While nothing seems as hot as our summer temperatures, some things in politics are heating up as we approach the fall season. Some folks are looking at our upcoming Primary and deciding whether or not to run for a contested position. As far as your Republican County Executive Committee, your County Chairman Jeff Carlson; Precinct 4 Chairwoman, Christine Bessent; and Precinct 2 Chairwoman, Cindy Sloan, attended an all-day Primary Election and Convention training session held by the Texas Republican County Chairmen's Association in Mason on Saturday, July 22nd. Given that this will be our first effort at running the Republican Primary and subsequent Precinct and County Conventions, this training was essential and extremely beneficial. We are looking forward to helping any and all Republican candidates apply and prepare for the March Primary.
Also heating up is the Impeachment Trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton before the Texas Senate beginning on Tuesday, September 5th. Many San Saba citizens may not know that our very own Republican State Representative David Spiller will be a key participant in the trial. Spiller is one of 12 House Impeachment Managers, hand-picked by House Speaker Dade Phelan, tasked with prosecuting 20 Articles of Impeachment against Paxton. Spiller is very familiar with the charges contained in the Articles, as he was one of five members appointed by Speaker Phelan to the House General Investigating Committee, which worked secretly for many weeks during the regular legislative session to investigate Attorney General Paxton, alleging improper use of his office and other offenses. With just four days remaining in the session, this committee presented the 20 Articles to the House members for adoption. Two days later 61 Democrats and 60 Republicans voted to impeach Paxton, with the House delivering the Articles to the Senate on the session's final day. Paxton was first elected Attorney General in November 2014, reelected in 2018 and again in 2022. He has been a successful legal opponent to both the Obama and Biden Administrations, winning major cases to prevent 'far left' rules, regulations, laws, and policies and is a favorite of former President Trump, who endorsed him in the last election.
Since Paxton did not have an opportunity to defend himself against the Articles before the House voted, the Senate Trial will be his legal team's first chance to rebut the charges. Should he be convicted, he could possibly be barred from ever holding elected office in Texas again.
While not unprecedented, the use of Impeachment to remove an elected official in Texas is extremely rare, only happening twice in Texas history, the first time in 1917 against the Governor, and the second time in 1975 against a sitting State District Judge. The Senate Impeachment Trial will be conducted in public and should last for many days. San Saba voters can follow the activities of Representative Spiller and the other House Impeachment Managers as they try to convince two-thirds of the voting Senators to convict the three-term Attorney General.