Audit Shows $5.1 Million Price Tag for Failed Paxton Impeachment

[Elderberry]

Texas Scorecard by Brandon Waltens March 21, 2025

The audit was requested 550 days ago by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

More than 18 months after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick first requested an audit of the taxpayer cost of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s failed impeachment, the State Auditor’s Office has released its report: $5,110,038—the vast majority of which was incurred by the House’s outside lawyers.

But questions remain—particularly regarding payments to some of the House’s law firms.

Shortly after the Senate acquitted Paxton on all impeachment charges in September 2023, Patrick requested a full audit. While the Senate and the Office of the Attorney General promptly turned over their records, then-Speaker Dade Phelan refused repeated requests to do the same.

That changed earlier this month when new House Speaker Dustin Burrows provided the long-withheld records to Patrick, who then turned them over to State Auditor Lisa Collier.

On Friday, Collier’s office released the long-awaited report, revealing that the House spent millions in taxpayer dollars on the impeachment effort.



More: https://texasscorecard.com/state/audit-shows-5-1-million-price-tag-for-failed-paxton-impeachment/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Texas Scorecard by Brandon Waltens March 21, 2025

The audit was requested 550 days ago by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

More than 18 months after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick first requested an audit of the taxpayer cost of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s failed impeachment, the State Auditor’s Office has released its report: $5,110,038—the vast majority of which was incurred by the House’s outside lawyers.

But questions remain—particularly regarding payments to some of the House’s law firms.

Shortly after the Senate acquitted Paxton on all impeachment charges in September 2023, Patrick requested a full audit. While the Senate and the Office of the Attorney General promptly turned over their records, then-Speaker Dade Phelan refused repeated requests to do the same.

That changed earlier this month when new House Speaker Dustin Burrows provided the long-withheld records to Patrick, who then turned them over to State Auditor Lisa Collier.

On Friday, Collier’s office released the long-awaited report, revealing that the House spent millions in taxpayer dollars on the impeachment effort.



More: https://texasscorecard.com/state/audit-shows-5-1-million-price-tag-for-failed-paxton-impeachment/

The impeachment did not fail as it actually happened.

The hope for removal failed as it did not happen.

The whole episode caused a number of RINOs to get dumped in primaries and expose the corrupt Uniparty rule in the House, which, although it still exists, is weakened considerably.

And that is a good thing.