AUSTIN — Ken Paxton tried to get out of saying he’s sorry.
His lawyer offered to shove more taxpayer money on the table if Paxton could duck a settlement deal’s requirement that he apologize for calling whistleblowers “rogue employees.”
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In final settlement talks last winter, though, one of the four former employees who accused the attorney general of wrongdoing refused to let Paxton off from a public apology.
The late-hour gambit in the negotiations over a proposed $3.3 million settlement of the whistleblowers’ lawsuit was disclosed late Thursday in thousands of pages of exhibits filed by lawyers leading the impeachment case against Paxton.
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The three-term GOP attorney general’s impeachment trial in the Senate begins Sept. 5.
The whistleblowers’ settlement money is what prompted House members to begin an investigation in their allegations Paxton misused his office to help campaign donor and pal Nate Paul. In May, they voted 121-28 to impeach him.
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Paxton is suspended without pay, and the Senate trial will determine his political fate.
Paxton’s desire to not apologize was sent in a trio of terse emails late on Feb. 7, three days before the proposed settlement was made public.
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