A lack of lawmaker support jeopardizes the attorney general’s $3.3 million settlement, which would resolve a lawsuit alleging Paxton fired high-ranking deputies who accused him of misconduct.
, a Beaumont Republican, said he does not support the use of taxpayer money to settle the lawsuit.
Adrian Shelley, the group’s Texas director, said public dollars should not go toward bailing Paxton out of legal trouble. Paxton, he said, should be held accountable and pay the settlement out of his own funds, not the state’s. Chris Hilton, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, told lawmakers the same thing during a committee hearing in February, when Paxton was asked if he’d be willing to pay the settlement out of his campaign fund.
“The Act encourages public employees to report criminal activity by providing a safety net if their employer retaliates against them,” Turner said in a statement. “If the legislature refuses to approve the settlement, it will be sending a strong message to future public employees who consider reporting public corruption: don’t bother. You’re on your own.”
In November 2020, four of those employees — Maxwell, Blake Brickman, Mark Penley and Ryan Vassar — filed a whistleblower lawsuit arguing they had been fired for reporting the alleged crimes.
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