learn about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton married life, wife, and family. Is Ken Paxton republican? net worth and Wikipedia.
Source: www.650.org
Date Published: 2/5/2021
View: 6002
Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family – 44Bars.com
Ken Paxton is an American Politician and currently an Attorney General of Texas. Ken previously served as Texas State Senator for the 8th district from.
Source: 44bars.com
Date Published: 6/21/2022
View: 5391
Ken Paxton Net Worth: How Did He Get a Million Dollars in the …
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who was born on December 23, 1962. Since January 2015, he has been the …
Source: keeperfacts.com
Date Published: 12/14/2022
View: 6727
Ken Paxton
American lawyer and politician
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr[1] (born December 23, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who has served as Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. Paxton has described himself as a Tea Party conservative. Paxton was re-elected to a second term as Attorney General in 2018. He previously served as Texas State Senator for the 8th District and Texas State Representative for the 70th District.
Paxton is running for re-election in 2022. On May 24, Paxton defeated George P. Bush 68% to 32% to win his party’s nomination for the November 2022 general election. [2] [3]
Paxton has been charged since 2015 with state securities fraud related to activities before he took office. He has pleaded not guilty. In October 2020, he was accused of “bribery, abuse of office and other crimes” by several senior assistants in Paxton’s office.[4][5]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump refused to back down while making false allegations of voter fraud, Paxton assisted Trump in his efforts to overturn the result, from filing the unsuccessful Texas v. Pennsylvania case in the Supreme Court on his speech to the rally Trump held on January 6, 2021, immediately preceding the attack on the United States Capitol in 2021.[6][7]
background [edit]
Paxton was born at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, where his father was stationed in the United States Air Force. His parents and their three children lived in a trailer, often without air conditioning, parked outside where his father was temporarily stationed. At different times they lived in Florida, New York, North Carolina, California and Oklahoma. A lifelong football fan, Paxton wore a jersey signed by former Dallas Cowboys Bill Bates. Bates was later appointed Paxton’s campaign treasurer.[8]
At the age of twelve, Paxton nearly lost an eye in a game of hide-and-seek; A misdiagnosis led to long-term vision problems. As a result, his good eye is green; its damaged, brown and limp. During his studies he injured his eye further. [9]
Paxton received a psychology degree in 1985 and a master of business administration in 1986, both from Baylor University, where he was elected president of the student government. [10] Paxton then worked as a management consultant for two years before returning to school in 1988. In 1991 he received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia.[11]
Paxton worked at Strasburger & Price, L.L.P. from 1991 to 1995 and JC Penney Company, Inc. from 1995 to 2002.[12]
Texas legislature[edit]
House of Representatives (2003–2013) [ edit ]
In 2002, Paxton ran for the Texas House of District 70 in the Republican primary. He won 39.45% of the vote and ran a runoff with Bill Vitz, whom he then defeated with 64% of the vote. He then faced Fred Lusk (D) and Robert Worthington (L) for the redistributed open seat. On November 4, 2002, Paxton won by 28,012 votes to Lusk’s 7,074 votes and Worthington’s 600 votes.
Paxton won re-election in 2004 against Democrat Martin Woodward. Paxton received 76% of the vote, or 58,520 votes compared to Woodward’s 18,451 votes. Paxton won re-election in 2006, defeating Rick Koster (D) and Robert Virasin (L). Paxton received 30,062 votes versus Koster’s 12,265 votes and Virasin’s 1,222 votes. Paxton won re-election by defeating Robert Virasin (L) again by a vote of 73,450 to 11,751. Paxton ran unopposed for re-election in 2010.
After his re-election, Paxton ran as speaker of the Texas House of Representatives against Joe Straus of District 121 in Bexar County and fellow Republican Warren Chisum of District 88 in Pampa, Texas. Paxton said if elected speaker he would take “bold action in defense of our conservative values”. Paxton was supported by HuckPAC, Mike Huckabee’s official political action committee,[18] and by the National Rifle Association.[19][20] Straus was elected to his second term as Speaker and was re-elected in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
Texas Senate (2013–2015) [ edit ]
Paxton served in the Texas Senate from 2013 to January 2015, when his term as Attorney General began.
Attorney General elections[edit]
Election 2014[edit]
Paxton’s 2013 campaign announcement
Paxton became a candidate for Texas Attorney General when incumbent Greg Abbott decided to run for governor, replacing Rick Perry, who was retiring.[21] Paxton led a field of three candidates in the March 4, 2014 Republican primary, receiving 566,114 votes (44.4%). Dallas County State Representative Dan Branch received 426,595 votes (33.5 percent). Eliminated in the primary was Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman of Austin, who polled the remaining 281,064 (22.1 percent). Paxton faced Dan Branch in the May 27, 2014 runoff, winning by 465,395 votes (63.63 percent). Branch received 265,963 votes (36.36 percent).[22][23][24]
In the November 4, 2014 general election, Paxton defeated his Democratic opponent, a Houston attorney named Sam Houston.[25]
Paxton took office on January 5, 2015.[26] Paxton’s campaign raised $945,000 in the first half of 2016, leaving Paxton with nearly $3 million in his campaign bank for a possible re-election in 2018.[27]
Paxton’s wife, Angela Paxton, his closest political adviser, often opens his events with a musical performance. She calls her husband “a very ambitious person”.[8] Paxton won the Attorney General’s election without the endorsement of a single Texas newspaper. In 2018, Angela Paxton won the District 8 seat in the Texas Senate.[28]
Election 2018[edit]
In 2018, Paxton ran unopposed for re-election in the Republican primary. After gaining the support of US President Donald Trump, Paxton won a second term as attorney general in the November 6, 2018 general election, beating Democratic candidate Justin Nelson, a lawyer, and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Ray Harris. narrowly by a margin of 4,173,538 (50.6 percent) to 3,874,096 (47 percent) and Harris got 2.4%.[29][30] Justin Nelson’s campaign ad for attorney general included surveillance video from the Collin County Courthouse in Paxton of a $1,000 Montblanc pen being taken from attorney Joe Joplin in 2012. The pen was later returned.
Election 2022[edit]
The 2022 Texas Attorney General Election will be held on November 8, 2022 to elect the Attorney General of Texas. Paxton advanced to the November 8 general election after winning the March 1 and May 24 primary.
Texas Attorney General (since 2015) [ edit ]
Affordable Care Act[edit]
Paxton filed a lawsuit to have the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) unconstitutional in its entirety.[34]
COVID-19 pandemic [ edit ]
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Paxton threatened to file lawsuits against local governments unless they lift stay-at-home orders and rules on the use of face masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus. [35] The city of Austin encouraged restaurants to log contact information to ensure contact tracing in the event of an outbreak; Paxton described this as “Orwellian.”[36] Paxton sued the city of Austin again in December 2020, when the city implemented restrictions preventing indoor eating and drinking over the New Year’s weekend amid rising COVID-19 cases.[37] In March 2021, Paxton filed a lawsuit against Austin and Travis County, this time for the city and county, which continued their local mask-wearing requirements after Governor Abbott signed an executive order ending the statewide mask-wearing mandate became.[38]
Gerrymandering[ edit ]
Paxton defended Texas in a federal lawsuit alleging allegations of manipulation of Texas’ congressional districts. In 2017, a three-judge panel of a US federal court based in San Antonio ruled that the Republican-controlled Texas legislature confiscated the congressional district to discriminate against minority voters and ordered the redrawing of the 35th and 27th congressional districts from Texas on. Paxton appealed the verdict, claiming that the previous maps were lawful and promising to “aggressively defend the maps on all fronts”; US Representative Lloyd Doggett called the appeal a “desperate, highly questionable Paxton-Abbott maneuver” that came “following another verdict against the state of Texas for willful discrimination.” Texas won on appeal when the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that there was insufficient evidence to prove the state’s Republicans acted in bad faith in relation to the 27th and 35th congressional districts intentional discrimination.[41]
human trafficking [edit]
Paxton established a human trafficking unit in the AG office in 2015. In 2019, he convinced the Texas legislature to more than quadruple annual funding for the Human Trafficking Department. The following year, the unit did not achieve a single human trafficking conviction and only four in 2020.[42]
Immigration[ edit ]
In 2018, Paxton falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants had committed over 600,000 crimes in Texas since 2011.[43] PolitiFact said it had previously debunked the numbers and that the numbers exceed the state’s estimates by more than 400%.[43]
Obama Executive Orders[ edit ]
Paxton led a twenty-six-state coalition that challenged President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), which granted deferred status to certain undocumented immigrants who had lived in the United States and had children since 2010 Action granted to those who were American citizens or lawful permanent residents.[44] Paxton argued that the President should not be allowed “unilaterally to rewrite Congressional legislation and bypass MPs.” June 2016. Due to the split verdict, a 2015 lower court ruling invalidating Obama’s plan was upheld.[45]
In July 2017, Paxton led a group of Republican attorneys general and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter in threatening the Trump administration that they would go to court if the president violated President Barack Obama’s policy of deferred action on child arrivals would not end. although it was never implemented in Texas due to legal action on behalf of the state. The other attorney generals who joined in the threats against Trump were Steve Marshall of Alabama, Leslie Rutledge of Arkansas, Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Doug Peterson of Nebraska, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia.[47]
