Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dade Phelan issued a forceful statement today after a group of 16 Senators from his own party banded together to acquit AG Ken Paxton of impeachment.
The Paxton impeachment has set off a civil war in the Texas GOP, with Members of both houses of the legislature attacking each other. The battle cry of those backing Paxton was that they were going to "End the Bush Era" in Texas politics with an acquittal. This derisively refers to the establishment Republicans who had been aligned with the Bush family in the past like Phelan.
Phelan started his statement condemning Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for presiding over the trial in a biased fashion in favor of Paxton:
"After weeks of claiming he would preside over this trial in an impartial and honest manner, Lt. Gov Patrick would conclude by confessing his bias and placing his contempt for the People's House on full display. Patrick attacked the House for standing up against corruption ... The inescapable conclusion is that today's outcome appears to have been orchestrated from the start."
Phelan then condemned Paxton's corruption and praised the "conservative" members of his office who came forward as whistleblowers to testify against their boss.
He concluded by noting that this isn't the end of the line for Paxton, noting that he still "is the subject of multiple other lawsuits, indictments and investigations," which include federal and state courts as well as the Texas Bar.
If the state bar removes Paxton’s license, he’s out of office. You can’t represent the State of Texas in court without a law license. That would be poetic justice.
Nice job, Texas lege. Really. Next time, just set up a big tent and bring on the Kilgore Rangerettes.
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