Indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton is responsible for enforcing the state’s open records laws. But recently, the Travis County district attorney informed Paxton he had violated the very laws he is sworn to protect.
This is specific to Paxton’s failure to maintain or release communications tied to his presence at the “Save America Rally” on Jan. 6 that led to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
We’ve long argued these records are important because they might inform the public about Paxton’s communications as the insurrection unfolded, whom he was in contact with about speaking at the rally and any taxpayer expenses for this trip. Paxton is a public servant.
Some background:
Early last year, journalists with the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News made several requests for Paxton’s work-related emails and text messages during the time around the insurrection, but Paxton’s office refused to release these communications.
In March, a coalition of Texas media outlets began working together to obtain the documents and review Paxton’s open records practices. They published a story that month raising questions about the failure to release public information.
This month, top editors at the Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News filed a complaint asking the district attorney to investigate the alleged violations.
Jackie Wood, the director of public integrity and complex crimes with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office., informed Paxton via letter Jan. 13 that he broke Texas law by not properly responding to the public information requests.
So, here we are.
Paxton is an embattled politician, and the insurrection is a stain on our nation. Paxton sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election with a lawsuit calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate results from swing states that Democrat Joe Biden won. The case went nowhere. But that did not stop him from touting the lawsuit — aptly described as “garbage” by one elections law expert — at the Jan. 6 rally.
“What we have in President Trump is a fighter,” Paxton told the crowd. “And I think that’s why we’re all here. We will not quit fighting. We’re Texans, we’re Americans, and the fight will go on.”
Paxton’s words are clear, and his actions to veil his communications from that trip speak loudly. The public deserves to know what he said in his other communications.
We look at this saga through two lenses.
First, these are big, national concerns. The Big Lie of voter fraud looms over the 2022 midterms, and Paxton has played a consequential role in pushing this falsehood.
But more narrowly, this also needs to be viewed in the simple terms of open government: Paxton is a public official. Public records don’t belong to him. They belong to the public. To withhold or not properly maintain public records is to have disdain for those one serves.
Bravo to the coalition of editors and the Travis County district attorney for shining a light to help the public better understand Jan. 6 and Paxton’s role in that tragic day.
San Antonio Express-News