Trump executive orders[edit]
In 2017, Paxton advocated applying for eminent domain to gain right-of-way along the Rio Grande in Texas for the construction of the border wall advocated by President Donald Trump to curb illegal immigration. Paxton said private landowners must be given a fair price when taking property for upcoming construction. He said the wall serves “a public purpose that provides security for people not just along the border but for the nation as a whole.” … I want people to be treated fairly, so they shouldn’t just have their land taken away from them, “but there has to be fair compensation.[48]
In 2017, Paxton, along with thirteen other attorneys general, filed a friend of the court brief to defend both Trump’s first and second executive orders on travel and immigration primarily from Muslim-majority countries (informally referred to as the “Muslim ban”). In Filing submissions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton argued that the order — which imposed a 90-day ban on visas for travelers as young as six — designated majority Muslims countries, imposes a 120-day ban on admitting refugees to the US and limits the annual admission of refugees to 50,000 people – is constitutionally and legally valid.[49][50]
In May 2017, Paxton filed a preemptive action to test the constitutionality of the new Texas Sanctuary City Penalties Act, known as SB 4, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. The law penalizes local officials who restrict the cooperation of their law enforcement or other agencies with the immigration service, and requires county jails to comply with requests from U.S. immigration and customs officials to hold detainees suspected of being eligible for deportation come.[51] In the lawsuit, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas was asked to determine whether the statute conflicts with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments or does not conflict with any other federal law. Paxton said the measure was “constitutional, lawful and an important step in securing our borders.” Opponents of the measure include police chiefs and sheriffs from some of Texas’ largest jurisdictions. Critics are calling for a ban on discrimination against minorities, and lawsuits against the law are expected.[52] Although important aspects of the law were originally ordered by the court, on appeal the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld almost all of it, except for a provision that interfered with the First Amendment’s right to free speech by local officials. [51]
Environment [ edit ]
Clean Power Plan Challenge[ edit ]
Paxton has legally challenged the Clean Power Plan, which represents President Obama’s “government effort to combat climate change by switching from coal-fired power to cleaner-burning natural gas and renewable resources.”[53] Paxton said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to “force Texas to change the way we regulate energy production” through an “unprecedented expansion of federal agency.” tons of emissions, up 21 percent from 2012 levels. According to Paxton, the required reductions would cost the state jobs, drive up electricity costs and threaten grid reliability. Paxton says there is no evidence the plan will mitigate climate change, directly contradicting EPA studies that have shown the regulation will reduce carbon pollution by 870 million tons in 2030.[54] He further alleges that the EPA lacks the legal authority to write state policy.[55]
ExxonMobil litigation [ edit ]
In 2016, Paxton was one of 11 Republican attorneys general who sided with ExxonMobil in the company’s lawsuit to block a Commonwealth of Massachusetts investigation into climate change.[56]
Paxton and the other state AGs filed an amicus curiae letter, alleging that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey used her office to “tip the scales in a public policy debate, the first to undermine the amendment and to abuse the Office’s subpoena powers.”[57] Healey had launched a probe into ExxonMobil’s historic marketing and sales of fossil-fuel products, prompting the company to provide documents covering 40 years worth of fossil-fuel products and securities. Healey said the documents prove that ExxonMobil “knew about the risks of climate change decades ago and fraudulently withheld that knowledge from the public.”[58] The amicus brief supported ExxonMobil’s request for an injunction.[ 57] Paxton questioned Healey’s use of law enforcement in the global warming controversy, which he described as an “ongoing public policy debate of international concern.” Paxton described Healey’s attempts to obtain historical company records for public debate as a threat to freedom of speech, stating: “The Constitution was written to protect citizens from government witch-hunts, which are nothing but an attempt to block speech at a suppressing an issue of public concern just because a government official happens to disagree with that particular view.”[58] The report presented climate change as an issue that has still been the subject of scientific debate, although in fact the scientific consensus is that that the earth is warming and human activity is primarily responsible.[56]
US Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker also issued a subpoena for Exxon’s records. Paxton issued a request for intervention, stating, “What is Exxon Mobil’s violation? Taking a view on climate change that the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands disagrees with. This is about the criminalization of language and thought.” Walker dropped the subpoena in June 2016.[59]
Labor suits[edit]
Paxton is suing the Obama administration over a new US Labor Department rule that would entitle five million additional workers to overtime pay. The new rule would mean workers earning up to $47,500 a year would be entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week.[60] Paxton said the new regulations “could have catastrophic consequences for our economy”. Along with Texas, twenty other states have joined the lawsuit.[61]
Paxton is involved in a legal challenge to a Department of Labor rule requiring employers to report any “acts, conduct or communications” taken to “influence a worker’s decisions regarding his representation or collective bargaining rights.” [62] Known as the “Persuasion Rule,” the new rule went into effect in April 2016. Opponents of the rule say it will prevent employers from discussing labor issues or seeking legal counsel. In June 2016, a federal judge issued an injunction against the rule. Paxton called the injunction “a victory for preserving the sanctity of attorney and client confidentiality.”[63]
LGBT rights[ edit ]
As attorney general, Paxton appointed several social conservatives and anti-LGBT rights activists to positions in his department.[64]
In June 2015, after the Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, offered assistance to Paxton officials who refused to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples. His statement read: “I will do everything I can from this office to be a public voice for those who are working to defend their rights.”[65]
In 2016, Paxton led a coalition of thirteen states seeking an injunction to block a guide issued by the Departments of Education and Justice that interpreted Title IX to mean that public schools require that transgender students be allowed to use restrooms that conform to their gender identity.[66][67] Paxton filed court filings alleging that the Obama administration “conspired to turn workplaces and educational institutions across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment”[66], and called the policy a “gun to the head” that threatens the independence of school districts. [68] In September 2016, Paxton and his wife had dinner with activist Amber Briggle and her family, including their trans son.[69][70][71] States dropped the lawsuit after President Donald Trump rescinded the policy.[72]
On February 18, 2022, Paxton issued a written statement with a new interpretation of Texas law that identified gender-affirming healthcare (such as hormone treatments and puberty blockers) for transgender youth as child abuse. Established medical practice allows for research into puberty blockers after the first signs of puberty, although evidence for their use is still developing.[73][74] On February 28, Amber Briggle was notified that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had opened an investigation into her family.[75][76] On March 11, a Texas district court issued an injunction that temporarily halted state investigations into families for gender-affirming treatment of their children and scheduled a trial for July 11, 2022.[77][78]
On March 17, 2022, Paxton made a post on Twitter in which he referred to US Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine — a trans woman — as a man. Twitter flagged the tweet for violating its code of conduct, but did not remove the post.[79] The following day, Paxton tweeted a statement, again calling Levine a man and stating that he was exploring “legal avenues” against Twitter.[80]
Volkswagen, Apple and MoneyGram lawsuits [ edit ]
In 2012, Paxton was part of a lawsuit filed by 33 attorneys general against Apple, accusing the company of violating antitrust laws by conspiring with publishers to artificially inflate e-book prices.[81] Apple was ordered to pay US consumers $400 million for artificially inflating the price of e-books and $20 million to the states in legal reimbursement.[82]
As part of a 44-state lawsuit, it was announced in June 2016 that Volkswagen would pay the state of Texas $50 million in connection with the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Paxton and most other states had sued the company in 2015 in connection with the automaker’s admitted use of software that allowed its vehicles to circumvent emissions limits.[83]
Paxton is part of a 21-state lawsuit against the state of Delaware. The lawsuit alleges that MoneyGram turned over uncashed checks to the state of Delaware, rather than the state where the money order or traveler’s check was purchased. The case went straight to the US Supreme Court as it is a state-to-state dispute.[84] Paxton said an audit showed that Delaware owed other states $150 million and that Delaware improperly took possession of uncashed checks rather than returning the checks to the states where the money orders were purchased.[85] The state of Delaware denies these claims.[85]
Homestead tax exemption lawsuit[edit]
In 2015, the Texas state legislature passed legislation implementing property tax reductions by increasing the homestead exemption to $25,000 and prohibiting municipalities from reducing or eliminating already-on-the-books exemptions from local homestead options. After the passage of this law, 21 school districts reduced or eliminated their local optional homestead exemptions. In 2016, Paxton intervened in a lawsuit challenging school districts’ practice of reducing or eliminating their local optional homestead exemptions.
