Austin at Large: Democracy by Other Means

In early 2021, Greg Abbott, the last professional and competent Texas attorney general, could still – if you squint – look like someone who'd have a good influence on Ken Paxton. Since then, it's become clear that the reverse is true, and our feckless A.G. has become an unwise role model for Abbott and all of state government. (Art by Zeke Barbaro. Photos by John Anderson / Jana Birchum / Getty Images.)

In our first issue of last year, Kevin Curtin and I published our long-gestating recap of the curious relationship between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and financially challenged real estate tycoon Nate Paul, whose World Class property empire was coming unraveled in ways that prompted the unprecedented direct personal involvement of the A.G. in things that should not at all be his or the state's business. It was Nate Paul's home and office that were raided by the FBI in 2019, which the bureau then followed up in late 2020 with a subpoena-clad visit to Paxton's Downtown offices. By that point, his entire executive team had invoked the state Whistleblower Act, accused Paxton of being bribed by Paul to abuse his powers, and left or been pushed out. Paul conjured up a theory in which World Class was being undone by a conspiracy led by the guy who owns Austin's Mercedes-Benz dealer, who (like Paul) is a political contributor to Paxton, and whom Pax­ton then accused of threatening his life. Even for Texas state government, this is weird sh*t. It took Kevin and I more than 4,000 words just to detail the winding paths Paxton and Paul had taken to the place where they fatefully intersected – which is still vague, but likely involved a quid pro quo where Paxton would use his powers to help Paul, and Paul would hire the Senate staffer with whom Paxton had been having an affair to get her out of the pink dome. (Paxton's wife is also a member of the Texas Senate.) But we felt like we needed to write down everything we knew and could confirm, because surely Paxton's ticket to (another) felony criminal case was about to be punched any minute, and failing that he might just straight-up get impeached by the Legislature. (That works just like it does at the federal level – the House charges, the Senate convicts.)

And Then It Was January 6

As we were going to press with that very issue, Paxton was in D.C. cheering on the mob that would ransack the U.S. Capitol and try to kill members of Congress to stop Joe Biden from becoming president. And suddenly Paxton's small-time corruptions and infidelities seemed worthy of putting on the back burner, as the future of American democracy was at stake. So everyone got distracted for a while, and the endless 87th Legislature stretched its work through summer quorum breaks and into the fall redistricting session, and then suddenly it was the November filing deadline for Texas' absurdly early March primary, and Ken Paxton was still attorney general.

"Don't worry," the people who still care about Texas state government's basic functional competence were told, "we'll get rid of him in the primary." When the leading contender for that job proved to be the not-as-sleazy but every-bit-as-hapless George P. Bush, the GOP Grownup Caucus splintered its vote, letting Paxton's core constituency of MAGA Christofascists (which he shares with fellow crusaders Dan Patrick and Sid Miller) push him through. Fast-forward to the election in 32 days, where nobody thinks Paxton is in any danger of losing even though he is a selfish, deranged moron last seen fleeing from a subpoena in an abortion case, because Democratic nominee Rochelle Garza has about nine bucks in her campaign account, and Paxton has millions. Maybe in January, the new Legislature will finally see its way toward impeachment.

After months and months without much reporting to check in on ol' Kenery the Chicken Hawk, the Associated Press ran a piece last week confirming that yes, the A.G.'s Office remains wheels up in a ditch, making incredibly stupid and offensive choices and errors, as it's clear that no lawyer with any pride or interest in a good reputation would ever go near the place. This has left some of the state's centrist thought leaders very sad, as they realize that their own reticence to cross the MAGA trolls and hold Paxton accountable earlier means we're likely stuck with him, just as their own reluctance to view Beto O'Rourke as more than a figure of fun means Greg Abbott will be reelected governor even though his tenure has been a disaster by almost any reading of the evidence.

Just as war is the continuation of politics with added means of persuasion (the real gist of the famed Clausewitz quote), we should start reflecting on what strategies of noncompliance, disobedience, resistance, or abstention we as progressives and as the oppressed people of Texas intend to pursue. What can we do to "persuade" our benighted MAGA neighbors that democracy – the empowering of people to shape decisions about their collective future as a society and body politic – is going to survive and thrive after they are dead and forgotten and their golf courses sown with salt? I realize that our normal vibe is to sit around and mope and fret that democracy won't survive, because we don't trust ourselves or each other to rise to this challenge, but I think that's too defeatist. What can you do to make Ken Paxton's life hell? It's your democratic duty to decide and to act.