Ken Paxton Indicted

[kaitlyn]

Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General as of 2015, has been indicted for two counts of first-degree securities fraud and one count of third-degree failure to register. These charges are linked to Mr. Paxton's work during his time as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, prior to him being elected as Texas Attorney General. Ken Paxton is accused of providing investment advise and encouraging and investment of $600,000 into the company, Servergy. While doing so, it is said that he was benefiting from this investment and making commission, while failure to provide the information of doing so through paper work. The catch is, Mr. Paxton had come forward back in 2011 and admitted to his faults, basically saying it was pure unintentional and accidental, which resulted in a $1,000 fine that was paid. These charges and situation as a whole had been put to rest back in 2011, but coincidentally has been brought back up by the democratic party at the same timing of Ken Paxton's fight for standing against planned parenthood, as well as gay marriage. In my opinion, I strongly believe that Ken Paxton is standing up for what is morally right according to what the Bible teaches. What is making Mr. Paxton stand out is that he is going against "the flow" and what the popular vote is in today's society. Unfortunately, a handful of situations in today's world are not biblical sound and have been creating quite the controversy. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." I believe this goes right along side what Mr. Ken Paxton is doing: standing up for what he truly believes in, which is going against the popular beliefs of today.

[Steven Mark Schick]

I knew that a Paxton had come back and paid the fine last year in order to keep his path to being elected in tact.  However, I am not sure that there is a tie between his conservative beliefs and this incident that many are calling a felony.  Political analyst Mark Jones said: "“For a private citizen, an administrative fine would likely have been where it ended.  The reality is Ken Paxton is not just any Texan.  He’s our attorney general.”  Interestingly enough, it isn't liberals in Washington that exposed this issue and are trying to bring it to light.  In fact, the Texas Tribune is who initially exposed the issue in May, 2014.  I certainly agree with Paxton's stance on some current issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion--however, this does not take away from the fact that his conduct was truly “unethical and fraudulent."  I believe he will need to take responsibility for this action, however that may look.  I hope that it does not result in imprisonment.  Though, we must consider how we would feel about the exact same set of circumstances with someone who's political/moral views we did not align with.