4 ex-aides sue, accuse Paxton of retaliation
The whistleblowers allege AG abused his office to help a donor
Despite his role as the state’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Ken Paxton “believes he is above the very law” he is supposed to uphold, several whistleblowers say in a new lawsuit seeking damages after he allegedly retaliated against them.
In the lawsuit filed this week in Austin, four top former Paxton aides recounted some of the extraordinary efforts the attorney general allegedly made on behalf of his friend and campaign donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor — everything from empowering Paul to go after business adversaries to helping him stave off foreclosure.
They say Paxton frequently met with Paul without his security detail present and abused his office to “advance the legal and personal interests” of the Austin businessman. Over time, Paxton “became less rational in his decision making and more unwilling” to listen to criticism of his actions, they said.
Representatives of Paxton and Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Paxton has previously called the whistleblowers “rogue employees” who tried to impede his lawful actions.
The lawsuit comes more than a month after seven whistleblowers staged a mutiny against the Republican attorney general, signing an Oct. 1 letter accusing him of bribery and abuse of office. In the lawsuit, four of Paxton’s accusers, including a high-ranking official who did not sign the original letter, say Paxton illegally retaliated against them after they reported their allegations against him to lawenforcement.
Among other concerns, the top aides believed Paxton was trying to help a woman he’d recom--
mended for a job at one of Paul’s companies, according to the lawsuit.
“The most senior members of the (Office of the Attorney General) believed in good faith that Paxton was breaking the lawand abusing his office,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit provides more detail about allegations that have been leaking out in press reports since early October, including Paxton’s efforts to hire an outside lawyer to oversee a criminal investigation sought by Paul.
The FBI raided Paul and his businesses last year, and he has complained vociferously that he was treated unfairly and illegally by state and federal law enforcement. Those complaints reached Paxton and eventually led the attorney general to launch a probe — at Paul’s urging.
“Paxton rarely showed an interest in any pending criminal investigations, but he showed an extraordinary interest in the investigations sought by Paul,” the lawsuit alleges.
Among the “perceived adversaries” that Paul wanted the Attorney General’s Office to investigate: a federal magistrate judge, FBI agents, a federal bankruptcy judge, a local charity and a credit union, according to the lawsuit.
Though criminal investigators concluded “no credible evidence existed” to warrant state charges, Paxton pressed on and eventually hired an outside lawyer to oversee an investigation, which has since collapsed amid the controversy.
The lawsuit doesn’t just give more detail about the accusations that have already been reported. It also provides fresh allegations about Paxton’s abuse of his power to make rulings in disputes over the release of government records — once again to benefit Paul.
Though the Attorney General’s Office makes rulings in up to 40,000 open records disputes each year, the whistleblowers say they are “only aware of Paxton taking a personal interest in decisions that relate to Paul.”
In one instance involving records that Paul was seeking from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Paxton “personally took the file,” which included records sealed by a federal court, and “did not return it for approximately seven to ten days.”
In other open records cases involving Paul he told his deputies what conclusion he wanted them to reach even if it was unsupported by the law, according to the lawsuit.
All of the whistleblowers either resigned, were fired or have been put on leave, and the four who filed a lawsuit in Travis County this week say theywere subjected to illegal retaliation by the Attorney General’s Office.
The plaintiffs include Blake Brickman, former deputy attorney general for policy and strategy initiatives, David Maxwell, former director of the Law Enforcement Division of the attorney general’s office, J. Mark Penley, former deputy attorney general for criminal justice, and Ryan Vassar, deputy attorney general for legal counsel.
They allege that Paxton violated whistleblower laws designed to protect public employees who in good faith report illegal conduct by government officials. Besides direct retaliation in their jobs, they say Paxton “falsely smeared the whistleblowers publicly in the manner calculated to harm them most, threatened them, tired to intimidate them, and engaged in all manner of retaliation ranging from serious to petty to pathetic.”
The lawsuit and others that may follow over Paxton’s alleged whistleblower retaliation could subject the state to millions of dollars in liability.
The whistleblowers who sued the Attorney General’s Office this week are seeking actual damages, such as lost wages and benefits, future earnings and harm to their reputations. It also asks for punitive damages, which can reach hit up to $250,000 per person, plus legal fees.