Second amendment lawsuits[ edit ]
In 2016, three professors at the University of Texas at Austin sued to ban concealed handguns from campus, blocking the state’s campus carry law. Paxton called the lawsuit “frivolous” and moved to dismiss it. The federal district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2017, and the dismissal was upheld by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018.[89]
In 2016, Paxton sued the city of Austin to allow license holders to openly carry handguns at Austin City Hall.[90] Paxton prevailed, and the court not only ruled that the city of Austin must allow such wearing, but also ordered a fine to be paid to the state for each day she prevented investigators from the Attorney General’s office from investigating her to carry firearms.[91]
Voting rights[ edit ]
In March 2017, Paxton told The Washington Times that he was convinced voter fraud existed in Texas and claimed that local Texas election officials were not looking for fraud.[92] According to a July 11, 2021 New York Times newspaper, although voter fraud is “very rare in the United States”—most cases involve minor errors on the part of a voter,[93] Paxton as an attorney “makes it a mission did”. General to press charges against voters;[93] According to a July 9, 2021 article in The Guardian, “[few] prosecutors have prosecuted more election-related crimes than Paxton.”[94]
By February 2017, as part of his “crusade” against voter fraud[95], Paxton was attempting to examine 2016 election records in Texas – such as accessing individual voting histories and voter registration application materials – to uncover potential voter fraud, such as voting by non-citizens or on behalf of the deceased. In February 2017, Bexar County officials said there had been no major cases of voter fraud in San Antonio.[96] However, the Associated Press reported that Bexar County’s top election official estimates that nearly 600 affidavits filed by voters refused to identify themselves and should have been rejected. Instead, the official said such voters should have cast provisional ballots. AP predicted that the total number of those who have filed improper affidavits in the largest counties in Texas is 13,500.[97] The Fort Bend County chief election official said these cases did not involve voter fraud, noting that only those who were registered to vote qualified for an affidavit and that “poll officials have been trained to rely on putting it aside so people can use the affidavit rather than denying them the ability to vote.’”[97] According to a May 2, 2017 ProPublica article, there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Texas. In 2017, the Texas Tribune reported that experts had said there was no reliable evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States,[92] and a Texas study of elections spanning a decade found there were definitely about three cases of fraud gave millions of votes in the state.[98]
In 2017, the San Antonio Express-News criticized the voter identification law that Paxton plans to reinstate after it was struck down by Corpus Christi U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, who described the measure as a voting violation looked at the Rights Act and found that it was passed with the intention of discriminating against black and Hispanic voters. The Paxton office appealed the decision.[99] Appeals continue in the case.[100] By May 2017, “the AG’s office’s efforts to enact and enforce the nation’s strictest voter identification law were so plagued by delays, overhauls, court interference, and inadequate investigation that voting in the 2016 election was inevitably disrupted.” [101]
Prioritizing prosecutions for voter fraud
72% of the voter fraud cases his office wanted to pursue were people of color.[102] Paxton had also filed charges against Hervis Rogers, a black man who worked two jobs. Rogers had received media coverage as a “national hero” for waiting in line for six hours at Texas Southern University in Houston in Harris County, Texas to compete in the March 2020 Democratic presidential primary. In einem Artikel in The Guardian vom 9. Juli 2021 heißt es, Rogers sei ein Symbol für schwarze Amerikaner für die „Zähigkeit“, seiner Stimme Gehör zu verschaffen. Rogers war 1995 wegen “Einbruchs und vorsätzlichen Diebstahls” verurteilt worden und hatte neun Jahre im Gefängnis gesessen. Seine Bewährung von 2004 lief im Juni 2020 aus.[94] In Texas ist es für eine Person illegal, zu wählen, wenn sie wegen eines Verbrechens verurteilt wurde, bis der Satz, die Bewährung und/oder die Bewährung verstrichen sind. Die Kaution für Rogers wurde auf 100.000 Dollar festgesetzt – ein „extrem hoher Kautionsbetrag“ – den er sich nicht leisten konnte.[104] Hervis wurde in Harris County, Texas, County nicht angeklagt. eine Mehrheits-Minderheits-Gemeinschaft. Stattdessen wurde er im angrenzenden Montgomery County, Texas, angeklagt, wo nur 4 % der Bevölkerung Schwarze sind, und inhaftiert, bis The Bail Project, eine gemeinnützige Organisation, seine Kaution hinterlegte.“[93] Bei einer Verurteilung könnte er zu einer Haftstrafe verurteilt werden 40 Jahre Gefängnis wegen gewaltfreier Straftat Es ist nicht das erste Mal, dass Paxton sich dem „Forum-Shopping“ hingegeben hat Anklage in Montgomery County.[105]
Paxton gab gegenüber KXAN-TV zu, dass nur wenige Menschen wegen Wahlbetrugs gesessen haben. Der Sender stellte fest, dass nur 24 von 138 Personen, die zwischen 2004 und September 2020 wegen Wahlbetrugs verurteilt wurden, im Gefängnis saßen.[106] Paxton erklärte: „Aber ich denke, das Gute daran, es zu finden und gründliche Ermittlungen und Strafverfolgungsmaßnahmen durchzuführen, ist, dass Sie zumindest die Botschaft an die Leute senden, dass, wenn Sie dies tun, ein gewisses Risiko besteht, dass Sie ‘ Sie werden wegen Wahlbetrugs im Gefängnis landen.“[106] Paxtons Büro verbrachte 2021 fast doppelt so viel Zeit mit der Bearbeitung von Fällen von Wahlbetrug wie 2018. Es verzeichnete, dass über 22.000 Arbeitsstunden für die Aufgabe aufgewendet wurden, aber nur gelöst 16 Anklageerhebungen, halb so viele wie zwei Jahre zuvor. Alle Fälle wurden in Harris County gegen Wähler eingereicht, die auf ihren Wählerregistrierungsformularen falsche Adressen angegeben hatten. Keiner dieser Angeklagten wurde zu einer Gefängnisstrafe verurteilt.[106] Die Kosten der 230 laufenden Ermittlungen und 360 Strafverfolgungen waren gewaltig: Der Chef des Wahlbetrugs erhält rund 140.000 Dollar, ein zweiter Anwalt erhielt 97.000 Dollar. Zwei weitere Anwälte erhielten jeweils etwa 85.000 Dollar.[106]
Die Untersuchungseinheit für Wahlbetrug in Paxton hatte ein Budget von 1,9 bis 2,2 Millionen US-Dollar im Jahr 2021. Bis Ende des Jahres hatte das Büro nur drei Betrugsfälle abgeschlossen.[107]
Widerstand gegen die Ausweitung der Briefwahl (2020) [ bearbeiten ]
Im Mai 2020 lehnte Paxton eine Ausweitung der Briefwahl auf Wähler ab, die keine Immunität gegen COVID-19 haben.[108] Ein staatlicher Bezirksrichter entschied, dass solche Wähler im Rahmen einer gesetzlichen Bestimmung, die Menschen mit Behinderungen Rechnung trägt, Briefwahl beantragen könnten.[108] Nach dem Urteil widersprach Paxton öffentlich dem Bezirksrichter und überzeugte anschließend den Obersten Gerichtshof von Texas, die Frage der Eignung in einem separaten Fall zu behandeln, den er direkt bei diesem Gericht einreichte, während er die Berufung des Bezirksgerichts auf Eis legte.
Während der Wahlsaison 2020, die während der COVID-19-Pandemie stattfand, verklagte Paxton den Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, um ihn daran zu hindern, Anträge auf Briefwahl an die 2,4 Millionen registrierten Wähler des Countys zu senden, zusammen mit Anweisungen zur Berechtigung, wie von Texas klargestellt Oberster Gerichtshof.[110] Paxton verlor vor dem erstinstanzlichen Gericht und vor dem Zwischenberufungsgericht,[111][112] aber der Oberste Gerichtshof von Texas kehrte um und wies das erstinstanzliche Gericht an, eine einstweilige Verfügung gegen Hollins einzuführen.[113] [114] Die Briefwahlwerbung war ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Pakets innovativer Maßnahmen von Harris County, um das COVID-19-Infektionsrisiko der persönlichen Stimmabgabe zu verringern und gleichzeitig die Möglichkeiten für alle Wähler zur Teilnahme unter Pandemiebedingungen zu maximieren.[115][116] Die Republikanische Partei von Texas widersetzte sich der Ausweitung der Briefwahl und anderen Anpassungen und reichte ihre eigenen Klagen ein, um Hollins durch das Gerichtssystem zu stoppen.
Herausforderung für die Ergebnisse der Präsidentschaftswahlen 2020 [ bearbeiten ]
Das Büro von Paxton verbrachte nach der Wahl 2020 mehr als 22.000 Stunden mit der Suche nach Wahlbetrug und fand bei fast 17 Millionen registrierten Wählern nur 16 Fälle falscher Adressen auf Registrierungsformularen.[118]
On December 8, 2020, Paxton sued the states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where certified results showed President-elect Joe Biden the victor over President Donald Trump, alleging a variety of unconstitutional actions in their presidential balloting, arguments that had already been rejected in other courts.[6] In Texas v. Pennsylvania, Paxton asked the United States Supreme Court to invalidate the states’ sixty-two electoral votes, allowing Trump to be declared the winner of a second presidential term.[119] Because the suit was cast as a dispute between states, the Supreme Court had original jurisdiction, although it often declines to hear such suits.[120] There is no evidence of widespread illegal voting in the election.[121] Paxton’s lawsuit included claims that had been tried unsuccessfully in other courts and shown to be false.[122] Officials from the four states described Paxton’s lawsuit as recycling false and disproven claims of irregularity.[123] Trump and seventeen Republican state attorneys general filed motions to support the case, the merits of which were sharply criticized by legal experts and politicians.[124][125] Election law expert Rick Hasen described the lawsuit as “the dumbest case I’ve ever seen filed on an emergency basis at the Supreme Court.”[126] Republican Senator Ben Sasse opined that the situation of Paxton initiating the lawsuit “looks like a fella begging for a pardon filed a PR stunt”, in reference to Paxton’s own legal issues (securities fraud charges and abuse of office allegations).[127][128][129][130] Paxton has called the pardon speculation “an absurdly laughable conspiracy theory” and said the lawsuit is about election integrity.[127] The case was quickly dismissed on December 11.[131][132]
Later it was revealed that the failed suit had been drafted by Lawyers for Trump, a group connected to the Trump campaign. Several other state attorneys general turned down the offer to file the suit. Solicitor General of Texas Kyle D. Hawkins, who would ordinarily represent the state in cases before the Supreme Court, refused to let his name be attached to the suit. The Texas Attorney General hired Lawrence J. Joseph of Lawyers for Trump as special counsel for filing the suit.[133]
After the failure of his lawsuit, Paxton traveled to Washington to speak at a political rally for President Trump on January 6, 2021. In his speech, Paxton told the crowd “we will not quit fighting”.[134] Immediately following, the crowd of Trump supporters left the rally and stormed the United States Capitol building in a riot that led to the death of five people, including a police officer.[135][136] In reaction to the violence and loss of life, Paxton falsely claimed that the rioters were liberal activists posing as Trump supporters.[137] He was the only state attorney general to not condemn the insurrection.[138]
In early 2021, Paxton’s office refused to provide his work emails and text messages he sent or received while in Washington on January 6, after several Texas news organizations requested them in accordance with the state’s open records law. In January 2022, the Travis County district attorney gave Paxton four days to comply or face a lawsuit.[139]
In October 2021, Paxton falsely claimed that Biden “overthrew” Trump in the 2020 election.[140]
Religion in schools [ edit ]
Paxton “has often criticized what he calls anti-Christian discrimination in Texas schools.”[141] In 2015, Paxton opposed an atheist group’s legal action seeking a halt to the reading of religious prayers before school board meetings.[141] In December 2016, Paxton gained attention after intervening in a dispute in Killeen, Texas, in which a middle school principal told a nurse’s aide to take down a six-foot poster in the school containing a quote from Christian scripture. Paxton sided with the aide, who won in court.[141]
In early 2017 Paxton objected to a Texas school’s use of an empty classroom to allow its Muslim students to pray, issuing a press release that claimed that “the high school’s prayer room is … apparently excluding students of other faiths.” School officials said that Paxton had never asked them about this assertion, and that the room was a spare room used by faculty and non-Muslim students as well as for multiple activities, from grading papers to Buddhist meditation. The Frisco Independent School District superintendent, in a letter sent in response to Paxton, called his press release “a publicity stunt by the [Office of Attorney General] to politicize a nonissue.”[141][142][143]
Legal issues[edit]
State securities fraud felony indictment [ edit ]
