Should impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton still be getting paid?
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) - A dispute has developed over whether suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton should be paid by taxpayers after the Texas House impeached him late last month.
The showdown is between Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar's Office and the Attorney General's Office.
Late Friday afternoon, Paxton's lead attorney, Tony Buzbee, told CBS News Texas in a statement, "Attorney General Paxton has not requested a paycheck and did not direct anyone to make any such request on his behalf. The Attorney General is focused on putting this meritless impeachment behind him so that he can get back to work on behalf of Texas."
Paxton's impeachment trial in the Texas Senate begins Sept. 5.
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, says the dispute puts Paxton in a tight spot. "This probably adds more noise than anything else and that's unwelcome noise for Attorney General Paxton, because it looks like he's trying to squeeze a little bit of money out of the State while he's under suspension."
After the Texas House impeached Paxton late last month, he was immediately placed on leave.
On June 1, the Comptroller's Office sent a letter to John Scott, who was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott as the interim attorney general.
It said, "In compliance with the Texas Constitution Article 3, Sections 44 and 51, no salary payment may occur to Attorney General Warren Kenneth Paxton while in a suspended status."
But records show when the Attorney General's Office submitted its June payroll, it included Paxton's $12,800 monthly salary.
Paxton's annual salary is $153,750.
The Comptroller's Office said it briefly placed payroll on hold for all of the Attorney General Office's 4,200 employees, until Paxton was removed from the pay file.
All of the employees were paid on time, but Paxton didn't get a paycheck.
Records obtained by CBS News Texas though show the Attorney General's Office believes Paxton should still be paid.
An email sent Wednesday by the Attorney General's Office to the Texas Comptroller's Office said, "The Constitution could have—but does not--provide that his salary should be withheld during the pendency of impeachment proceedings."
The letter goes onto say that the Attorney General's Office will still submit Paxton's salary on a supplemental payroll.
Jones said, "I think this puts staffers in the Attorney General's office in a difficult position because if they made the decision to not pay Attorney General Paxton, then they would be effectively a siding against him, but if they make it for, they can effectively say, look, we're just continuing with the status quo."
On Thursday, the Texas Comptroller's Office sent an email to the Attorney General's Office saying as long as Paxton remains suspended, any request for payment, "will be held and not processed through our statewide systems using state appropriated funds."
The Comptroller's Office said the Attorney General's Office can't pay both its interim leader, John Scott and Paxton while he's suspended.
Jones said, "In the absence of any guidance from the Legislature, I think the Controller, Glenn Hegar, is making the best decision based on the evidence which he has in the law."
