Texas Attorney General says he is not breaking the law by leaving off .
After months of not answering The Texas Newsroom鈥檚 questions about , Paxton was reached on Tuesday at a campaign event for a Texas House candidate in San Antonio. At first he declined to comment.
When pressed on the issue, as well as whether just north of Austin, the attorney general insisted he has done nothing wrong.
鈥淚鈥檝e disclosed everything I鈥檓 required to disclose. That's not why I'm here. I鈥檓 here to talk about what鈥檚 going on in these elections, and not talk about some made-up issue,鈥� Paxton told Texas Public Radio.
Paxton may be breaking the law by , according to one expert who said the only way that question will be answered is if the takes action.
鈥淥n its face, yes, it would seem like there is probably an issue there,鈥� said Andrew Cates, a lawyer who wrote a book about state ethics law. 鈥淲e won鈥檛 know, until basically all of the facts are dragged out, if somebody filed a complaint.鈥�
Once a year, public officials must file that detail their assets, including homes they own, stocks, business interests and other income. The statements are meant to offer the public insight into how they make their money and ensure they don鈥檛 have conflicts of interest.
But Paxton did not include at least a half dozen properties he or his blind trusts own on his , . The properties are in Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma and Utah and have a collective market value of more than $6 million.
At least one, a five bedroom luxury cabin in Oklahoma, was available for rent on the vacation site Vrbo and through a local property management company.
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Paxton has held elected office, and therefore has been filing these annual financial statements, for 20 years. But in his most recent report covering 2022, which he filed in June, Paxton wrote that he believes state disclosure rules are unclear and pledged to ask the Texas Ethics Commission for guidance 鈥渋n the coming days.鈥�
Seven months later, Paxton has not sought an opinion from the commission on what he needs to disclose to the public. It鈥檚 unclear if he will.
, , based on corruption allegations last year. The state Senate, its members serving as jurors, after a two-week trial.
Investigators hired during the impeachment inquiry were , including his property holdings. When asked about the out-of-state properties at the time, Paxton鈥檚 lawyer that the attorney general by tapping long-term savings from a brokerage account.
The based on the same corruption allegations underlying his impeachment.
The state health agency as the owner of a long-term care facility in Cedar Park.
However, neither the attorney general nor his trust are among the owners listed on the facility鈥檚 most recent state paperwork. When asked about this discrepancy, the agency said ownership information is submitted by a corporation鈥檚 鈥渄esignee.鈥�
Attempts to reach the manager of the LLC on the state paperwork have been unsuccessful.
This property is also not on his most recent personal financial statement, although Paxton once listed the LLC among his business interests. He placed in 2015, according to his personal financial statement covering that year.
The Cedar Park property was sold in September and the facility鈥檚 state license expired in November. Attempts to reach the new owner were unsuccessful.
Elected officials can update their annual reports within 14 days of finding or being informed of an error. The Texas Ethics Commission can proactively investigate alleged violations of these rules, or any state resident can file a complaint against someone they believe is breaking the law.
The maximum penalty is $5,000 per violation or triple the amount at issue, whichever is greater.
State ethics regulators declined to say whether they have initiated an investigation into Paxton.
鈥淪tate law demands that the TEC conduct much of its enforcement process confidentially,鈥� General Counsel James Tinley told The Texas Newsroom. 鈥淐onsequently, [commission] staff neither comments on a particular filer's reports to the press, nor does it confirm or deny the existence of pending investigations.鈥�
Note: The Texas Newsroom is the collaboration among NPR and the public radio stations in the state, including KUT in Austin, Texas Public Radio in San Antonio, 四虎影院 in North Texas and Houston Public Media.
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