Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Fled To Utah During Texas Blackouts

It appears Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wasn’t the only Texas government official to flee the state while more than 10 million residents were without power in a blizzard. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton traveled to Utah last week with his wife, State Sen. Angela Paxton (R) for a trip, similar to Cruz, the couple says was “previously planned.”

Paxton Spokesman Ian Prior said that the A.G.’s trip was business-oriented and that “while there, A.G. Paxton had a number of meetings with the Utah Attorney General over the course of several days.”

Critics of Paxton then noted that if his trip was truly just meetings, then it would have been much safer to host them remotely.

He was in Utah for a meeting?
Does @KenPaxtonTX not have a Zoom account?

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In a week when there were multiple reports of price gouging, the top official charged with consumer protection was out of state.

And he wants his budget increased? #txlege https://t.co/gTWJZZbyhv

— Chris Turner (@ChrisGTurner) February 22, 2021

Prior said that Paxton did not leave Texas “until after power has returned to most of the state, including his own home,” further adding to questions as to why the AG did not have his meetings virtually from his Texas home.

Paxton has not apologized for his trip to Utah, instead he pledged to further investigate the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages a majority of the Texas independent electrical grid.

I will work to get to the bottom of what has happened. Texans deserve answers. #TexasPowerOutages https://t.co/y01ltQxgmb

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) February 20, 2021