On July 28, 2015, a state grand jury indicted Paxton on three criminal charges:[144] two counts of securities fraud (a first-degree felony) and one count of failing to register with state securities regulators (a third-degree felony).[145][146] Paxton’s indictment marked the first such criminal indictment of a Texas Attorney General in thirty-two years since Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox was indicted for bribery in 1983.[147] The complainants in the case are Joel Hochberg, a Florida businessman and Byron Cook, a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives.[148][149] Paxton and Cook were former friends and roommates while serving together in the Texas House.[149] Three special prosecutors were trying the state’s case.[150]
The state prosecution against Paxton grows out of Paxton selling shares of Servergy Inc., a technology company, to investors in 2011. Prosecutors allege that Paxton sold shares of Servergy to investors (raising $840,000) while failing to disclose that he was receiving compensation from the company in the form of 100,000 shares of stock in return. Paxton says the 100,000 shares of stock he received from Servergy’s founder and CEO were a gift, and not a sales commission, and they were provided to Paxton long before the sales transactions occurred.[151]
On August 3, 2015, following the unsealing of the grand jury indictment,[144] Paxton was arrested and booked.[152] He pleaded not guilty, and has portrayed “the case against him as a political witch-hunt.”[153] Paxton and his supporters claim that the prosecution has its origin in a dispute among Texas Republicans, with conservatives like Paxton on one side and moderates like Cook on the other, and suggest that Cook’s complaint, several years after the Servergy deal, was political payback.[149]
Paxton unsuccessfully sought to quash the indictments.[154] This challenge was rejected by the trial judge, the Fifth Court of Appeals, and the Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’ criminal court of last resort.[150]
Paxton’s trial has been delayed multiple times[155][156] over side issues, such as the venue where the trial will take place and the amount of the special prosecutors’ fees.[157][158] In March 2017, District Judge George Gallagher, a Republican from Fort Worth, granted the prosecution’s motion for a change of venue, moving the trial to Houston in Harris County. Gallagher also denied Paxton’s motion to dismiss one of the charges against him because of issues which arose about the grand jury.[159] In May 2017, the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas agreed with Paxton that the transfer of Paxton’s trial to Houston required assignment of the case to a new judge to replace Judge Gallagher and all orders issued by Judge Gallagher after the change of venue were voided.[160] The current judge in the case is Robert Johnson of the 177th District Court in Harris County. Johnson was chosen at random to preside.[161]
In November 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals invalidated the trial court’s order approving of payments of attorneys’ fees to the special prosecutors in the case, and directed the lower court to issue payments “in accordance with an approved fee schedule,” siding with county commissioners in Paxton’s home county of Collin County, who had rejected the prosecutors’s invoice.[162] The special prosecutors in the case have suggested that if they are not paid, they could withdraw from prosecution of Paxton.[162][163] After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to reconsider the motion,[164] one of three prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Paxton asked to step down from the case.[165]
Paxton filed a motion to move the case from Harris County to his native Collin County, in 2019.[166] The trial court granted the motion, but in 2020, the 1st Court of Appeals in Houston blocked the case from being moved to Collin County pending further consideration of the matter.[158] In May 2021, a panel of three justices ruled that the trial for Paxton’s felony fraud charges should be moved to Collin County where Paxton lives instead of Harris County.[167] The decision by the panel of three judges to move Paxton’s trial back to Collin County was appealed by the prosecution in June.[168][169] In September the appeals court denied the prosecution appeal. Prosecutors again filed another appeal this time with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. [170][171] In March 2022, it was reported that the appeal had officially been put on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals case docket[172]
Securities and Exchange Commission civil action [ edit ]
In 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil enforcement action against Paxton in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The SEC’s complaint specifically charged Paxton with violating various provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and various provisions (including Rule 10b-5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by defrauding the Servergy investors.[173] Paxton denied the allegations.[151][174][175][176] One of the defendants and Servergy itself reached a separate settlement with the SEC, agreeing to pay $260,000 in penalties.[177]
In October 2016, U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III conditionally dismissed the complaint, finding the SEC had not alleged Paxton had any legal obligation to inform investors that he was receiving a commission, but gave the SEC two weeks to refile an amended complaint.[178][179] The SEC refiled its securities fraud claims against Paxton, making the additional allegations that Paxton and Cook’s investment club required all of its members to accept the same risks on all investments and that it specifically forbade members from making money off investments of other members.[180] The SEC further alleged that Paxton did not properly disclose his Servergy ownership stake on his taxes and that he attempted to conceal the stake by at different times claiming it was his fee for legal services, that it was a gift, and that he had only received it after investing money.[177]
In March 2017, Mazzant dismissed the civil securities fraud case, ruling that Paxton “no plausible legal duty” to inform investors that he would earn a commission if they purchased stock in a technical company that Paxton represented.[181] With the second dismissal of the case with prejudice, the SEC could not bring new action on the same claim against Paxton.[182] The dismissal of the SEC case did not have a direct impact on the state criminal case, which remained pending. However, the burden of proof in criminal court is higher than in civil court.[183][178]
Whistleblower allegations against Paxton [ edit ]
In October 2020, seven of Paxton’s top aides published a letter to the office’s director of human resources, accusing Paxton of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other crimes, and said they had provided information to law enforcement and asked them to investigate.[184][185] The letter was signed by First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer,[185][184] and the deputy and deputy attorneys general overseeing the Office’s divisions for criminal investigations, civil litigation, administration, and policy.[184] Paxton denied misconduct and said he would not resign.[185][186] By the end of the month, all seven whistleblowers had left the office: three resigned, two were fired, and two were put on leave.[187]
The Associated Press reported that the allegations involved Paxton illegally using his office to benefit real estate developer Nate Paul, who had donated $25,000 to Paxton’s 2018 campaign.[188] The Associated Press also reported that the allegations include the claim that Paxton had an extramarital affair with a woman, and that he had later advocated for that woman to be hired by Paul’s company, World Class. Paul has acknowledged employing the woman, but denied that he had done so on Paxton’s behalf.[189]
In 2020, four of the former members of the Texas AG’s Office sued the Office of the Attorney General, alleging that Paxton fired them for reporting misconduct to law enforcement, a form of illegal retaliation under the state’s Whistleblower Act. In 2021, the district court denied Paxton’s motion to dismiss the suit.[190][191] Paxton’s office appealed, claiming that the Whistleblower Act did not apply to allegations of misconduct by Paxton, as an elected executive-branch officer, and that as an elected official he must have the power to control his top lieutenants, who are high-level political appointees.[192][193] In October 2021, the Texas Third Court of Appeals denied Paxton’s bid to have the case dismissed and affirmed the trial court’s order.[194][195]
Ethics complaints pursuant to 2020 election challenges [ edit ]
In response to a complaint from Galveston Democrats that his challenges to the 2020 election were frivolous and unethical, a state disciplinary body ruled that a complaint against Paxton for professional misconduct could go forward. The complaint to the State Bar of Texas was initially dismissed by the Bar’s chief disciplinary counsel, but was later revived by the Board of Disciplinary Appeals,[196] and the State Bar launched an investigation into Paxton.[93][197] Another ethics complaint alleging Paxton’s election challenges were unethical and seeking sanctions or disbarment was filed by Lawyers Defending American Democracy. Among the signers of the LDAD complaint were four former presidents of the State Bar of Texas and a former chair of the Texas Supreme Court grievance oversight committee[198][199][200]
Election history[edit]
Attorney General elections
Texas Attorney General Republican Primary Election, 2022 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 820,602 42.71 Republican George P. Bush 437,784 22.78 Republican Eva Guzman 336,814 17.53 Republican Louie Gohmert 326,186 16.98
Texas Attorney General Election, 2018[201] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 4,172,599 50.60 Democratic Justin Nelson 3,873,186 47.00 Libertarian Michael Ray Harris 200,407 2.40
Texas Attorney General Election, 2014[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 2,743,473 58.82 Democratic Sam Houston 1,773,250 38.02 Libertarian Jamie Balagia 118,197 2.53 Green Jamar Osborne 29,591 0.63
Texas Attorney General Republican Primary Runoff Election, 2014[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 466,407 63.41 Republican Dan Branch 269,098 36.59
Texas Attorney General Republican Primary Election, 2014[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 569,034 44.45 Republican Dan Branch 428,325 33.46 Republican Barry Smitherman 282,701 22.08
Texas Senate 8th district election
Texas Senate 8th District Election, 2012[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 178,238 62.29 Democratic Jack Ternan, Jr. 99,010 34.60 Libertarian Ed Kless 8,899 3.11
Texas House 70th district elections
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Election, 2010[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (inc.) 43,006 100.00
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Election, 2008[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (inc.) 73,450 86.21 Libertarian Robert Virasin 11,751 13.79
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Election, 2006 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (inc.) 30,062 69.03 Democratic Rick Koster 12,265 28.16 Libertarian Robert Virasin 1,222 2.81
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Election, 2004 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (inc.) 58,250 76.03 Democratic Martin Woodward 18,451 23.97
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Election, 2002 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 28,012 78.50 Democratic Fred Lusk 7,074 19.82 Libertarian Robert Worthington 600 1.68
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Republican Primary Runoff Election, 2002 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 2,775 63.33 Republican Bill Vitz 1,607 36.67
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Republican Primary Election, 2002[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 2,168 39.45 Republican Bill Vitz 1,171 21.31 Republican Matt Matthews 1,100 20.02 Republican Robert Rankins 954 17.36 Republican Harry Pierce 102 1.86
Ken Paxton Net Worth How Did He Get a Million Dollars in the Year 2022
Ken Paxton Net Worth: How Did He Make $1 Million in 2022?
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. is an American attorney and politician who was born on December 23, 1962. He has been Texas Attorney General since January 2015. Paxton has said he’s a Conservative from the Tea Party.
In 2018, Paxton was appointed Attorney General for a second time. He previously served as Texas State Senator for the 8th District and Texas State Representative for the 70th District.
Paxton wants to be re-elected in 2022. On March 1, he won enough votes to run a May 24 runoff against George P. Bush for the Republican Party nomination.
Ken Paxton’s Amazing Facts
Ken Paxton was born on December 23, 1962 in Minot, North Dakota, United States. In 2020 he will be 57 years old.
He has been Texas Attorney General since 2015.
He is a member of a political party called Republic.
The Texas Attorney General has four children. Their names are Tucker Paxton, Abby Paxton,
Madison Paxton and Katie Paxton.
