Poll on Paxton: Not all as it seems.

Robert Pratt

Austin gossip-news site Quorum Report was in near ecstasy this weekend reporting on a poll which claims a wide-majority of Texas Republicans want Attorney General Ken Paxton to resign due to the indictments against him. But, there’s a bit of a problem with the poll.

First let me point this key element out about the case against Ken Paxton: It’s not a hand in the cookie jar case. It’s a case that experts in the field including former federal prosecutor Bill Mateja have questioned from top to bottom. This case is as far from one in which there is evidence we all can see pointing toward illegal behavior as there can be. So if there ever was a case in which we should withhold judgment and truly accept the idea that a man is innocent until proven guilty, this is it. And in this case as in that of Tom DeLay, I’ll not buy guilt until all appeals are exhausted if it comes to that.

As to the poll, Quorum reported: In part two of a poll commissioned by the Texas Bipartisan Justice Committee, 62% of likely Republican voters said they would like to see embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton resign. Perhaps surprisingly, 53% of self-identified Tea Party voters agreed that Paxton should step down following his indictment…”

Two things left out of the report are important. First, of those polled just over a third reported having voted for Paxton and almost half polled said they voted for someone else in the primary. Paxton beat moderate Dan Branch in the runoff two-thirds to one-third. Second, the group that commissioned and controlled the poll is run by a major backer of, guess who? Yes, the defeated Dan Branch.

Just like the indictment of Paxton, not all is as it seems.

See this story which was published a day after I wrote my column: Chronicle botches kneecapping of Texas AG – Watchdog.org