Tarrant County GOP’s upcoming vote to condemn Paxton’s impeachment is just plain silly | Opinion

When Texans choose to be loyal to one politician over party, over proof, over common sense, it’s not a good look for anyone, but especially those in local politics.

The Tarrant County Republican Party announced that precinct chairs will vote Thursday on whether to condemn the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is awaiting trial in the Senate.

The proposed resolution lists several reasons, most of which are about the process of impeachment, not the charges against Paxton in particular. One is that “Paxton was given no opportunity to speak to the committee or the House nor an opportunity to present evidence.”

The Parker and Williamson county Republican parties appear to have already voted on similar resolutions.

A few weeks ago, a team of investigators reported to a House committee their findings that Paxton used the attorney general’s office for political and personal gain, including to aid a high-profile donor, Nate Paul. Testimony from over a dozen people and a bevy of documents compelled the committee to vote unanimously to recommend that the House impeach the attorney general.

In the end, the vote was 123-23, historic margins of nearly equal Democrats and Republicans voting for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial. He’s now been suspended from duties as he awaits trial to be held in Austin some time this summer.

Offering, as a local Republican Party, complete fealty to Paxton when even the precinct chairs themselves haven’t been made privy to all the evidence and witness statements against him shows just the kind of mindset that has allowed Paxton to remain in office, while abusing it for personal gain, for so many years.

How are they so certain they want to condemn the impeachment? Just because Paxton is a Republican? Do these precinct chairs actually think they know more than the entire House committee of Republicans and Democrats who voted for the articles of impeachment? This seems unnecessarily and devastatingly blind to the rule of law.

A closer look shows that there has not been anything unusual about the process of determining articles of impeachment against Paxton. He has had a long leash for many years. He’s been under state and federal scrutiny. The team that investigated Paxton appears to have done so slowly and methodically, or else they’ve brought charges against him that probably would not have held up to any scrutiny. How many times must we say that either everyone the team investigated is lying or Paxton and a handful of his most loyal aides are?

A meeting to condemn a process that is out of the Tarrant County GOP’s hands seems like a waste of time and a perfect demonstration of how distracted local party politics have become. They should be registering and turning out voters, recruiting candidates and raising money. Now, they’re too busy fighting their own.

The condemnation signifies nothing to the Paxton impeachment process in that it doesn’t help him, but it may continue to sow seeds of distrust in the process in which many Republican House members participated. All for what?

The purpose of having a local party isn’t to stand by members of that party no matter what. At some point, as we’d like to see with Donald Trump, party loyalty must end. Not because the people can’t be loyal but because the politician in question no longer deserves it. Ken Paxton appears to be such a person.

Tarrant County Republicans, like the rest of us, should observe the trial, look at the evidence presented and decide if Paxton can remain in office. If not, the local party should stand up for what is right, even if it means going against an elected official whom members have supported.

Sometimes, people are not who they seem and they are not what we’d hoped they would be. Acknowledging it is the first step toward electing someone with better character.

This story was originally published June 14, 2023 at 2:25 PM.