Angela Paxton is his wife and a politician since 2019. Since 2019 she has been a Senator for D8 in Texas.
He has 63,000 people following him on Twitter and most of the things he posts are about politics.
Ken Paxton career and early years
Ken Paxton was born in North Dakota at Minot Air Force Base, where his father was a member of the US Air Force. All his family members were unhappy. They lived in many different places including Florida, New York, North Carolina, California, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma. He liked football and wore a jersey signed by Bill Bates.
At the age of twelve he lost an eye playing hide-and-seek, and an incorrect diagnosis led to blurred vision for a long time. Because of this, one of his eyes is green and the other is brown and loose.
During his studies, his eyes hurt even more. Patton earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in business administration from Baylor University in 1986. He was also elected president of the student government.
He also has a Juris Doctor degree, which he received from the University of Virginia. He also worked as a management consultant. He worked for Strasburger & Price, L.L.P. from 1991 to 1995 and then from 1995 to 2002 for J.C. Penny Company, Inc.
He was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002. For ten years he represented House District 70, one of the fastest growing districts in the state. In 2012, residents of Collin and Dallas counties in Senate District 8 elected him their representative in the Texas Senate.
Also Read: – Arnold Schwarzenegger Net Worth: Was Arnold Schwarzenegger the Highest Paid Actor?
Personal Life of Ken Paxton
Angela Paxton is a Texas politician who is married to Ken Paxton. He met his wife Angela, who was a counselor at Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco, when they were both at the same college.
She has been a Republican in the Texas Senate since 2019 and has served as District 8 leader since then.
She attended Baylor University for her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and the University of Houston Clear Lake for her master’s degree (M.E.D.). They have four children by name.
The Paxton family consists of four people: Tucker Paxton, Katie Paxton, Abby Paxton and Madison Paxton. They belong to the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.
Ken Paxton Net Worth
Ken Paxton is listed as the most popular and one of the richest lawyers. The amount of money he has in the bank is $5 million.
Also Read: – Margot Robbie Net Worth: How Much Money Will She Make in 2022?
In the case of Ken Paxton
On July 31, 2015, a grand jury indicted Ken with the felony of securities fraud. Two securities fraud cases were filed when Servergy Inc. stock was sold to two investors for more than $100,000.
He was also charged with the lesser crime of non-registration. Paxton was arrested on August 3, 2015 and then released after turning himself in. He denied the charges against him, saying they were based on politics.
Ken pleaded not guilty for the first time in court on August 27, 2015 when he was charged with three counts of securities fraud. After Paxton apologized, District Judge George Gallagher allowed Paxton’s attorney, Joe Kendall, to leave the case.
On September 10, 2015, Ken said he was getting a new attorney. On December 1, 2015, his defense team moved to have the charges against him dropped while prosecutors sought to change the charges.
Also Read: – Sheikh Khalifa Net Worth: How Much Was the Estate of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Worth After His Death?
frequently asked Questions
What is Ken Paxton running for?
Texas Attorney General Elections will be held on November 8, 2022 to select the next Texas Attorney General. Current Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has no limit on the number of terms he can serve, as Texas has no limit on the number of terms a statewide official can serve. He wants to stay in the office.
Who is Paxton suing?
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suspended the city of Denton for not lifting its illegal mask rule after receiving a letter from his office. The requirement violates Gov. Abbott’s Executive Order GA-38, which says the government cannot compel anyone to wear a mask.
What did Ken Paxton do in Texas?
During his tenure as Attorney General, Paxton won key cases for Texas on immigration, school rights, EPA rules and religious freedom. Texans wouldn’t have had to pay more for energy if the EPA’s “Regional Haze” rule hadn’t been stopped.
Ken Paxton
American lawyer and politician
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr[1] (born December 23, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who has served as Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. Paxton has described himself as a Tea Party conservative. Paxton was re-elected to a second term as Attorney General in 2018. He previously served as Texas State Senator for the 8th District and Texas State Representative for the 70th District.
Paxton is running for re-election in 2022. On May 24, Paxton defeated George P. Bush 68% to 32% to win his party’s nomination for the November 2022 general election. [2] [3]
Paxton has been charged since 2015 with state securities fraud related to activities before he took office. He has pleaded not guilty. In October 2020, he was accused of “bribery, abuse of office and other crimes” by several senior assistants in Paxton’s office.[4][5]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump refused to back down while making false allegations of voter fraud, Paxton assisted Trump in his efforts to overturn the result, from filing the unsuccessful Texas v. Pennsylvania case in the Supreme Court on his speech to the rally Trump held on January 6, 2021, immediately preceding the attack on the United States Capitol in 2021.[6][7]
background [edit]
Paxton was born at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, where his father was stationed in the United States Air Force. His parents and their three children lived in a trailer, often without air conditioning, parked outside where his father was temporarily stationed. At different times they lived in Florida, New York, North Carolina, California and Oklahoma. A lifelong football fan, Paxton wore a jersey signed by former Dallas Cowboys Bill Bates. Bates was later appointed Paxton’s campaign treasurer.[8]
At the age of twelve, Paxton nearly lost an eye in a game of hide-and-seek; A misdiagnosis led to long-term vision problems. As a result, his good eye is green; its damaged, brown and limp. During his studies he injured his eye further. [9]
Paxton received a psychology degree in 1985 and a master of business administration in 1986, both from Baylor University, where he was elected president of the student government. [10] Paxton then worked as a management consultant for two years before returning to school in 1988. In 1991 he received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia.[11]
Paxton worked at Strasburger & Price, L.L.P. from 1991 to 1995 and JC Penney Company, Inc. from 1995 to 2002.[12]
Texas legislature[edit]
House of Representatives (2003–2013) [ edit ]
In 2002, Paxton ran for the Texas House of District 70 in the Republican primary. He won 39.45% of the vote and ran a runoff with Bill Vitz, whom he then defeated with 64% of the vote. He then faced Fred Lusk (D) and Robert Worthington (L) for the redistributed open seat. On November 4, 2002, Paxton won by 28,012 votes to Lusk’s 7,074 votes and Worthington’s 600 votes.
Paxton won re-election in 2004 against Democrat Martin Woodward. Paxton received 76% of the vote, or 58,520 votes compared to Woodward’s 18,451 votes. Paxton won re-election in 2006, defeating Rick Koster (D) and Robert Virasin (L). Paxton received 30,062 votes versus Koster’s 12,265 votes and Virasin’s 1,222 votes. Paxton won re-election by defeating Robert Virasin (L) again by a vote of 73,450 to 11,751. Paxton ran unopposed for re-election in 2010.
After his re-election, Paxton ran as speaker of the Texas House of Representatives against Joe Straus of District 121 in Bexar County and fellow Republican Warren Chisum of District 88 in Pampa, Texas. Paxton said if elected speaker he would take “bold action in defense of our conservative values”. Paxton was supported by HuckPAC, Mike Huckabee’s official political action committee,[18] and by the National Rifle Association.[19][20] Straus was elected to his second term as Speaker and was re-elected in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
Texas Senate (2013–2015) [ edit ]
Paxton served in the Texas Senate from 2013 to January 2015, when his term as Attorney General began.
Attorney General elections[edit]
Election 2014[edit]
Paxton’s 2013 campaign announcement
Paxton became a candidate for Texas Attorney General when incumbent Greg Abbott decided to run for governor, replacing Rick Perry, who was retiring.[21] Paxton led a field of three candidates in the March 4, 2014 Republican primary, receiving 566,114 votes (44.4%). Dallas County State Representative Dan Branch received 426,595 votes (33.5 percent). Eliminated in the primary was Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman of Austin, who polled the remaining 281,064 (22.1 percent). Paxton faced Dan Branch in the May 27, 2014 runoff, winning by 465,395 votes (63.63 percent). Branch received 265,963 votes (36.36 percent).[22][23][24]
In the November 4, 2014 general election, Paxton defeated his Democratic opponent, a Houston attorney named Sam Houston.[25]
Paxton took office on January 5, 2015.[26] Paxton’s campaign raised $945,000 in the first half of 2016, leaving Paxton with nearly $3 million in his campaign bank for a possible re-election in 2018.[27]
Paxton’s wife, Angela Paxton, his closest political adviser, often opens his events with a musical performance. She calls her husband “a very ambitious person”.[8] Paxton won the Attorney General’s election without the endorsement of a single Texas newspaper. In 2018, Angela Paxton won the District 8 seat in the Texas Senate.[28]
Election 2018[edit]
In 2018, Paxton ran unopposed for re-election in the Republican primary. After gaining the support of US President Donald Trump, Paxton won a second term as attorney general in the November 6, 2018 general election, beating Democratic candidate Justin Nelson, a lawyer, and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Ray Harris. narrowly by a margin of 4,173,538 (50.6 percent) to 3,874,096 (47 percent) and Harris got 2.4%.[29][30] Justin Nelson’s campaign ad for attorney general included surveillance video from the Collin County Courthouse in Paxton of a $1,000 Montblanc pen being taken from attorney Joe Joplin in 2012. The pen was later returned.
Election 2022[edit]
The 2022 Texas Attorney General Election will be held on November 8, 2022 to elect the Attorney General of Texas. Paxton advanced to the November 8 general election after winning the March 1 and May 24 primary.
