In November of 2020, four whistleblowers who worked for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit alleging whistleblower retaliation after raising concerns of alleged misconduct in the office. The group of whistleblowers are speaking out again about recent comments Paxton has made while on the campaign trail for re-election.
The four whistleblowers are all former employees of Paxton’s office: Mark Penley worked as the deputy attorney general for criminal justice, David Maxwell was the agency’s former director of law enforcement, Blake Brickman served as the deputy attorney general for policy and strategy initiatives, and Ryan Vassar was the deputy attorney general for legal counsel. Brickman was fired in October 2020, Maxwell and Penley were fired in early November 2020, and Vassar was fired later in the same month. Senior aide Lacey Mase was also fired from the office in October of 2020.
The group of four whistleblowers allege in their 2020 lawsuit filed under the Texas Whistleblower Act that they experienced whistleblower retaliation after reporting Paxton to law enforcement in early October 2020. The whistleblowers alleged that Paxton “had broken the law by using the agency to serve the interests of a political donor and friend, Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor,” an article from The Texas Tribune reported. The whistleblowers alleged that Paxton conducted several favors for Paul, and in the lawsuit, they claimed that Paxton “became less...
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