Texas AG Ken Paxton demands House Speaker Dade Phelan resign over video
Paxton’s call for Phelan’s resignation comes after conservative figures began circulating a video on social media this week purporting to show the House Speaker slurring his words while on the House floor. In his statement, Paxton accuses Phelan of being “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication” in the aforementioned video and requested the House General Investigating Committee to look into the House Speaker.
Speaker Dade Phelan should resign. pic.twitter.com/ZD920VOt1X
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 23, 2023
“His conduct has negatively impacted the legislative process and constitutes a failure to live up to his duty to the public,” Paxton said in a Twitter statement Tuesday. “His failures as Speaker have created a credibility crisis for all Republican candidates and for our entire party.”
The 30-second video initially went viral over the weekend when conservative activists and party affiliates alleged Phelan was intoxicated during the House proceeding Friday.
“Anyone who watches the #txlege House knows many of the members are regularly intoxicated. Watching the Speaker be this wasted is absolutely unacceptable. These Representatives are making laws that impact 30 million Texans. It must stop,” former Texas state Rep. Jonathan Strickland R-Bedford, wrote in a tweet Saturday.
Since the beginning of the current legislative session, House Speaker Phelan and Republican leadership have butted heads over policy differences on property taxes and the scope of eligibility for Gov. Greg Abbott’s preferred school voucher legislation. In his call for his resignation, Paxton also said Phelan’s leadership had created obstacles in passing conservative priority legislation.
“Texans were relying on the House to pass critical conservative priorities, including protesting the integrity of elections and preventing Chinese spies from controlling Texas land,” Paxton said Tuesday.
Since the beginning of the current legislative session, House Speaker Phelan and Republican leadership have butted heads over policy differences on property taxes and the scope of eligibility for Gov. Greg Abbott’s preferred school voucher legislation. In his call for his resignation, Paxton also said Phelan’s leadership had created obstacles in passing conservative priority legislation.
“Texans were relying on the House to pass critical conservative priorities, including protesting the integrity of elections and preventing Chinese spies from controlling Texas land,” Paxton said Tuesday. The attorney general is himself the subject of investigations into alleged official improprieties, and is currently awaiting trial after being indicted for felony security fraud charges in 2015. In September of last year, Paxton fled his home to avoid being served a subpoena in connection to a lawsuit filed against him by an abortion fund, according to an affidavit obtained by The Texas Tribune.
Phelan’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.