Texas Attorney General (since 2015) [ edit ]
Affordable Care Act[edit]
Paxton filed a lawsuit to have the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) unconstitutional in its entirety.[34]
COVID-19 pandemic [ edit ]
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Paxton threatened to file lawsuits against local governments unless they lift stay-at-home orders and rules on the use of face masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus. [35] The city of Austin encouraged restaurants to log contact information to ensure contact tracing in the event of an outbreak; Paxton described this as “Orwellian.”[36] Paxton sued the city of Austin again in December 2020, when the city implemented restrictions preventing indoor eating and drinking over the New Year’s weekend amid rising COVID-19 cases.[37] In March 2021, Paxton filed a lawsuit against Austin and Travis County, this time for the city and county, which continued their local mask-wearing requirements after Governor Abbott signed an executive order ending the statewide mask-wearing mandate became.[38]
Gerrymandering[ edit ]
Paxton defended Texas in a federal lawsuit alleging allegations of manipulation of Texas’ congressional districts. In 2017, a three-judge panel of a US federal court based in San Antonio ruled that the Republican-controlled Texas legislature confiscated the congressional district to discriminate against minority voters and ordered the redrawing of the 35th and 27th congressional districts from Texas on. Paxton appealed the verdict, claiming that the previous maps were lawful and promising to “aggressively defend the maps on all fronts”; US Representative Lloyd Doggett called the appeal a “desperate, highly questionable Paxton-Abbott maneuver” that came “following another verdict against the state of Texas for willful discrimination.” Texas won on appeal when the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that there was insufficient evidence to prove the state’s Republicans acted in bad faith in relation to the 27th and 35th congressional districts intentional discrimination.[41]
human trafficking [edit]
Paxton established a human trafficking unit in the AG office in 2015. In 2019, he convinced the Texas legislature to more than quadruple annual funding for the Human Trafficking Department. The following year, the unit did not achieve a single human trafficking conviction and only four in 2020.[42]
Immigration[ edit ]
In 2018, Paxton falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants had committed over 600,000 crimes in Texas since 2011.[43] PolitiFact said it had previously debunked the numbers and that the numbers exceed the state’s estimates by more than 400%.[43]
Obama Executive Orders[ edit ]
Paxton led a twenty-six-state coalition that challenged President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), which granted deferred status to certain undocumented immigrants who had lived in the United States and had children since 2010 Action granted to those who were American citizens or lawful permanent residents.[44] Paxton argued that the President should not be allowed “unilaterally to rewrite Congressional legislation and bypass MPs.” June 2016. Due to the split verdict, a 2015 lower court ruling invalidating Obama’s plan was upheld.[45]
In July 2017, Paxton led a group of Republican attorneys general and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter in threatening the Trump administration that they would go to court if the president violated President Barack Obama’s policy of deferred action on child arrivals would not end. although it was never implemented in Texas due to legal action on behalf of the state. The other attorney generals who joined in the threats against Trump were Steve Marshall of Alabama, Leslie Rutledge of Arkansas, Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Doug Peterson of Nebraska, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia.[47]
Trump executive orders[edit]
In 2017, Paxton advocated applying for eminent domain to gain right-of-way along the Rio Grande in Texas for the construction of the border wall advocated by President Donald Trump to curb illegal immigration. Paxton said private landowners must be given a fair price when taking property for upcoming construction. He said the wall serves “a public purpose that provides security for people not just along the border but for the nation as a whole.” … I want people to be treated fairly, so they shouldn’t just have their land taken away from them, “but there has to be fair compensation.[48]
In 2017, Paxton, along with thirteen other attorneys general, filed a friend of the court brief to defend both Trump’s first and second executive orders on travel and immigration primarily from Muslim-majority countries (informally referred to as the “Muslim ban”). In Filing submissions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton argued that the order — which imposed a 90-day ban on visas for travelers as young as six — designated majority Muslims countries, imposes a 120-day ban on admitting refugees to the US and limits the annual admission of refugees to 50,000 people – is constitutionally and legally valid.[49][50]
In May 2017, Paxton filed a preemptive action to test the constitutionality of the new Texas Sanctuary City Penalties Act, known as SB 4, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. The law penalizes local officials who restrict the cooperation of their law enforcement or other agencies with the immigration service, and requires county jails to comply with requests from U.S. immigration and customs officials to hold detainees suspected of being eligible for deportation come.[51] In the lawsuit, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas was asked to determine whether the statute conflicts with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments or does not conflict with any other federal law. Paxton said the measure was “constitutional, lawful and an important step in securing our borders.” Opponents of the measure include police chiefs and sheriffs from some of Texas’ largest jurisdictions. Critics are calling for a ban on discrimination against minorities, and lawsuits against the law are expected.[52] Although important aspects of the law were originally ordered by the court, on appeal the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld almost all of it, except for a provision that interfered with the First Amendment’s right to free speech by local officials. [51]
Environment [ edit ]
Clean Power Plan Challenge[ edit ]
Paxton has legally challenged the Clean Power Plan, which represents President Obama’s “government effort to combat climate change by switching from coal-fired power to cleaner-burning natural gas and renewable resources.”[53] Paxton said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to “force Texas to change the way we regulate energy production” through an “unprecedented expansion of federal agency.” tons of emissions, up 21 percent from 2012 levels. According to Paxton, the required reductions would cost the state jobs, drive up electricity costs and threaten grid reliability. Paxton says there is no evidence the plan will mitigate climate change, directly contradicting EPA studies that have shown the regulation will reduce carbon pollution by 870 million tons in 2030.[54] He further alleges that the EPA lacks the legal authority to write state policy.[55]
ExxonMobil litigation [ edit ]
In 2016, Paxton was one of 11 Republican attorneys general who sided with ExxonMobil in the company’s lawsuit to block a Commonwealth of Massachusetts investigation into climate change.[56]
Paxton and the other state AGs filed an amicus curiae letter, alleging that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey used her office to “tip the scales in a public policy debate, the first to undermine the amendment and to abuse the Office’s subpoena powers.”[57] Healey had launched a probe into ExxonMobil’s historic marketing and sales of fossil-fuel products, prompting the company to provide documents covering 40 years worth of fossil-fuel products and securities. Healey said the documents prove that ExxonMobil “knew about the risks of climate change decades ago and fraudulently withheld that knowledge from the public.”[58] The amicus brief supported ExxonMobil’s request for an injunction.[ 57] Paxton questioned Healey’s use of law enforcement in the global warming controversy, which he described as an “ongoing public policy debate of international concern.” Paxton described Healey’s attempts to obtain historical company records for public debate as a threat to freedom of speech, stating: “The Constitution was written to protect citizens from government witch-hunts, which are nothing but an attempt to block speech at a suppressing an issue of public concern just because a government official happens to disagree with that particular view.”[58] The report presented climate change as an issue that has still been the subject of scientific debate, although in fact the scientific consensus is that that the earth is warming and human activity is primarily responsible.[56]
US Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker also issued a subpoena for Exxon’s records. Paxton issued a request for intervention, stating, “What is Exxon Mobil’s violation? Taking a view on climate change that the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands disagrees with. This is about the criminalization of language and thought.” Walker dropped the subpoena in June 2016.[59]
Labor suits[edit]
Paxton is suing the Obama administration over a new US Labor Department rule that would entitle five million additional workers to overtime pay. The new rule would mean workers earning up to $47,500 a year would be entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week.[60] Paxton said the new regulations “could have catastrophic consequences for our economy”. Along with Texas, twenty other states have joined the lawsuit.[61]
Paxton is involved in a legal challenge to a Department of Labor rule requiring employers to report any “acts, conduct or communications” taken to “influence a worker’s decisions regarding his representation or collective bargaining rights.” [62] Known as the “Persuasion Rule,” the new rule went into effect in April 2016. Opponents of the rule say it will prevent employers from discussing labor issues or seeking legal counsel. In June 2016, a federal judge issued an injunction against the rule. Paxton called the injunction “a victory for preserving the sanctity of attorney and client confidentiality.”[63]
LGBT rights[ edit ]
As attorney general, Paxton appointed several social conservatives and anti-LGBT rights activists to positions in his department.[64]
In June 2015, after the Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, offered assistance to Paxton officials who refused to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples. His statement read: “I will do everything I can from this office to be a public voice for those who are working to defend their rights.”[65]
In 2016, Paxton led a coalition of thirteen states seeking an injunction to block a guide issued by the Departments of Education and Justice that interpreted Title IX to mean that public schools require that transgender students be allowed to use restrooms that conform to their gender identity.[66][67] Paxton filed court filings alleging that the Obama administration “conspired to turn workplaces and educational institutions across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment”[66], and called the policy a “gun to the head” that threatens the independence of school districts. [68] In September 2016, Paxton and his wife had dinner with activist Amber Briggle and her family, including their trans son.[69][70][71] States dropped the lawsuit after President Donald Trump rescinded the policy.[72]
On February 18, 2022, Paxton issued a written statement with a new interpretation of Texas law that identified gender-affirming healthcare (such as hormone treatments and puberty blockers) for transgender youth as child abuse. Established medical practice allows for research into puberty blockers after the first signs of puberty, although evidence for their use is still developing.[73][74] On February 28, Amber Briggle was notified that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had opened an investigation into her family.[75][76] On March 11, a Texas district court issued an injunction that temporarily halted state investigations into families for gender-affirming treatment of their children and scheduled a trial for July 11, 2022.[77][78]
On March 17, 2022, Paxton made a post on Twitter in which he referred to US Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine — a trans woman — as a man. Twitter flagged the tweet for violating its code of conduct, but did not remove the post.[79] The following day, Paxton tweeted a statement, again calling Levine a man and stating that he was exploring “legal avenues” against Twitter.[80]
Volkswagen, Apple and MoneyGram lawsuits [ edit ]
In 2012, Paxton was part of a lawsuit filed by 33 attorneys general against Apple, accusing the company of violating antitrust laws by conspiring with publishers to artificially inflate e-book prices.[81] Apple was ordered to pay US consumers $400 million for artificially inflating the price of e-books and $20 million to the states in legal reimbursement.[82]
As part of a 44-state lawsuit, it was announced in June 2016 that Volkswagen would pay the state of Texas $50 million in connection with the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Paxton and most other states had sued the company in 2015 in connection with the automaker’s admitted use of software that allowed its vehicles to circumvent emissions limits.[83]
Paxton is part of a 21-state lawsuit against the state of Delaware. The lawsuit alleges that MoneyGram turned over uncashed checks to the state of Delaware, rather than the state where the money order or traveler’s check was purchased. The case went straight to the US Supreme Court as it is a state-to-state dispute.[84] Paxton said an audit showed that Delaware owed other states $150 million and that Delaware improperly took possession of uncashed checks rather than returning the checks to the states where the money orders were purchased.[85] The state of Delaware denies these claims.[85]
Homestead tax exemption lawsuit[edit]
In 2015, the Texas state legislature passed legislation implementing property tax reductions by increasing the homestead exemption to $25,000 and prohibiting municipalities from reducing or eliminating already-on-the-books exemptions from local homestead options. After the passage of this law, 21 school districts reduced or eliminated their local optional homestead exemptions. In 2016, Paxton intervened in a lawsuit challenging school districts’ practice of reducing or eliminating their local optional homestead exemptions.
