Ken Paxton's Being Bankrolled by Epstein Associates and Data Centers

I’m sure the headline that Ken Paxton’s taking money from data centers and from a family named in the Epstein files is shocking to no one. For those who remember, Paxton’s office is also the one that cut a plea deal that would have let a Waco attorney who repeatedly sexually abused a 10-year-old boy walk with one day in jail. He seems to go lighter on the pedo crew than most. Can’t be pissing off donors and supporters now can we Paxton?

^{Photo by Eric Gay / AP}

Now here’s what dropped today - NOTUS did an investigation of Paxton’s federal campaign filings and found that through June, his Senate operation which includes his campaign, his leadership PAC, his joint fundraising committees, and his super PAC Lone Star Liberty PAC, has raked in at least $448,000 from executives and PACs that build, operate, or invest in data centers. At least 17 corporate PACs and executives on that list are tied to the industry.

Let’s take a look at some of the cashed checks.

• Bubba Saulsbury (of Saulsbury Industries) wrote a $100,000 check to Paxton Victory on June 26 (his company does engineering and construction for data centers, and he’s a full throated MAGA donor).

• Laurie Harrison (the Rosewood Corporation) wrote him a $100,000 check in June, on top of $7,000 earlier donation.

• Kent Companies CEO William Kent donated $50,000 into Lone Star Liberty PAC on May 19.

• Todd Platt at Hillwood, developed a 400-acre data center north of Fort Worth, threw in $3,500.

• Tyler Winklevoss, the crypto twin who has invested in data-center build outs, donated $13,500.

Then there’s SAGO Energy LP, which cut a $100,000 check to Paxton Victory on June 30. SAGO is owned by WTG Energy, which powers data centers. Federal law bans corporations from donating directly to candidates and Paxton’s campaign has already admitted the donation was illegal. So one of the data center donations he was banking on is straight-up unlawful.

And no, I wasn’t surprised a person mentioned in the Epstein files is found to support a Republican. News today uncovered Doug Jaffe donated $3,500 to Paxton’s campaign, and his family has kicked in more than $6,000 total to pro-Paxton groups since the Epstein files were released. The Jaffe family runs Jetran, a Texas aviation company that was in talks back in 2016 to buy Jeffrey Epstein’s plane…the one known as the Lolita Express. The Lolita Express is the plane that trafficked children for Epstein between his properties. The deal fell through, allegedly over “engine issues”, but the emails between Epstein’s team and the Jaffes are in the DOJ document release. Doug Jaffe III also shows up in a separate 2020 FBI tip alleging drug and sex trafficking at a resort in Acapulco co-owned by his aunt Jana Jaffe. That FBI investigation was closed as inconclusive.

This is the same Ken Paxton whose office negotiated a plea deal for Adam Hoffman, a Waco attorney arrested for repeated sexual abuse of a 10 year old boy. Hoffman was originally facing life without parole but Paxton’s office offered him a slap on the wrist with two misdemeanors, one day in jail, no sex offender registration, and would have allowed him keep his law license. Judge Roy Sparkman was shocked when he saw the sentencing and threw the deal out. Instead the sentencing was revised and Hoffman had to do 60 days in jail and had to surrender his law license for five years. Hoffman was released after 29 days.

Predators love funding a guy who gives predators sweetheart deals. I scratch your back, you scratch mine.

On August 3 Abbott announced his new campaign strategy where he was supposedly putting a pause on new data centers from connecting to the grid until the PUC and ERCOT audit their power and water usage. Let’s ignore for a second that he’s the reason that Google got billions of dollars in tax incentives to set up data centers here in the first place. What he didn’t mention is that he has taken $2.5 million from donors who benefit from the Texas AI boom. Real estate titan Ed Roski Jr. gave him $1 million in April, Kelcy Warren gave $500,000 in June, Space Karen (Elon Musk) gave $500,000 earlier this year. Both Warren and Roski have data center projects in the pipeline. It’s so shameless that even Sid Miller, the Republican Ag Commissioner, is telling Abbott to give the money back.

When I saw the headline about Abbott being bankrolled by data centers, the first thing I thought was, does a bear sh*t in the woods? OF COURSE he’s still cashing checks from them while pretending to stop them from taking over Texas, it’s political theater. He needs to look like he’s listening to Texans who are sick of data centers hogging the grid and draining the water while their electric bill goes up, but he also needs Kelcy Warren’s next check to clear. If you want more data centers in Texas, vote Abbott and Paxton. If you want true moratoriums on data centers and true regulations on them, vote for Gina Hinojosa, James Talarico and Vikki Goodwin.

As of June 30, Talarico had $21.5 million in cash on hand while Paxton only had $1.8 million (womp womppp). Paxton pathetically went on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo, and after she asked him why he’s trailing in a state Trump won by double digits, he said, “Go to KenPaxton.com and help us because we need help!” I’ve never in my life seen a Texas Republican this far into campaigning beg for money because he’s losing so badly.

PS - Side note, Paxton took a European vacation in July with his mistress while his fundraising was tanking. Between him and Turd Cruz, we can’t keep our politicians from bailing on Texas any chance they get.

All these industry checks are pouring in right now because Paxton is running on E, and the data center lobby knows it. They know they can buy him cheap so that when he’s in the Senate, he votes the way they need him to.

Here’s the good news, Talarico is out-raising Paxton by more than 10 to 1, Texans are turning on data centers hard (thank goodness), and Paxton’s silence on the issue is starting to hurt him. His own office still hasn’t answered Hood County’s question in February about whether local governments can impose data center moratoriums…it’s been six months. Meanwhile Gina Hinojosa is within one point of Abbott, and Vikki Goodwin is up two on Dan Patrick since the THC ban. This ticket is winnable, but it’s only winnable if we actually show up.

1. Check out the NOTUS investigation by Taylor Giorno and the MS NOW story on the Jaffe donations.

2. Donate to James Talarico’s campaign. He has the money advantage right now and that makes it harder for the data center lobby to close the gap.

3. On November 3, vote James Talarico for U.S. Senate against Ken Paxton. Vote Gina Hinojosa for Governor against Greg Abbott. Vote Vikki Goodwin for Lieutenant Governor against Dan Patrick. Vote Democrat down-ballot. Register at votetexas.gov by October 5.

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See y’all tomorrow.