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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is doing his part to keep Texas red. As WhoWhatWhy reported, a leading Latino advocacy group recently questioned his heavy-handed voter intimidation tactic that appears to target the elderly.
Now, congressional Democrats have some questions as well.
“I write to express serious concern with recent activities conducted by your office which appear to be designed to intimidate Latino voting rights advocates, elected leaders, and candidates for public office in Texas, and have stunned Americans across the country,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee in a letter to Paxton.
From the description of how Paxton’s heavily armed goons harassed Texans Latino activists, officials, and candidates, it is difficult to draw any conclusion other than that the attorney general is trying to intimidate them from participating in democracy.
“Especially given your extensive track record of unfairly targeting Latino communities in Texas, these raids against elderly volunteers and a political opponent raise concerns about your adherence to the federal civil rights laws and constitutional provisions that protect all Americans’ ability to participate in the political process,” Nadler wrote.
Of course, Paxton is not just trying to suppress Latino votes. He seems to be hellbent on making sure that as few potential Democratic voters as possible will be able to cast their ballots.
Just this week, the attorney general tried to keep advocates and officials in Democratic strongholds from getting Texans registered to vote.
That is as nuts as it sounds.
And it’s just as crazy that Paxton’s “investigation” seems to not be based on any evidence of wrongdoing but rather the second-hand (and likely made-up) account of a Fox News personality who incorrectly claimed that undocumented immigrants are registered to vote.
Even though there is zero indication that this is a widespread problem anywhere in the US, the fake boogeyman of “illegals voting” is the usual excuse Republicans use to justify their voter suppression efforts.
In this case, Paxton appears to have taken things to an absurd length.
“It is clear that your decision to open this investigation was not predicated on any actual evidence of misconduct,” Nadler wrote. “Instead, it appears that you predicated your investigation on statements made by Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.”
The lawmaker detailed how the right-wing TV personality had conjured up a second-hand story about driver’s license offices registering noncitizens to vote. Bartiromo’s account was based on having heard from the wife of a friend of hers.
“In addition to the hearsay-on-hearsay nature of this ‘evidence,’ you should have been particularly skeptical of Ms. Bartiromo’s claims because of her well-documented history of espousing conspiracy theories,” Nadler stated, pointing to her role in disseminating false claims regarding Dominion Voting Systems, which ultimately cost her employer $787 million.
In addition, the lawmaker pointed out that Republican officials in the specified jurisdictions then investigated the baseless accusations and concluded them to be “erroneous.”
However, that didn’t stop Paxton from apparently using a made-up story for expanding his voter suppression activities.
He may come to regret it.
“You have claimed that you are ‘committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote.’ Your decision to pursue baseless investigations targeting American citizens seeking to exercise their rights proves that this is false,” Nadler wrote. “Every American deserves a voice — not just those Americans whom you deem politically worthy. The rule of law cannot bend to accommodate your fear of losing power.”
Now, the lawmaker has some questions.
Specifically, he is asking Paxton to produce the evidence on which his “investigations” are based. He also wants to see communications between Bartiromo and the attorney general’s office related to her story, as well as all documents relating to last month’s raids on Latino leaders.
