Public information
Public information
The Texas Public Information Act passed in 1973 enabled Texans to shine a light on government, from everyday business to corrupt dealing. But ever since its passage, the Texas Legislature and government officials have chipped away at the law with new exceptions.
During the pandemic, state and local government didn’t always provide stable ways for the public to hear meetings remotely. Public officials, meanwhile, relied on prior opinions from the attorney general’s office to deny public information requests, even when the requests and the prior opinions didn’t clearly align.
Public information requests are crucial to public access to information about local government, whether that’s zoning in a specific area or how money is being spent by a school district. But bureaucrats and politicians are too often devoted to skirting or undermining the law.
The Sunshine Coalition, an umbrella group including politically diverse public policy advocates from the Texas Public Policy Foundation to the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, is advocating for a number of bills this session that aim to strengthen open government.
That includes two bills filed by state Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, that aim to restore the law’s intention and address new workarounds.
Ken Paxton
The reality is that (Texas Attorney General Ken) Paxton … has been under indictment for more than seven years for securities fraud (and) is being sued by the Texas state bar for professional misconduct. The reality is he fled his home last year to avoid being served a subpoena in a federal lawsuit by groups seeking to help Texans receive out-of-state-abortions.
This (whistleblower) settlement is the closest Paxton has come to being held accountable for his repeated questionable behavior while serving as Texas’ top law enforcement official. And it still doesn’t remove the two counts of security fraud and one count of failing to register as a securities adviser, which, presumably and eventually, he must answer for in court.
Nor is this settlement finalized. Because the $3.3 million would come from state funds — i.e., taxpayers — it is contingent on approval by the Legislature. The chairman of the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach has rightly expressed concern that “hardworking taxpayers might be on the hook for this settlement between the attorney general and former employees.”
If the settlement is approved and paid for, it will include a statement that neither side admits fault or accepts liability in the case.
Whatever happens, we know and are affirmed that Paxton is sorry. Truly sorry.
Voter fraud
The attorney general can’t find it. The secretary of state had no luck, either. Even people so sure elections are crooked that they spent their own time poring through Tarrant County ballots came away with nothing.
But here we go again: Tarrant County’s top elected officials announced they’re forming a special unit to investigate voter fraud. Prosecutors under District Attorney Phil Sorrells and investigators and deputies from the office of Sheriff Bill Waybourn will add the work to their current duties, the Republican leaders said.
Give County Judge Tim O’Hare and the others credit for following through on campaign promises, we suppose. O’Hare won the GOP nomination and general election last year pledging to create an election monitor position. This arrangement, he said, “is even better.” Sorrells and Waybourn have frequently vowed to fight fraud, too.
But it’s a political pursuit more than a legal or investigative priority. The judge, sheriff and DA aren’t the first Republicans to indulge their base voters’ irrational belief that every election is tainted and some outright stolen. And they won’t be the last.
O’Hare pledged that the new arrangement wouldn’t have an appreciable cost to taxpayers because current employees will merely take on the additional work. The reality is, though, that something else won’t get done as a result, especially if the bosses make this a priority.