On July 17th, 2015 Craig McDonald and Andrew Wheat published a commentary in the Austin American Statesman. This article, titled “Ken Paxton Should Step Down,” argues for just that. McDonald and Wheat do a wonderful job of writing to a broad audience, but do seem to cater to a slightly left demographic when they say “those who still believe that he is the best Republican for the job are under the influence of a tea party strange brew.” McDonald and Wheat are the executive director and research director respectively of a non-profit organization called Texans for Public Justice. TPJ aims to “take on political corruption and corporate abuses in Texas,” according to their website. Their argument for Paxton stepping down is completely logical, and this article presents a laundry list of ethical and legal issues in Paxton’s career thus far that leads them to this conclusion. Included in these issues are his pending felony charge(s), his invitation for country clerks to ignore the SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriages, and his caught-on-camera theft of a $1000 pen (a class A misdemeanor in itself). These alone would be enough to convince most, but McDonald and Wheat continue. They site his “amassed stakes in dozens of businesses” and his leveraging of legislation surrounding these businesses in his own monetary favor. Any of these issues alone would be enough for an individual to question Paxton’s character. McDonald and Wheat stitch them together all in one place to make it obvious that he is unfit to serve as Attorney General. The article has an angry tone, but I believe this is reasonable given the circumstances. McDonald and Wheat wrap up the article with a bit of vitriol, stating that “Ken Paxton has become a lampooned pox on Texas.” However, it is clear to me that this anger comes from a place of genuine concern for the Texas people, and I agree with them whole-heartedly.
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