Love those Houston lawyers. But it’s time for impeached Texas AG Ken Paxton to quit | Opinion

Why does everything in Texas politics turn into a Houston mud-wrestling show?

The governor is from Houston. He can’t get along with the lieutenant governor from Houston. The Texas House speaker chimes in from Beaumont.

Both the House impeachment investigators and the accused, Attorney General Ken Paxton of Collin County, hired high-powered famous Houston lawyers for the upcoming August battle royale.

When America was having another National Indictment Day last Thursday, Paxton campaign donor Nate Paul of Austin got in on the show. He was pitched into the Travis County jail to hold for the FBI on yet-unlisted felony charges. Perhaps he can advise the deputies on upgrading their countertops.

Honestly, it was a dizzying day of legal bluster.

Former President Donald Trump said he is being called before a Florida federal court. As we all know, anyone accused of espionage immediately reaches for the phone to shout to readers of an obscure social media site, “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN.”

Meanwhile, in Arlington, police are investigating a convent.

Usually when we get this much court activity all at once, it involves the Dallas Cowboys.

The most fascinating case continues to unfold in Austin, where both the prosecution and defense rolled out their celebrity lawyers for Paxton’s August impeachment trial on 20 articles accusing him of bribery, abuse of power and meddling in former employees’ legal complaints against him.

It’s not a criminal trial. The Senate is simply deciding whether Paxton failed to uphold the law and is no longer worthy of the public trust.

So far, the first conclusion we can draw about Houston prosecutors Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin and defense attorneys Tony Buzbee and Dan Cogdell is:

They’re all better lawyers than Paxton.

But DeGuerin and Hardin were at an advantage, arguing from a laundry list of accusations a Texas House committee has compiled for months.

Buzbee is new to Paxton’s case, and relied on his client’s arguments.

It showed.

At one point, Buzbee displayed photos of Paxton’s kitchen countertops at home, shouting about the impeachment article that accuses Paul of paying for renovations at Paxton’s house.

The committee alleged that renovations “included granite countertops!” Buzbee said, citing one of the more colorful moments in hours-long of committee hearing. “Do you remember that article? The granite countertops article?”

He pointed at the kitchen photos.

“Do you see the countertops?” he demanded. “Does that look like any granite you’ve ever seen?”

Uh — no. Because the claim isn’t that the countertops are granite.

The claim is that Paxton’s wife, Sen. Angela Paxton — a potential juror — wanted something better.

So basically, Buzbee showed evidence supporting the prosecution.

It wasn’t the only time in a day that may turn out to be one of the most embarrassing of his career.

Then he shouted, “Receipts! Put up the other one!”

A slide of a receipt flashed on the screen, purportedly to show that Paxton paid for the remodeling.

But The Wall Street Journal reported that the receipt showed the payment went to a flimsy company connected to Paul, linking Paul to the renovations.

So that’s more evidence helping the prosecution.

Paxton, Buzbee and his lawyers also claim that state lawyer Chris Hilton tried to present evidence to a May 24 meeting of the Texas House General Investigating Committee, but was turned away.

But reporters supported by video say that Hilton came to the hearing and tried to hold an impromptu news conference. He was shooed off.

Look, maybe Buzbee is one of the best litigators in Houston.

Cogdell is definitely one of the best criminal defense attorneys, and he’s kept Paxton free on $35,000 bond in connection with a yet-untried 2015 felony criminal fraud charge.

They can run roughshod through the Harris County courthouse all day.

But for now, they’re stuck presenting Paxton’s case.

That only amounts to, “They’re not impeaching me the right way.”

Sooner or later, somebody will have to give the state’s chief lawyer the legal advice he doesn’t want to hear.

Quit.