AUSTIN, Texas — In this week's edition of Texas This Week, the rules are set for the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. That settles a big question: what role Paxton's wife, State Sen. Angela Paxton, will play in the trial.
Scott Braddock, editor of Harvey Kronberg's The Quorum Report, joined Ashley Goudeau, Managing Editor of Political Content for KVUE, to talk about the implications the rules have.
3 things to know in Texas politics
1. First special session is coming to an end
The first special session of the 88th Texas Legislature ends this coming Tuesday, and the House and Senate are still at an impasse over property tax relief. On Tuesday, the Senate passed a new $18 billion plan that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls the largest in the world.
Senate Bill 26 would reduce the school maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate by $0.10 per $100 in home valuation and lower the maximum amount school districts can increase your taxes year-over-year without an election from 2.5% to 1.75%. It would increase the homestead exemption to $100,000 and double the franchise tax exemption for businesses to $2.47 million. That would mean 67,000 small to medium businesses wouldn't have to pay the franchise tax. The bill is estimated to save the average homeowner more than $1,200 in the first year and homeowners ages 65 and older or disabled would save more than $1,400.
In comparison, the bill the House passed before adjourning sine die, House Bill 1, uses about $17 billion to lower the school tax rate by $0.162 per $100 in home valuation, saving average homeowners an estimated $700.
Speaker of the House Dade Phelan didn't comment on the Senate's new plan, but just before it passed, he announced the creation of a new committee to look into property tax relief. The House Select Study Committee on Sustainable Property Tax Relief is made up of 13 lawmakers and three members of the public.
2. Former Texas congressman enters presidential race
A Texan is throwing his hat in the race for the White House. Former Republican Congressman Will Hurd announced his presidential campaign Thursday. A critic of former President Donald Trump, the former CIA agent came out swinging in his campaign announcement.
The Republican primary is getting crowded with 14 declared candidates.
3. U.S. Supreme Court rules on Texas border policy challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a blow to Texas. On Friday, the high court rejected Texas and Louisiana's attempt to sue the Biden administration over its immigrant deportation policy. Back in 2021, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security instructed agents to prioritize deporting convicted felons or those who pose a risk to public safety. The attorneys general for Texas and Louisiana sued.
In the court's opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote:
"The States have brought an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit. They want a federal court to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policies so as to make more arrests. Federal courts have not traditionally entertained that kind of lawsuit."
Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the ruling on Twitter, calling it "outrageous."
Scott Braddock on Senate impeachment trial rules
After two days of deliberations behind closed doors, the Texas Senate approved the rules for the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The trial will start on Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 9 a.m. Each side will have 60 minutes for opening statements and each gets a total of 24 hours to present evidence. Each side also gets one hour of rebuttal of the evidence. Finally, each side will have one hour to make a final argument or closing statement.
The trial will be open to the public, with seating in the Senate gallery. Media is allowed to attend, and the trial will be livestreamed.
The lawmakers also decided on the limited role Paxton's wife, State Sen. Angela Paxton, will play.
Scott Braddock, editor of Harvey Kronberg's The Quorum Report, joined KVUE's Ashley Goudeau to talk about the rules.
Ashley Goudeau: You hold no punches when it comes to your thoughts about the actions of lawmakers. Tell us your thoughts about the overall rules.
Scott Braddock: "Fascinating to watch the Senate – or not watch them, as they were behind closed doors for two days – trying to hammer out the rules for the upcoming impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton. Had a lot of people asking me from around the country. And, Ashley, it's been interesting to see how many people around the whole U.S. are tuned into this. It's really interesting. You have, you know, a situation where Republicans are potentially going to police one of their own. I think, nationally, people are only used to tribalism where it's one party against the other, but this is a intraparty fight ...
