Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed another lawsuit against the Travis County Commissioners Court on Monday – this time over a $115,000 payment the court made to District Attorney José Garza’s office behind closed doors.
The payment was approved during a closed session in March to provide home security to Garza after his address was posted on social media, KVUE originally reported. It’s still unclear what, if any, threats were made to warrant private security.
Paxton’s lawsuit argues the Commissioners Court violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by being overly vague about what public funds were being used for.
The agenda item, listed under “Executive Session,” said the county would “receive briefing and take appropriate action regarding Travis County security.”
“No member of the public could possibly infer from the posted agenda items that the Travis County Commissioners Court would be discussing the incredibly uncommon action of spending county funds on an elected official’s private residence,” Paxton’s lawsuit said.
Paxton also argues the law did not allow the commissioners to discuss this kind of spending in a private meeting.
Two Travis County residents, Cleo Petricek and Douglas P. Keenan, are listed as plaintiffs along with Paxton. The five members of the Commissioners Court, all Democrats, are defendants. Paxton is a Republican.
As attorney general, Paxton too has a taxpayer-funded security detail. The latest expense report showed that detail, made up of officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, spent more than $53,000 on food, lodging and other expenses. The governor, lieutenant governor and chief justice of the state Supreme Court also have state-funded security teams.
In a statement, Travis County spokesperson Hector Nieto said the county is focused on representing the needs of the community.
“We will always defend the role of local government in supporting Travis County residents, our employees, and our elected and appointed officials despite the deliberate attacks by state leadership,” Nieto said.
This marks the second recent lawsuit Paxton has filed against the county. Earlier in September, he sued Travis County for funding a program that will mail out voter registration forms to unregistered voters. Travis County filed a lawsuit against Paxton in response, accusing his office of violating the National Voter Registration Act.
This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Travis County Commissioners Court: The legislative body for Travis County. It includes representatives from the four Travis County Precincts, as well as the County Judge. The County Judge serves as the chair of the Court.
