AUSTIN (Nexstar) — 502 days ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton held a press conference — one of just two he has called in the last year and a half. It was a blockbuster political news event, both because it was meant to preempt his historic impeachment, and because in recent years he has made himself available to journalists almost as rarely as the Texas House has impeached statewide officials.
He took no questions.
During that long drought of public access to the state’s top attorney, KXAN has submitted dozens of press inquiries to Paxton’s office. They have not responded to one since September 2023. It marks an era of evasion in which Paxton has ignored inquiries and avoided accountability from the press.
“Democracy runs on information,” the Texas Press Association’s Donnis Baggett told Nexstar. “The flow of that information — two ways — is essential. But increasingly in this country… (officials) may control the message and their exposure to questioning about that message. That’s not a healthy relationship. That’s a one-way street.”