The fact that it took them so long to hammer it out tells me that there was a lot of contention about one specific thing. I'm sure there were lots of questions, but one thing was really on the minds of senators, and that was whether the wife of Ken Paxton, Sen. Angela Paxton, can vote in this deal. And they decided that she cannot and, in fact, she can't be in on their private deliberations when they act as a jury. She can be present on the floor when they vote, which is significant, because that means that the threshold for conviction and removal will stay the same. Two thirds of senators who are present, that means 21 votes to convict and remove him. So there is a little bit of a thumb on the scale in the direction of Paxton there.
But as you also know, based on covering the Senate, the real meeting is the one they have behind closed doors. The Texas Senate has done this for years where, you know, they have their pre-meeting in, you know, in a private setting, and then they come out on the floor and they vote and they vote on amendments, bills and all of that sort of stuff. But it's kind of pre-scripted based on that pre-meeting. And Angela Paxton won't be there."
Goudeau: Something you said that I really want to hone in on: she's still going to count towards, you know, the total number needed. So we need 21 instead of 20 in order to convict. You know, really talk to us about how you think that that, in and of itself, because she obviously would be a "no" vote ...
Braddock: "Maybe. Maybe ... I'm not sure. You know, I think that you're hitting exactly on the right thing, which is this is the biggest, most egregious conflict of interest that someone could possibly have. If you or I were on trial for anything, there's no chance our spouse would be on the jury, right? And if you were the defendant and one of the allegations had to do with having an extramarital affair – which is the case with Ken Paxton – you certainly wouldn't want your spouse to be sitting in judgment of you. It could be that they're thick as thieves. And she's with her man all the way – stand by your man, like the Tammy Wynette song. Or it could be like Carrie Underwood, as a colleague of mine pointed out – it could be that he'll learn his lesson before he cheats next time.
Either way, if you're the defense attorneys, you would think it'd be, you know, it'd be a good thing that she's not there or that she can't vote. But to your point about her being present, it keeps that threshold the same. And if we're doing a head count of folks in the Senate, I think right now, Ashley, if the trial were held today, there would be at least a majority of senators who would be voting to convict. Now, that's not enough because it takes two-thirds to remove the attorney general from office, and that's 21 votes as long as all senators are on the floor. And [Angela] Paxton will be there with them. But I think it's going to send a strong message, even if he's not convicted, if there's a majority of senators who want to convict him – including Republicans – I think that damages him forward going, going forward, politically."
Goudeau: When you talk about potential witnesses, one of those potential witnesses, I would think, would be Sen. Bryan Hughes, who is mentioned in those articles of impeachment. And the rules say that a senator can be called to be a witness. How interesting would that be?
Braddock: "Oh, get your popcorn out, Ashley. I mean, this is going to be just incredible to watch. We are – we're in so much uncharted water here. You're right. There's at least three senators who I would say are compromised. That would be Angela Paxton, who we mentioned; Bryan Hughes, who you mentioned who's implicated in the testimony in the House; and also Sen. Donna Campbell, through no fault of her own, but one of her staffers is the person that Ken Paxton is accused of having a sexual relationship with. And so, you could say that any of those people are, you know, [are] people who have conflicts of interest.
Now, here's the thing with these rules, and let's get real here – there's no way to eliminate all of the conflicts of interest because when you're talking about an impeachment process, it's not a court proceeding. It's a legislative proceeding. That means everybody kind of has some sort of conflict of interest because everyone involved – all the House members, all the Senate members, Ken Paxton himself, everybody in this – is, they're all politicians, Ashley. And so, you could say that Democrats have a conflict of interest because he's a Republican. You could say that his wife has a conflict of interest because she's his wife. You could say that Lt. Gov. [Dan] Patrick has a conflict because he loaned Paxton money for a campaign back in 2018. What they're trying to do with the rules is eliminate as many conflicts of interest as possible and eliminate the most egregious conflicts, which, of course, that one would be his wife who is his spouse.
I mean, you can't make up stuff – you couldn't make up a, you know, a novel or write a novel that would have this many twists and turns about Texas politics, that you want the real thing. You want the drama of the real thing. And that's what were going to get."