August 16, 2018      6:53 PM

TEC Says It Still Cannot Trust Paxton To Defend Agency, Makes Big Budget Request For Outside Lawyers

With Paxton’s office refusing to get involved in Empower Texans cases, lawmakers could essentially hobble the regulator in its ongoing beef with the nonprofit by cutting off funding for outside lawyers

The Texas Ethics Commission is asking budget writers for a new round of cash to pay for outside lawyers because Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has declined to defend the state agency in a seemingly endless series of lawsuits involving Empower Texans.

Paxton’s roster of lawyers in the attorney general’s office has withdrawn as counsel from every lawsuit in which it once represented the state’s campaign finance regulator against the state’s most prominent conservative nonprofit. Those cases all stem from two high-profile investigations into Empower Texans and its president, Michael Quinn Sullivan — and now include attempts by the group to gut the commission’s legal authority.

By David Saleh Rauf

Copyright August 16, 2018, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved