DALLAS — Many Texans were watching when the Texas Senate voted on the 16 articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton, and reaction to the acquittal ran the gamut.
But what about the Paxton whistleblowers?
In our latest episode of Y’all-itics, whistleblower Mark Penley describes what he was thinking while listening to the impeachment votes.
“First of all, I was shocked. I was extremely disappointed because it basically wound up being a party line vote, except for two brave Senators who crossed party lines,” Penley told us on Y’all-itics. “But here’s what I want to say about the Senate proceeding, and we call it a trial in a state district court. The Senate adopted their rules. They adopted the rules of evidence and tried to follow those rules. But the bottom line is we got a political result.”
Penley and the others say they’re protected under the Texas Whistleblower Act, which protects state employees who report illegal conduct in good faith, so long as they report to law enforcement and notify the agency they work for that they’ve done so.
Penley says he and the other whistleblowers did all of that and followed all of the rules laid out in the statute.
And less than 24 hours after our interview, the Texas Supreme Court lifted the stay on a lawsuit filed by four of the whistleblowers who contend they were retaliated against for reporting Paxton’s alleged misdeeds to the FBI.
The Supreme Court did not explain the reasoning for their decision, but in doing so, they let a ruling by an appeals court stand that concluded that Paxton was subject to the Whistleblower Act.
WFAA has reached out to Paxton’s office for comment on the Supreme Court’s decision, which now sends the case back to a Travis County District Court.
Penley’s attorney, Don Tittle, says the $3.3 million settlement could easily double or even triple.
And he’s confident they would prevail… in a real court.
“I think that we’ve got a fantastic chance of winning in front of any jury. I don’t care. It could be a Collin County jury, I think we’d win,” Tittle said. “But ultimately, a judge is going to rule that he’s entitled to his entire retirement that Ken Paxton basically cheated him out of, which was a couple of million dollars. So, you start adding all this stuff up.”
Tittle also explains in this episode of Y’all-itics why he was reminded of some old Holiday Inn Express commercials while watching Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick preside over the Senate proceeding.
“You know, the guy sitting up there and he’s like, he’s not a real judge, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express,” Tittle told us. “That’s what I kept thinking about, is this guy, he was acting like a real judge. And that’s fine. But his rulings had tremendous impact on the evidence that the jury and the people of the state got to hear. Significant evidence.”
And we asked Mark Penley, a man who’s been deputy Attorney General for the state of Texas, an assistant United States Attorney and an Air Force officer, if he’s still a Republican.
“I’m a constitutional conservative who has a home in the Republican party because that’s where my values and my political philosophy fits,” he replied. “You asked me if I’m disappointed in the Republican Party. I’m disappointed with people in the party who put a person above the law.”
The whistleblowers also want a public apology from the Attorney General. Listen to the entire episode of Y’all-itics to find out why that’s so important to them and why Tittle doesn’t think Ken Paxton will ever take the witness stand. And both men explain why they think this entire episode could have a chilling effect on future whistleblowers.
