Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton visited Utah during devastating winter storms



[ad_1]

Paxton’s campaign spokesman Ian Prior did not tell CNN when the couple had left or returned, but said the attorney general “did not leave Texas until power returned to the country. most of the state, including his own house. “

“Attorney General Paxton attended a pre-scheduled meeting with the Utah Attorney General to discuss several issues,” Prior said, listing a law enforcement scenario simulator demonstration and “strategy “on a Google lawsuit as some of the reasons for the trip.

Paxton’s trip makes him the second high-profile Republican to leave the state during the crisis, after Sen. Ted Cruz was spotted on a plane to Cancun, Mexico last week as millions of Texans found themselves without electricity or water. Back in Houston Thursday afternoon, Cruz told reporters outside his home that it was “obviously a mistake” and that “in retrospect I would not have done it”.

“I started to have doubts almost the moment I sat on the plane, because on the one hand, all of us who are parents have a responsibility to take care of our children, to take care of our families. It’s something Texans do. across the state, “said Cruz, who said in a previous statement that he flew to Mexico because his daughters asked to take a trip and he was trying to be a” good father. “.

As an elected official to federal office, Cruz has no field role in responding to the storm, but natural disasters are often a time when voters turn to their elected officials for help and access to resources. .

As Texas Attorney General, Paxton is responsible for overseeing key aspects of the state’s response to the devastating winter storm.

As a result, he was faced with the swift reaction from the state’s Democratic politicians, including Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, who said in a declaration, “Texas Republicans don’t care who they’ve been elected to represent, and they continue to focus on issues that don’t affect the lives of everyday Texans to make them think that they are doing their job. “
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary and Texas Native Julian Castro tweeted that Paxton and Cruz “don’t care who they are supposed to represent”.

As state officials scramble to relight Texas household lights still in darkness and remedy widespread water disruptions, some residents face damage that could take weeks – even weeks. months – to recover.

Some 8.6 million people – almost a third of the state’s population – still had water disruptions as of Monday night, according to Gary Rasp, media specialist for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.



[ad_2]

Source link