Second amendment lawsuits[ edit ]
In 2016, three professors at the University of Texas at Austin sued to ban concealed handguns from campus, blocking the state’s campus carry law. Paxton called the lawsuit “frivolous” and moved to dismiss it. The federal district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2017, and the dismissal was upheld by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018.[89]
In 2016, Paxton sued the city of Austin to allow license holders to openly carry handguns at Austin City Hall.[90] Paxton prevailed, and the court not only ruled that the city of Austin must allow such wearing, but also ordered a fine to be paid to the state for each day she prevented investigators from the Attorney General’s office from investigating her to carry firearms.[91]
Voting rights[ edit ]
In March 2017, Paxton told The Washington Times that he was convinced voter fraud existed in Texas and claimed that local Texas election officials were not looking for fraud.[92] According to a July 11, 2021 New York Times newspaper, although voter fraud is “very rare in the United States”—most cases involve minor errors on the part of a voter,[93] Paxton as an attorney “makes it a mission did”. General to press charges against voters;[93] According to a July 9, 2021 article in The Guardian, “[few] prosecutors have prosecuted more election-related crimes than Paxton.”[94]
By February 2017, as part of his “crusade” against voter fraud[95], Paxton was attempting to examine 2016 election records in Texas – such as accessing individual voting histories and voter registration application materials – to uncover potential voter fraud, such as voting by non-citizens or on behalf of the deceased. In February 2017, Bexar County officials said there had been no major cases of voter fraud in San Antonio.[96] However, the Associated Press reported that Bexar County’s top election official estimates that nearly 600 affidavits filed by voters refused to identify themselves and should have been rejected. Instead, the official said such voters should have cast provisional ballots. AP predicted that the total number of those who have filed improper affidavits in the largest counties in Texas is 13,500.[97] The Fort Bend County chief election official said these cases did not involve voter fraud, noting that only those who were registered to vote qualified for an affidavit and that “poll officials have been trained to rely on putting it aside so people can use the affidavit rather than denying them the ability to vote.’”[97] According to a May 2, 2017 ProPublica article, there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Texas. In 2017, the Texas Tribune reported that experts had said there was no reliable evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States,[92] and a Texas study of elections spanning a decade found there were definitely about three cases of fraud gave millions of votes in the state.[98]
In 2017, the San Antonio Express-News criticized the voter identification law that Paxton plans to reinstate after it was struck down by Corpus Christi U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, who described the measure as a voting violation looked at the Rights Act and found that it was passed with the intention of discriminating against black and Hispanic voters. The Paxton office appealed the decision.[99] Appeals continue in the case.[100] By May 2017, “the AG’s office’s efforts to enact and enforce the nation’s strictest voter identification law were so plagued by delays, overhauls, court interference, and inadequate investigation that voting in the 2016 election was inevitably disrupted.” [101]
Prioritizing prosecutions for voter fraud
72% of the voter fraud cases his office wanted to pursue were people of color.[102] Paxton had also filed charges against Hervis Rogers, a black man who worked two jobs. Rogers had received media coverage as a “national hero” for waiting in line for six hours at Texas Southern University in Houston in Harris County, Texas to compete in the March 2020 Democratic presidential primary. A July 9, 2021 article in The Guardian said Rogers was a symbol for black Americans of the “tenacity” to make his voice heard. Rogers was convicted of “burglary and grand larceny” in 1995 and served nine years in prison. His 2004 parole expired in June 2020.[94] In Texas, it is illegal for a person to vote when convicted of a felony until the sentence, parole, and/or probation has expired. Rogers’ bail was set at $100,000 – an “extremely high bail amount” – which he could not afford.[104] Hervis was not charged in Harris County, Texas, County. a majority-minority community. Instead, he was charged in neighboring Montgomery County, Texas, where only 4% of the population is black, and held pending bail from The Bail Project, a non-profit organization.”[93] If convicted, he could face a prison sentence Served 40 Years in Prison for Nonviolent Offense This isn’t the first time Paxton has indulged in “forum shopping” charges in Montgomery County.[105]
Paxton admitted to KXAN-TV that few people have been seated for voter fraud. The channel found that out of 138 people convicted of voter fraud between 2004 and September 2020, only 24 were in prison.[106] Paxton explained, “But I think the good thing about finding it and doing a thorough investigation and prosecution is that you at least send the message out to people that if you do, there’s some risk that you’ll get ‘you.” will end up in jail for voter fraud.”[106] Paxton’s office spent almost twice as much time handling voter fraud cases in 2021 as it did in 2018. It recorded over 22,000 man-hours devoted to the task, but only resolved 16 indictments, half as many as two years earlier. All cases were filed in Harris County against voters who provided incorrect addresses on their voter registration forms. None of these defendants were sentenced to prison.[106] The costs of the 230 ongoing investigations and 360 prosecutions were enormous: the boss of the electoral fraud received around $140,000, a second lawyer received $97,000. Two other attorneys received approximately $85,000 each.[106]
The Paxton Voter Fraud Investigative Unit had a budget of $1.9 million to $2.2 million in 2021. By the end of the year, the bureau had closed only three fraud cases.[107]
Resistance to the extension of postal voting (2020) [ edit ]
In May 2020, Paxton opposed extending mail-in voting to voters who lack immunity to COVID-19.[108] A state district judge ruled that such voters could request absentee ballots under a statutory provision that accommodates persons with disabilities.[108] Following the verdict, Paxton publicly disagreed with the district judge and subsequently persuaded the Texas Supreme Court to consider the issue of fitness in a separate case, which he filed directly with that court while shelving the district court’s appeal.
During the 2020 election season, which occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Paxton sued Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins to prevent him from sending ballot-by-mail applications to the county’s 2.4 million registered voters, along with instructions on how to Eligibility as clarified by the Texas Supreme Court.[110] Paxton lost in the trial court and the intermediate appeals court,[111][112] but the Texas Supreme Court reversed and ordered the trial court to enter an injunction against Hollins.[113] [114] Postal ballot advertising was an integral part of Harris County’s package of innovative measures to reduce the COVID-19 infection risk of in-person voting while maximizing opportunities for all voters to participate in pandemic conditions.[115][116] The Texas Republican Party opposed the extension of mail-in voting and other adjustments, and filed its own lawsuits to stop Hollins through the court system.
2020 Presidential Election Results Challenge [ edit ]
Paxton’s office spent more than 22,000 hours searching for voter fraud following the 2020 election, finding just 16 instances of incorrect addresses on registration forms out of nearly 17 million registered voters.[118]
On December 8, 2020, Paxton sued the states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where certified results showed President-elect Joe Biden victorious over President Donald Trump, alleging a variety of unconstitutional acts in their presidential elections, arguments that had been before rejected by other courts.[6] In Texas v. Pennsylvania, Paxton asked the US Supreme Court to void the sixty-two state electoral votes, thereby declaring Trump the winner of a second presidential term.[119] Because the lawsuit was being fought as a state-to-state dispute, the Supreme Court had original jurisdiction, although it often declines to hear such lawsuits.[120] There is no evidence of widespread illegal voting in the election.[121] Paxton’s lawsuit included allegations that had been tried unsuccessfully in other courts and proved false.[122] Officials from the four states described Paxton’s lawsuit as a reiteration of false and disproved allegations of irregularities.[123] Trump and seventeen Republican attorneys general filed motions supporting the case, the merits of which have been sharply criticized by legal experts and politicians.[124][125] Voting law expert Rick Hasen described the lawsuit as “the dumbest emergency case I’ve ever seen filed in the Supreme Court.” [126] Republican Senator Ben Sasse opined that the situation of Paxton, who initiated the lawsuit, “What a guy looks like apologizing filed a PR stunt,” in reference to Paxton’s own legal troubles (securities fraud allegations and abuse of office allegations).[127][128][129][130] Paxton found the forgiveness speculation “an absurdity ridiculous conspiracy theory” and said the lawsuit was about the integrity of the elections.[127] The case was quickly dismissed on December 11.[131][132]
It was later revealed that the failed lawsuit was drafted by attorneys for Trump, a group associated with the Trump campaign. Several other attorneys general declined the offer to file the lawsuit. Texas Attorney General Kyle D. Hawkins, who would normally represent the state in Supreme Court cases, declined to include his name in the lawsuit. The Texas Attorney General hired Lawrence J. Joseph of Lawyers for Trump as the special counsel to file the lawsuit.[133]
After his lawsuit failed, Paxton traveled to Washington to speak at a political rally for President Trump on January 6, 2021. In his speech, Paxton told the crowd, “we will not stop fighting.”[134] Immediately thereafter, the crowd of Trump supporters left the rally and stormed the United States Capitol in a riot that resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer.[135][136] In response to the violence and loss of life, Paxton falsely claimed the rioters were liberal activists posing as Trump supporters.[137] He was the only Attorney General who did not condemn the uprising.[138]
In early 2021, Paxton’s office refused to provide his work emails and text messages he sent or received in Washington on Jan. 6 after multiple Texas news organizations requested them under the state’s Open Records Act. In January 2022, the Travis County District Attorney gave Paxton four days to comply or file a lawsuit.[139]
In October 2021, Paxton falsely claimed that Biden “overthrew Trump” in the 2020 election.[140]
Religion in school[edit]
Paxton “has often criticized what he terms anti-Christian discrimination in Texas schools.”[141] In 2015, Paxton resisted a lawsuit by an atheist group aimed at stopping the reading of religious prayers before school board meetings.[141] In December 2016, Paxton gained attention after intervening in a dispute in Killeen, Texas, in which a school principal ordered a nurse to remove a six-foot-tall poster quoting Christian scriptures at the school. Paxton sided with the aide, who won in court.
