Ken Paxton’s Impeachment Trial

Why contribute to an office if you can buy it?

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been dodging accusations of malfeasance for years, but now they might be catching up with him. Kevin Williamson is joined by Kel Seliger, seasoned Texas politician, about whether or not these charges will hold and the GOP mutiny taking place in the lone star state.

Show Notes:

-Kel Seliger’s biography

-Oprah sued for defamation in Amarillo

-Food libel laws

-Kevin’s article on Paxton impeachment

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Comments (17)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    I’m with Kevin on that stuff at the end. I don’t think it’s cynical, just realistic.

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    Chevesl

    Good listen. He sounds like the type of GOPers who ran Texas when I came here in ‘09. Now he’s considered a LIB SOCIALIST TRAITOR because he’s not insane.

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    Christian Townsend

    This guy was brought on to talk about the impeachment and instead, he rails against school choice and in favor of local land-use restrictions? Weird (and unconservative) takes. And if he thinks that someone giving money to some means they are bought and paid for, then I guess all of his opinions are simply based on the $100,000 he received from the Texas Realtors Association and the $10,000 he received from the Texas teacher's unions. It's frustrating because the Paxton impeachment is really important and interesting, but this guest was too busy venting his own personal vendettas.

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    Mary

    Thank you. Enjoyed this

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    Wmnealwright

    For those familiar with Texas impeachment law, is Mr Seliger correct by the letter of the law that certain offenses are impeachable but others aren't? Or is he applying his personal yardstick?

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    1. ErrantThoughts

      I think Seliger was being a bit disingenuous. Even if Texas made impeachment and not a political act Paxton has been charged with multiple crimes. He talks about Paxton being unfaith to his wife while not talking about the three felony charges that have been outstanding since 2015 and that Paxton has so far evaded standing trial on.

      It felt like Seliger wanted to avoid talking about the overall corruption in Texas so he could focus only on the corruption that affected or annoyed him.

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        Wmnealwright

        There was something fishy about Seliger. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it felt like he was dancing around a few things that made him uncomfortable.

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  6. Beckybaskinferguson

    Thrilled to hear the interview with Kel Seliger. He understands more than anyone the twisted state in which Texas finds itself. And “Russian Oligarch” is not too extreme a description of the monied interests who are pulling the strings with state office holders. I would love to be wrong - really love it - but I fear GOP senators will be too afraid to convict Ken Paxton. They saw what happened to Kel when he veered just slightly from the wishes of the oligarchs.

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    Tracie

    Pundits are naturally more cynical than people optimistic enough about their fellow man to put themselves out there to run for office.

    It like there's two kinds of people talking politics through my earbuds lately: cynics and doomsayers. Thank you for giving us some reasonable "content" on a Sunday (the first day of my personal weekend) that doesn't involve all the sound bites and truncated stump speeches that the Sunday shows are giving us in campaign season.

    Next road trip, think I'm gonna see if that empty Texas Gold Depository is worth a detour. I'm guessing it's in the desert.

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    Pastorfbt

    This is great stuff. But KDW has worse audio than Steve, if one would have thought that possible.

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      Dave in Houston

      It sounded like he was broadcasting from his bathroom.

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      Tracie

      Funny, I didn't notice. Just sounded like a Texas accent to me.

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  9. ErrantThoughts

    Paxton was indicted on felony charges in 2015 so let's not pretend anyone cares if he has been faithful to his wife. To this day Paxton has avoided facing trial on these felony charges which is outrageous. If Texas Republicans really cared about integrity it wouldn't have taken the better part of a decade for Paxton to be removed.

    Paxton is a crook but the Texas GOP seemed happy with him as long as he was useful to the Republicans.

    The most informative thing out of this very partisan slanted cast was the information about Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's son, Ryan Patrick. It seems very possible that Paxton knew Dan Patrick was going to try to replace him with Ryan Patrick and that's why Paxton went after Dan Patrick with accusations of being drunk during session. It was the best chance Paxton had to keep his job and continue to avoid justice over his felony charges.

    It failed and now the writing is on the wall. Paxton will be out and his felony trial will proceed. At the next election Ryan Patrick will be a candidate and if the Republican party has its will Ryan Patrick will be the next Texas AG. Because merit matters.

    I didn't appreciate how the cast tried to say Dems have power in Texas and then just a minute later admit no Dem has won Statewide office since 1994. Let's be honest Texas is run by the Republicans and has been for decades. I agree that kind of control breeds corruption. Paxton, Dan Patrick, and Ryan Patrick are fine examples of that corruption. And they hypocrisy over merit we hear every time a Dem nominates a person of color to the judiciary.

    The people of Texas need two viable parties and until they do they will have to live with the obvious hypocrisy of their officer holders, and their own.

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      Dave in Houston

      1. This isn't about being unfaithful to his wife, at least on the impeachment level; rather, it's about having his donor buddy pay off his sex buddy in return for favors from the Attorney General's office.

      2. The Paxton supporters really don't care what he does, whether in terms of morality or legality.

      3. Despite the Republicans holding every statewide office and control of both Houses, the Texas Legislature has a long history of having both Republicans and Democrats having chairmanships in the legislature. That's what he was saying. In fact, the more MAGA-esque Republicans claim that the Democrats control the entire thing, which is silly but, well, they also support a corrupt AG. Also, there aren't enough Republicans to convict on their own.

      4. There is actually a pretty large conservative opposition to school choice in Texas, based on the concern that once the money starts flowing, then the government would take more and more control over the curriculum and policies (kind of like colleges refusing to accept federal loans to avoid regulation).

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      1. ErrantThoughts

        "This isn't about being unfaithful to his wife"

        1. I agree I was surprised that Kel Seliger brought it up. Seliger also seemed to want to make people think Paxton's securities charges from 2015 had been settled when they are still waiting to go on trial. These were two very odd parts of the interview. I felt Seliger was trying to diminish the outright corruption Paxton had been
        showing since 2015 but the legislature ignored until recently.

        2. I agree.

        3. Republicans hold a two-thirds majority in the Texas senate and are only 4 seats short of it in the Texas house. Republicans hold all the power, if they give Dems a seat at the table from time to time Republicans know they still control things and can shut down anything they don't like whenever they like. The real political fight in Texas is between far far right and far right.

        I will say that last redistricting my understanding is that Texas Republicans sought to protect seats they had rather than gain new seats. This may mean Texas Republicans think they are at or nearing a tipping point where they could start to lose seats if the influx of moderates and democrats continue.

        4. Gov. Abbott in his Feb. 2023 State of the State said school choice was one of his highest priorities this session. Abbot wants to "let parents use tax dollars to send their kids to schools outside the traditional public education system." Currently Texas residents can use existing vouchers for religious schools. One thing I agree with Seliger on is that these Christians aren't for freedom of religion they are for domination by their religion. They would be for putting crosses in every class room but against kids doing yoga in p.e. as they see yoga as representing a non Christian religion.

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    2. Beckybaskinferguson

      Paxton accused the speaker of the Texas house of drunkenness - not Dan Patrick.

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      1. ErrantThoughts

        Bah you're right. They all look so alike in those big hats.

        Thank you.

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