Paxton's Acquittal Has Nothing to Do With Justice--and Everything With Money

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Paxton won due to campaign contributions and his financial backers,

Link to tweet

https://www.thedailybeast.com/paxtons-acquittal-has-nothing-to-do-with-justiceand-everything-with-money

Kudos to Paxton’s lawyers, but he’s back in office thanks largely to a multi-million dollar juror intimidation campaign paid for by Defend Texas Liberty, a Texas campaign PAC funded largely by oil and gas millionaires Tim Dunn and Faris Wilks.

Dunn and Wilks, through their PAC, made generous contributions to decision-makers, paid for old-school mailers and billboards to intimidate rural Texas senators sitting as jurors in the Texas Senate Court of Impeachment, and set aside a handsome budget to pay $50 a tweet to eligible social media trolls who tweeted or posted pro-Paxton propaganda. It was common in the weeks leading up to and during the two-week trial to see hundreds of freshly enrolled members of the X community (with fewer than ten followers) who robustly defended their martyred MAGA attorney general.

Presiding Judge Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (he’s neither a lawyer nor a judge) collected a $1 million dollar campaign contribution and a $2 million forgivable loan from Defend Texas Liberty back in June before the trial, and inquiring minds want to know what the loan terms are. Whatever the terms, one thing is for sure: If the campaign contribution was made by its donors to encourage a certain outcome, and to advertise the power of their purse for any senators who stray off script, the contributions seem to have had the desired effect.,,,,

The Texas Senate’s vote today sends a different message: “Facts, conscience and doing the right thing don’t matter. Power and money are all you need to win.”

There are politicians who make their political careers about personal power and enrichment, and they’ll be damned if anyone is going to knock them off their throne. These people make life miserable for many, dividing the people, while making money off the experience. That description fits Paxton, the disgraced MAGA martyr, and now freshly-restored-to-power Texas Attorney General.

There is polling that shows that if Joe Jaworski was the Democratic candidate for AG, Paxton would had lost.

[flying_wahini]

1. Republicans in Texas have pea sized brains so this will forgotten in a couple of weeks.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. For this thread

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Pro-Paxton group gives $3 million to impeachment trial judge Dan Patrick

Dan Patrick was bribed before the trial

Link to tweet

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/18/ken-paxton-impeachment-dan-patrick/

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, received $3 million in campaign support last month from a top group campaigning against Paxton’s impeachment.

In a campaign-finance report published Tuesday, Patrick — who is not up for reelection until 2026 — reported a $1 million contribution and a $2 million loan from Defend Texas Liberty PAC. The political action committee was by far his biggest benefactor on the report, which covered Patrick’s fundraising from June 19-30. It was the first opportunity state officials had to fundraise since the House impeached Paxton in late May.

Patrick’s Senate has scheduled a trial to begin Sept. 5 to determine whether to permanently remove Paxton from office. Patrick has been acting as presiding officer of the trial — effectively the judge — and the fundraising period partially overlapped with the Senate’s deliberations over the trial rules. The chamber approved the rules June 21.

The news of the PAC's financial support came the day after Patrick followed through on a requirement in the rules and issued a sweeping gag order on all parties involved in the trial.