Paxton Probe Could Be Springboard for 2022
Battle with Governor Who'd Be Easy Target

Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside
February 27, 2021

The Texas power crash has given Attorney General Ken Paxton a major weapon to use in a potential bid for the state's top job in 2022 with an investigation that could make it possible to hang the disaster on Governor Greg Abbott and state regulators who answer to him.

But Paxton showed off his biggest potential asset in the event of a gubernatorial quest with a photo that he posted on social media on Saturday with Donald Trump posing with him at a golf course in the Sunshine State at a visit to the ex-president's home on the way to the Conservative Political Action Conference. .

“Beautiful day in Mar-a-Lago with my favorite President," Paxton said in a tweet this morning. “Headed to @CPAC next. Can’t wait to see everyone!”

While Trump is holding a club and Paxton is decked golf shorts, the Texas AG didn't seem to have time for a duel on the links before the trip to Orlando where he tweeted from CPAC less than three hours later after the photo op in West Palm Beach. Paxton appeared to gain admission to Trump's inner circle with the lawsuit that he filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in December in an attempt to overturn the democratic American on Trump's behalf.

Trump sculpture inspires CPAC awe

 

 

Paxton announced the probe into the Texas disaster on the same day during the freeze when he met with his counterpart in Utah in connection with a multi-state lawsuit with Google as the target. Paxton's business out of state during the storm didn't stop him from firing off Civil Investigative Demands to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas - the state's power grid manager that Abbott had been trying to hold responsible after a failed attempt to blame clean energy.

Paxton has shown a recent interest in a bid for the job that Abbott plans to defend at the polls with the first test with the GOP primary election on March 1 next year. Paxton could smell blood now with Abbott weakened significantly by legislative probes that revealed a collapse in leadership in the executive branch of state government that the governor leads.

Paxton has an opportunity now to pick up on the trails that House and Senate hearings established last week and go for the kill with his own investigation that could make it appear like the Electric Reliability of Council of Texas that manages the grid failed because it hadn't been regulated sufficiently by Abbott appointees on the Public Utility Commission.

The separate but related probes at the statehouse found the devastation to be far more catastrophic than initially believed in the post-mortem on a crisis that's been a stinging indictment of the independent energy system in the Lone Star State where ERCOT is tantamount to air traffic control for a network that failed in every significant aspect with the blackouts that left almost half of the state without heat, lights and water, several dozen people dead and an energy industry in chaos with an alarming number of companies on the brink of financial ruin.

With State Senator Angela Paxton of McKinney at the AG's side as his spouse, the top Texas lawyer appeared to bolster his relationship when he joined the parade of speakers that fired up the crowd at a Trump rally before it stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Paxton's picture with Trump in the quick swing through South Florida could be worth a million words in a GOP primary battle in a race for governor. The photograph gives the impression that the two are actually good friends outside the workplace.

The potential one-two punch of Trump in his corner and the probe into the Texas electric grid's collapse might make Paxton all but invincible in a Republican primary in Texas based on the former president's amazingly strong support within the GOP despite the volcanic effect he's had on the party.

Abbott, who'd appeared to be unbeatable in a race at the state level, has been weakened substantially by the chain of events that the polar vortex set in motion with the Texas power grid collapse that left almost half of the state without heat, lights or water, several dozen people dead and an energy industry in chaos with an alarming number of companies on the brink of financial ruin.

The governor could expect to have a sizeable advantage on paper with $38 million in the campaign bank at the start of the year and the ability to raise vast amounts from establishment allies in a short span of time. Trump could be the golden equalizer if he took sides in the marquee race on the Texas ticket in 2022. The photograph that shows Trump and Paxton all smiles at the country club could be priceless even if the former president stayed on the sidelines in the Texas governor's race.

Paxton could use the official state investigation into the power system breakdown as a launching pad for higher office despite his own substantial liabilities as a criminal defendant in a felony securities fraud case that could culminate in years in prison with a conviction. Paxton also is the target of an longing federal investigation into reports from former top aides on a bribery scheme that featured an alleged Paxton lover at its center.

 

 

Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton play golf before CPAC.

 

 

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