The Federal Election Commission has questions for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign.
Again.
In its latest letter to the MAGA-aligned Republican’s campaign, the regulatory agency wants Treasurer John Plishka to explain nearly $100,000 in donations that appear to violate federal campaign laws. The contributions, from both individuals and businesses, extend as far back as April of last year with some made as recently as last month.
The March 25 letter gives Ken Paxton for Senate roughly a month to justify the contributions, which either appear to blow past individual campaign contribution limits or violate a law banning limited liability companies, or LLCs, from donating directly to political campaigns.
Such FEC letters aren’t uncommon, but this one is at least the third the agency has sent Paxton’s campaign flagging contributions that appear to break federal campaign finance laws. In January, the feds asked the campaign to clear up $125,000 in questionable donations, and last summer, they demanded an explanation for $658,000 in contributions that appeared to run afoul of the law.
It also comes as Paxton closes in on the May 26 Republican primary runoff with incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who’s repeatedly questioned the attorney general’s ethics and moral fitness to serve in the upper chamber. To point, John Cornyn even weaponized last summer’s FEC inquiry by putting it at the center of an online campaign ad blasting his rival’s honesty.
During his time as Texas’ top cop, Paxton has accumulated a litany of scandals, including an impeachment trial in the Texas Legislature in which he was eventually acquitted, an agreement to settle a years-old state securities fraud charge and allegations of extramarital affairs.
Last July, Paxton’s wife, Texas Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce on “biblical grounds.” Roughly two months later, a media report surfaced that he’d had an affair with a married “Christian influencer.”
Explain or return
In the latest FEC letter, agency officials pointed out that the recorded contributions from nine individuals to Ken Paxton for Senate exceeded individually allowed limits. Those donations totaled $86,082 over a roughly 10-month period.
Federal law bars individuals from contributing more than $3,500 to a candidate per election, yet nearly all of the people identified in the document appear to have made contributions of at least double that amount. One person exceeded the limit by nearly nine times, while another overshot by six.
The letter also flags a total of $14,000 in contributions that may violate a federal law barring limited liability companies, or LLCs, from donating directly to political campaigns. Under that rule, LLCs may only donate if the IRS considers them to be organized as partnerships rather than corporations.
Failure for Paxton’s campaign to meet the deadline to explain or return the donations could result in an audit or enforcement action, FEC officials warned in the document. The agency won’t offer any additional time for the campaign to comply, they added.
“Although the Commission may take further legal action concerning the acceptance of prohibited contributions, your prompt action to refund the prohibited amount will be taken into consideration,” the letter stated.
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