The four men behind the whistle-blower lawsuit that landed the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, in political peril were once employees and allies whom Mr. Paxton handpicked to advance his conservative agenda.
The four staff members — James Blake Brickman, David Maxwell, Mark Penley and Ryan Vassar — joined forces when they decided that the actions they saw involving Mr. Paxton were too troubling to let stand.
They filed the whistle-blower lawsuit in 2020 after Mr. Paxton ignored their repeated expressions of concern. According to the 372-page filing that laid out their allegations, the four staff members fell out with Mr. Paxton after the F.B.I. in 2019 raided the home of Nate Paul, a wealthy real estate investor in Austin and a donor to Mr. Paxton. Convinced that the authorities had acted unlawfully, Mr. Paul enlisted Mr. Paxton’s assistance.
In the lawsuit, the four men allege that Mr. Paxton not only used his influence to set up and attend a meeting for Mr. Paul and his lawyer with the staff of the local district attorney’s office, but had also assigned a private attorney to look into Mr. Paul’s concerns.
The four said in the complaint that they believed Mr. Paxton “had violated Texas criminal law, including but not limited to the laws regarding bribery, improper influence, and abuse of office.”
Mr. Paxton, they said in legal documents, “has flagrantly violated and apparently believes he is above the very law he promotes on his own website.”
Mr. Paxton responded by...
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