Ken Paxton has good reason to celebrate. The indicted state attorney general who still faces two counts of securities fraud (both felonies with a potential 99-year sentence) and an ongoing FBI investigation was recently acquitted on 16 articles of impeachment by the Texas Senate. Only two Republicans (Bob Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills) voted to convict the demonstrably corrupt idiot on any article.
The most serious allegations before the senate involved a 2020 incident when eight of Paxton’s top deputies reported that he abused his power. The FBI, which fielded the criminal complaints, is looking into allegations that Paxton misused his office to aid Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, a close friend and political donor to Paxton, by helping Paul investigate perceived enemies and delay foreclosures, among other accusations. Testimony during the impeachment trial alleged Paul paid for renovations to Paxton’s home to enjoy favors from the AG’s office.
Even with his narrow escape from impeachment, Texas’ top law enforcement official still faces disbarment for abusing his office when he filed frivolous lawsuits to overturn the resounding victory of President Joe Biden in 2020. Disgraced former president Donald Trump is looking at several dozen felony charges for allegedly hiding confidential government documents, falsifying business records to hide an affair with a porn star, and inciting a mob to overthrow the U.S. government, and like Paxton, the senile, obese stain on humanity may have some serious jail time in his future. Unlike the sycophantic Texas Senate, real juries consist of everyday Americans.
Courtesy Facebook
While a saner political party might question why their top current and former elected officials continually face felony indictments, Freedumb Caucus Republicans are moving forward with not an impeachment proceeding but a weak impeachment “hearing” on the president. Without any evidence, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy seeks to tie son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings to Papa Joe. It’s murky stuff that only self-diluted right-wingers seem to buy into or care about. Republican officials are masters of projecting their awful beliefs and actions onto Democrats, whether it’s McCarthy’s “Hey, look over there!” antics as the former guy inches closer to an 8-by-8 prison cell or our horrible county judge’s peddling of CRT bullshit painting liberals as the racists in the room.
Closer to home, elected GOP officials are also working to skirt accountability by collectively deleting their social media. A search of the campaign websites of family court judges Beth Poulos (PoulosforJudge.com), Baca Bennett (ReelectJudgeBennett.com), Jesse Nevarez (JudgeJesse.com), and James Munford (MunfordforJudge.com) reveals links to once-active Facebook pages with notifications that the content has been pulled. The family court judges may be shitting their black robes ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of said judges blocking the public from viewing their official social media pages. At issue are First Amendment privileges afforded to folks who reply to the pages of political candidates and elected officials.
Courtesy Facebook
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently ruled that comments made on the social media accounts of elected officials are protected under the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently agreed to settle the matter sometime later this year of whether Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and similar apps are protected public forums or private accounts managed by elected officials.
Our contemptible family-court judges are also blocking constituents, and they’re not the only ones. Local YouTuber Cody Highroller alleges Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker blocked him from her public profile, and earlier this year, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office cut off public comments across three social media platforms: Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Elected officials blocking individuals on social media could expose the city or county to costly civil rights lawsuits. The New York Times described one U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that further connects access to public officials’ social media platforms as protected under the U.S. Constitution. The case deals with two California school board members who created social media accounts to promote their campaigns and then to communicate with constituents. The elected officials blocked two parents who made critical comments. The parents sued and won.
Speaking on the unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Marsha S. Berzon wrote, “We have little doubt that social media will continue to play an essential role in hosting public debate and facilitating the free expression that lies at the heart of the First Amendment. When state actors enter that virtual world and invoke their government status to create a forum for such expression, the First Amendment enters with them.”
Tarrant County officials, especially in our family courts, have come under increased public and media scrutiny as locals learn to scour social media pages to connect elected leaders with influential powerbrokers and crooked attorneys. For all its faults, apps like Facebook, X, and Instagram provide a reliably honest account of who our elected leaders mingle with and when. It’s a resource that makes elected leaders accessible to their voters and the opposition. The recent decision by several Tarrant County judges to delete that chain of accountability is especially troubling at a time when our state’s top law enforcement official is once again free to use government resources to retaliate against perceived enemies.
There are few motivators to force our elected officials to obey the law and U.S. Constitution when voters consistently reward such unlawful and petty behavior with reelections.
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