In early 2017, Paxton protested a Texas school’s use of an empty classroom to allow its Muslim students to pray, and issued a press release claiming that “the high school’s prayer room … appears to exclude students of other faiths.” School officials said that Paxton never asked them about this claim and that the room is a spare room used by faculty and non-Muslim students and for various activities, from grading papers to Buddhist meditation. The Superintendent of the Frisco Independent School District, in a letter of reply to Paxton, described his press release as “a publicity stunt by the [Attorney General’s Office] to politicize a non-issue.”[141][142][143]
Legal issues[edit]
Charges of fraud involving government securities[ edit ]
On July 28, 2015, a state grand jury indicted Paxton on three criminal charges:[144] two counts of securities fraud (a first-degree felony) and one count of failure to register with state securities regulators (a third-degree felony). .[145][146] Paxton’s indictment was the first such criminal indictment against a Texas Attorney General in thirty-two years since Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox was charged with bribery in 1983.[147] The plaintiffs in this case are Joel Hochberg, a Florida businessman, and Byron Cook, a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives.[148][149] Paxton and Cook were former friends and roommates while ministering together at Texas House.[149] Three special prosecutors tried the state’s case.[150]
The prosecution against Paxton arises from Paxton Corporation’s sale of shares in Servergy Inc., a technology company, to investors in 2011 in exchange for 100,000 shares. Paxton says the 100,000 shares he received from Servergy’s founder and CEO were a gift, not a sales commission, and were made available to Paxton well before the sales transactions.[151]
On August 3, 2015, after the grand jury’s indictment was unsealed,[144] Paxton was arrested and charged.[152] He pleaded not guilty and has “portrayed the case against him as a political witch hunt”. [153] Paxton and his supporters claim that the charges originated in a dispute between Texas Republicans, with conservatives like Paxton on the one hand and moderates like Cook on the other, and suggest that Cook’s complaint came several years after the Servergy deal was a political revenge.[149]
Paxton tried unsuccessfully to have the charges dropped.[154] This challenge was dismissed by the trial judge, the Fifth Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals, the criminal court of last resort in Texas.[150]
Paxton’s trial has been postponed several times[155][156] because of ancillary issues, such as the location where the trial will take place and the amount of the prosecution’s special fees.[157][158] In March 2017, District Judge George Gallagher, a Fort Worth Republican, granted the prosecutor’s request to change the venue and moved the trial to Houston, Harris County. Gallagher also denied Paxton’s motion to dismiss one of the charges against him due to grand jury problems.[159] In May 2017, the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Paxton that the transfer of Paxton’s trial to Houston required the case to be assigned to a new judge to replace Judge Gallagher and voided all orders issued by Judge Gallagher following the change of venue . [160] The current judge on the case is Robert Johnson of the 177th Circuit Court in Harris County. Johnson was randomly elected chairman.[161]
In November 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the trial court’s order authorizing the payment of attorneys’ fees to the special prosecutors in the case and ordered the lower court to make payments “in accordance with an approved schedule of fees” and itself aside district commissioners in Paxton’s home district of Collin County, who had dismissed the prosecutor’s bill. The special prosecutors in the case have suggested they could withdraw from prosecuting Paxton if they are not paid. After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to reconsider the application,[164] one of three prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Paxton asked that the case be withdrawn.[165]
Paxton filed a motion to move the case from Harris County to his hometown of Collin County in 2019.[166] The trial court granted the request, but in 2020 the Houston Circuit Court of Appeals prevented the case from being transferred to Collin County pending further review.[158] In May 2021, a three-judge panel ruled that the trial on Paxton’s fraud charges should be moved to Collin County, where Paxton lives, instead of Harris County. Prosecutors appealed the three-judge panel’s decision to move Paxton’s trial back to Collin County in June.[168][169] In September, the Court of Appeal dismissed the prosecutor’s appeal. Prosecutors appealed again, this time to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. [170][171] In March 2022 it was reported that the appeal had been formally added to the case record of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals[172]
Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit[ edit ]
In 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil complaint against Paxton in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The SEC’s complaint specifically accused Paxton of violating various provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and various provisions (including Rule 10b-5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by defrauding Servergy investors.[173] Paxton denied the allegations.[151][174][175][176] One of the defendants and Servergy himself reached a separate settlement with the SEC and agreed to pay a $260,000 fine.[177]
In October 2016, U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III dismissed the complaint with reservations, noting that the SEC had not asserted that Paxton was legally required to notify investors that it was receiving a commission, but admitted to the SEC two weeks to resubmit an amended complaint. [178][179] The SEC refiled its securities fraud lawsuits against Paxton, making the additional allegations that the Paxton and Cook investment club required all of its members to take the same risks in all investments and that it expressly prohibited from making money from other members’ investments.[180 ] The SEC further alleged that Paxton failed to properly disclose its Servergy ownership interest in its taxes and that it attempted to disguise the interest by claiming at various times that it is his fee for legal services, a gift he received only after investing money.[177]
In March 2017, Mazzant dismissed the securities fraud civil suit, ruling that Paxton had “no plausible legal obligation” to inform investors that it would earn a commission if they bought stock in a technology company represented by Paxton.[181] With the second dismissal of the prejudice case, the SEC was unable to file a new lawsuit against Paxton for the same claim.[182] The dropping of the SEC case had no direct impact on the pending state criminal case. However, the burden of proof in criminal courts is higher than in civil courts.[183][178]
Whistleblower allegations against Paxton
In October 2020, seven of Paxton’s top employees released a letter to the office’s chief human resources officer, in which they accused Paxton of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other criminal offenses and said they had provided information to law enforcement and asked them to to do research. [184][185] The letter was signed by First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer[185][184] and the Deputy and Assistant Attorneys General, who oversee the Bureau’s Criminal Investigations, Civil Procedure, Administration and Policy divisions.[184] Paxton denied wrongdoing and said he would not be stepping down. By the end of the month, all seven whistleblowers had left the office: three resigned, two were fired and two were furloughed.[187]
The Associated Press reported that the allegations involved Paxton, who illegally used his office to help real estate developer Nate Paul, who donated $25,000 to Paxton’s 2018 campaign. The Associated Press also reported that the allegations include allegations that Paxton had an extramarital affair with a woman and that he later lobbied for that woman to be hired by Paul’s company, World Class. Paul has admitted to employing the woman but has denied he did so on Paxton’s behalf.
In 2020, four of the former members of Texas AG’s office sued the attorney general’s office, alleging that Paxton fired them for reporting misconduct to law enforcement, a form of illegal retaliation under the state’s Whistleblower Act. In 2021, the district court denied Paxton’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.[190][191] Paxton’s office appealed, contending that the Whistleblowers Act did not apply to allegations of misconduct by Paxton as an elected executive officer and that as an elected officer he must have the power to control his top lieutenants, who are senior political appointments.[192 ][193] In October 2021, the Texas Third Court of Appeals denied Paxton’s motion to dismiss the case and upheld the trial court’s order.[194][195]
Ethics complaints per the 2020 election challenges[edit]
In response to a complaint from Galveston Democrats that his challenges in the 2020 election were reckless and unethical, a state disciplinary board ruled that a complaint against Paxton for professional misconduct could go ahead. The State Bar of Texas complaint was initially dismissed by the bar’s chief disciplinarian, but was later revived by the Board of Disciplinary Appeals,[196] and the State Bar opened an investigation into Paxton.[93][197] Another ethics complaint, alleging that Paxton’s election challenges were unethical and calling for sanctions or a ban from practicing law, was filed by Lawyers Defending American Democracy. Among the signatories to the LDAD Complaint were four former Presidents of the Texas Attorney’s Office and a former Chairman of the Appeals Oversight Committee of the Texas Supreme Court[198][199][200]
Election history[edit]
Attorney General elections
Texas Attorney General Republican Primary Election, 2022 Party Candidate Votings % Republican Ken Paxton 820,602 42.71 Republican George P. Bush 437,784 22.78 Republican Eva Guzman 336,814 17.53 Republican Louie Gohmert 326,186 16.98
Texas Attorney General Election, 2018[201] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 4,172,599 50.60 Democrat Justin Nelson 3,873,186 47.00 Libertarian Michael Ray Harris 200,407 2.40
Texas Attorney General Election, 2014[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 2,743,473 58.82 Democrat Sam Houston 1,773,250 38.02 Libertarian Jamie Balagia 118,197 2.53 Green Jamar Osborne 29,591 0.63
Texas Attorney General Republican Primary Runoff, 2014[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 466,407 63.41 Republican Dan Branch 269,098 36.59
Texas Attorney General Republican Primary Election, 2014[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 569,034 44.45 Republican Dan Branch 428,325 33.46 Republican Barry Smitherman 282,701 08/22
Texas Senate 8th Circuit Elections
8th Texas Senate District Election, 2012[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 178,238 62.29 Democrat Jack Ternan, Jr. 99,010 34.60 Libertarian Ed Kless 8,899 3.11
Texas House 70th Circuit Elections
70th Texas House of Representatives District Election, 2010[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (incl.) 43,006 100.00
70th Texas House of Representatives District Election, 2008[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (incl.) 73,450 86.21 Libertarian Robert Virasin 11,751 13.79
Texas House of Representatives, 70th Circuit Election, 2006 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (inc) 30,062 69.03 Democrat Rick Koster 12,265 28.16 Libertarian Robert Virasin 1,222 2.81
Texas House of Representatives, 70th Circuit Election, 2004 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton (inc) 58,250 76.03 Democrat Martin Woodward 18,451 23.97
Texas House of Representatives 70th Circuit Election, 2002 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 28,012 78.50 Democrat Fred Lusk 7,074 19.82 Libertarian Robert Worthington 600 1.68
Texas House of Representatives 70th District Republican Primary Runoff, 2002 Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 2,775 63.33 Republican Bill Vitz 1,607 36.67
Texas House of Representatives, 70th Circuit, Republican Primary, 2002[202] Party Candidate Votes % Republican Ken Paxton 2,168 39.45 Republican Bill Vitz 1,171 21.31 Republican Matt Matthews 1,100 20.02 Republican Robert Rankins 954 17.36 Republican Harry Pierce 102 1st ,86
Related searches to Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican
Information related to the topic Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican
Here are the search results of the thread Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican from Bing. You can read more if you want.
You have just come across an article on the topic Ken Paxton Net Worth, Wife, And Family Is Ken Paxton Republican. If you found this article useful, please share it. Thank you very much.
Articles compiled by Bangkokbikethailandchallenge.com. See more articles in category: DIGITAL MARKETING