Some in Texas House balk at paying AG settlement

AUSTIN, Texas — A fight is brewing over whether the GOP- led Legislature will fund a $3.3 million settlement that Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office struck with a group of whistleblowers.

Earlier this month, Paxton’s agency agreed to pay the money to four former top aides who alleged in a lawsuit that they faced retaliation after accusing Paxton of serious crimes. But the deal is now facing pushback from some lawmakers, most notably House Speaker Dade Phelan, who said it’s “not a proper use of taxpayer dollars.”

“I don’t anticipate that $3.3 million being in the House budget,” Phelan, R- Beaumont, told CBS DFW last week. “Mr. Paxton is going to have to come to the Texas House. He’s going to have to appear before the Appropriations Committee and make a case to that committee as to why that is a proper use of taxpayer dollars.”

If the Legislature refuses to fund the settlement, the litigation that began in late 2020 will likely continue.

Phelan is the highest ranking state official to weigh in on the matter. Other GOP House members have voiced uncertainty about paying the settlement, saying they want more information.

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Friday, lawyers for the whistleblowers urged lawmakers to fund the agreement and said doing otherwise would send a bad message. In the written statement, they said their clients “courageously reported what they believed to be corruption,” and as a result “were unjustly fired from their jobs.”

“State employees cannot be expected to report government corruption in the future if they know the Legislature won’t back their rights under the statute it passed for the very purpose of protecting them,” the statement said.

Paxton did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. In previous statements, Paxton has said the agency settled the lawsuit to “save taxpayer dollars” and because he wouldn’t get a fair shake in “super liberal” Travis County courts.

Paxton’s agency has already paid private lawyers more than $463,000 to work on the case.

The whistleblowers are former Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Mark Penley, former Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel Ryan Vassar, former Deputy Attorney General for Policy and Strategic Initiatives James “Blake” Brickman and former Director of Law Enforcement David Maxwell.

They were among a group of senior employees who accused the attorney general in late 2020 of abusing his office to help a campaign donor.

After being fired, the four employees filed a whistleblower suit against the attorney general’s office.

The FBI also opened an investigation into the allegations against Paxton. It was recently taken over by Justice Department officials in Washington, according to The Associated Press.

Paxton has broadly denied wrongdoing. Reelected to a third term last year, the Republican has cast the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt against him.

The $3.3 million payment is only one aspect of the settlement agreement, which also says Paxton will apologize to the whistleblowers for calling them “rogue employees.”

His agency also will delete a news release criticizing the whistleblowers, and the final settlement agreement will include a line that states: “Paxton accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right.”

The document states that entering into a settlement means there is no admission of “liability or fault” by any party.