Texas needs an attorney general who:
- Isn't under indictment and is awaiting trial in state court for securities fraud.
- Isn't being investigated by the FBI on complaints leveled by former highly placed legal staffers that he is breaking federal law.
- Doesn't file lawsuits alleging that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from a crooked president who promotes the Big Lie about election fraud.
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has declared he is going to run in the Republican Party primary next year against incumbent Texas AG Ken Paxton. Is Bush going to get my vote? That remains an open question, as I am unsure whether I will vote in the GOP primary next year.
However, I welcome P's challenge of Paxton, who I consider to be an embarrassment as the state's top law enforcement officer.
The Texas Tribune reports: "Enough is enough, Ken," Bush said during a campaign kickoff at a downtown Austin bar. "You've brought way too much scandal and too little integrity to this office. And as a career politician for 20 years, it's time for you to go."
Good grief. Paxton was a mediocre lawyer and a back-bench legislator when he was elected attorney general in 2014. Then came the indictment from a Collin County grand jury alleging that he failed to inform investors of his financial connection to certain investments.
Arguably the most troubling episode occurred a year ago when high-powered AG office legal staffers blew the whistle on Paxton's alleged misconduct, including a complaint that involved bribery.
Is this the kind of individual we want representing the state?
Hell no! I want the clown removed from office one way or another ... whether by conviction in state court or a sanctioned complaint by the FBI -- or by voters who have had enough of this clown's monkey business.
George P. Bush isn't exactly a legal heavyweight. He is a political player by virtue of his last name. He is the nephew and grandson of two former presidents and the son of a former Florida governor.
What's more, he is able to campaign on his relatively clean background and the fact that he isn't accused of criminal activity ... which is far more than the incumbent can say as he seeks to win a third term as Texas attorney general.
John Kanelis, former editorial page editor for the Amarillo Globe-News and the Beaumont Enterprise, is also a former blogger for Panhandle PBS in Amarillo. He is now retired, but still writing. Kanelis can be contacted via Twitter @jkanelis, on Facebook, or his blog, www.highplainsblogger.com.Kanelis' blog for KETR, "Piece of Mind," presents his views, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of KETR, its staff, or its members.
Kanelis lives in Princeton with his wife, Kathy.
