Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wasted no time in suing the city of San Antonio. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Texas Attorney General's Office

Looks like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has pulled on his galoshes and waded into another high-profile pissing contest.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the three-term Republican officeholder fired off a tweet demanding that Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan resign for being drunk on the job. The evidence proffered by the state’s top law-enforcement official? A viral video of Phelan appearing to slur his words Friday while overseeing House business. 

In the tweet, Paxton accused Phelan, a fellow GOP member, of doing his job “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication.” The attorney general also asked the House Committee on General Investigating to start a probe of the speaker. 

A few hours later, news broke that the same House committee Paxton called on to investigate Phelan is, in fact, looking into Paxton’s attempt to obtain $3.3 million in taxpayer money to settle a whistleblower lawsuit from former staffers who accused him of taking bribes and abusing his office.

Start popping the popcorn.

“The sordid accusations recalled an earlier era of outlandish behavior and political posturing in the State Capitol,” the New York Times noted of the situation. “But the tangled web of resentments and finger-pointing also highlighted a much simpler and more consequential political reality in Texas: Though they have total control over the Legislature and of every statewide office, Republicans have not been able to agree on what to do with their power.”

To be sure, Phelan’s office wasted no time in firing back at Paxton, a far-right grandstander who’s drawn public ridicule for his absurd Supreme Court filing to keep President Trump in office. Phelan, while far from a moderate, has shown less of an appetite than Paxton for pursuing the most extreme culture-war crusades.

In a statement provided to the Texas Tribune, Phelan spokesperson Cait Wittman said the AG has been under investigation by the House committee since March.

“The motives for and timing behind Paxton’s statement today couldn’t be more evident,” Wittman added. “Mr. Paxton’s statement today amounts to little more than a last ditch effort to save face.”

The public dustup between two politicos of the same party is unconventional to say the least. Its timing during the crucial final days of Texas’ legislative session doesn’t exactly seem productive for the voters who put them in office to look after their interests.

But like much during Paxton’s time as AG, it’s certainly been headline-grabbing spectacle.

After all, Paxton has been under a felony securities fraud indictment for the majority of his time in office. He’s denied wrongdoing and has engaged in years of legal wrangling to put off a trial.

What’s more, the FBI reportedly began investigating Paxton in 2020 after those same whistleblowers with whom he reached a settlement turned over what they knew to federal officials. The Department of Justice took over that probe in February, according to media reports. Again, Paxton has denied wrongdoing.

Recognizing that approving taxpayer funds to cover Paxton’s $3.3 million settlement — especially in the face of his mounting legal woes — isn’t a good look, both chambers of the Texas Lege have declined to approve state funds to foot the bill.

It’s unclear why Phelan slurred his words in the viral clip circulated over the weekend. However, some in the House told news organizations that he appeared to speak normally in other video shot around the same time. 

Whatever the cause of Phelan’s incoherent-sounding speech, it should be abundantly  clear to Texans by this point that Paxton’s accusation amounts to another clownish and diversionary public spectacle from one of the state’s most divisive and embarrassing public officeholders.

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This article appears in May 17-30, 2023.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...