AG Paxton Should Resign (Or Turn Duties Over To Others)

The photo at left is the "mug shot" (aka, booking photo) of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He has been charged, indicted, and arrested on felony charges that could get him many years in prison. Republicans want us to believe these charges are politically-motivated, but that is ridiculous. The investigation of Paxton was done by the Texas Rangers (the most respected law enforcement officials in the state).

Personally, I think Paxton should resign his position as Attorney General -- or at the very least, turn his duties over to others and stay away from the office until his charges are adjudicated. How can he possibly uphold his duty as the chief law enforcement officer in the state, when he has been charged with breaking the law himself?

I find myself in agreement with the traditionally conservative editorial staff of the Dallas Morning News. They wrote:

Monday’s arrest of Attorney General Ken Paxton on three felony charges underscores that the judicial process is working exactly as it should. A Collin County grand jury’s indictment of the state’s top law enforcement officer is neither a declaration of guilt or innocence but rather a statement that enough evidence exists to argue the case in court.

Paxton deserves the same presumption of innocence as any other citizen, even if he already has admitted the 2012 violation of state securities law that undergirds one of the three charges. The far more serious two additional charges, of failing to disclose to clients that he was making a commission off their investments, adds significant heft to the case. Prison time is possible.

It’s against this backdrop that we urge Paxton to put the integrity of his office first. The state’s top law enforcement officer is required to defend the laws and state Constitution. He now stands charged as a violator of the very laws he’s sworn to uphold.

Paxton in 2003 voted to stiffen Texas law so that failure to register as an investment agent constitutes a felony. Ignorance of the law is never a valid excuse, but especially not when the admitted violator helped pass the law.

If Paxton isn’t considering resignation, he should at least delegate major prosecutorial decisions to senior assistants. Morale among a staff of dedicated legal officers cannot help but suffer under the cloud over their boss. Besides, Paxton’s priorities now focus on his own defense, which further underscores the need to delegate his official duties.

Many Paxton defenders have dismissed the hoopla leading to Monday’s arrest as part of a Democrat-led political witch hunt against the staunchly conservative Republican attorney general. The trajectory of this case suggests otherwise, however.

It is true that Texans for Public Justice, a liberal nonprofit in Austin, spearheaded the case against Paxton. But once a formal investigation began, the process was stripped of political bent.

The lead investigative agency was the Texas Rangers. And the grand jury that weighed the case and opted for indictment came from Collin County, one of the state’s most solidly conservative districts. These are Paxton’s peers, chosen from among those he represented as a state representative and senator in the decade before becoming attorney general.

Paxton is the last person who should be surprised by these charges. Ahead of his election last year, newspapers around the state warned that the legal questions surrounding his securities work could come back to haunt him. That helped form the basis of this newspaper's decision not to recommend him in the primary, runoff or general election.

But voters had the final call, and they overwhelmingly supported him; that’s how the democratic process is supposed to work. Now it’s time for the judicial process to do likewise.