Below JoAnn’s statement and Rep. Schaefer’s statement is a CALL to ACTION. JoAnn asks that you take the time to contact the Republican State Representatives and Republican Senators. Let them know Texans deserve the facts and the truth – not a bogus impeachment hearing where witnesses and evidence are hidden from our Representatives. We’ve made the process easy, and it will only take minutes to help stop utter treachery.
JoAnn’s statement:
“I remain out of state with family responsibilities and cannot instantly answer hundreds of emails, texts and calls.
“There’s also this principle called “due diligence” and it is my responsibility to make sure Grassroots
America has made every attempt to conduct due diligence before we release statements. If due diligence is out of our reach because the information is protected, then I look to TRUSTED sources – not hotheads or those who are professional discord profiteers.
“My favored standard on all things is Proverbs 18:13: “He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him.” That means before I start declaring guilt or innocence, I want to see the facts. We try extremely hard not to make decisions based solely on emotion or on who we like or don’t like. Facts matter. Truth matters. Process matters. If a process is so flawed that it will NOT yield evidence upon which one can accurately discern the facts in order to get to the Truth, then the process is too flawed to trust.
“State Representative Matt Schaefer conducted and provided the due diligence for which we were looking. His statement is below. I recommend that you read it, re-read it, and learn from it. This is a WISE way of approaching such a grave matter as removing someone from office – whether you personally support that person or not.
“Due process, transparency, and access to witnesses and evidence should be the standard in the Texas House but there is now abundant evidence the standards are much too low there.” JoAnn Fleming, Executive Director
May 26, 2023
Rep. Matt Schaefer’s statement on the impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton:
“I have grave concerns with the process that has been used in the impeachment investigation of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Under the direction of Speaker Phelan, the House Committee on General Investigating has conducted its business for many weeks outside the knowledge of rank and file members of the Texas House. To my knowledge not a single member of the Texas House has interviewed, or directed questions to a single witness, and that includes members of the General Investigating Committee. All interviews were conducted by hired staff.
Nor have any transcripts of interviews with witnesses conducted by committee staff been provided to the members of the full House. Nor have members been provided with substantiating documents.
To be clear, the full Texas House has not heard any testimony from witnesses, nor have we been provided transcripts of such testimony.
As I write this, I cannot determine whether those witnesses were under oath when they were interviewed by staff. I asked two members of the committee and they did not know the answer. Furthermore, it is the stated intent of Speaker Phelan and Chairman Murr that no direct evidence will be provided to the full House when the articles of impeachment are called up for consideration.
Texas Government Code Sec. 665.005 states that the full house may compel testimony. The only transcript that has been provided to the full House was the transcript of staff members of the General Investigating Committee presenting an account of their findings to the committee on May 24th, 2023. After speaking to the parliamentarian of the House, reading the transcript, and asking questions to some members of the General Investigating Committee, I believe this process is being rushed. I do not believe that members of the House have a good understanding of the adequacy, legality, or fairness of the impeachment process. We are being asked to vote on impeachment tomorrow, Saturday, May 27th while in the midst of considering the House budget, and many other legislative items of great importance.
I am deeply disturbed by the way this is being handled. Political considerations seem to be involved.
The weight of the decision we face as members of the Texas House of Representatives is enormous. The practical consequence of impeaching the Attorney General is to overturn an election decided by the voters of Texas. Many (but not all) of the allegations in the impeachment resolution were known to some extent by the voting public at the time of the election.
I publicly opposed Ken Paxton’s re-election in the Republican primary, and I called out his very serious moral and legal failings. But if it is right to impeach Ken Paxton, it is being done in the wrong way. Barring a drastic change in the nature of the House proceedings on impeachment, I will be voting no.
I will vote no because I do not have confidence in the procedure. This impeachment procedure may be a significant departure from the due process considerations afforded during similar proceedings in Texas history. I cannot vote to impeach when the members of the full House have had no direct access to witnesses or supporting documents, and have had no time to properly prepare and understand the matters in question.
The simple truth is that the evidentiary basis to impeach Attorney General Paxton has not been properly established.
Process matters.”
Matt Schaefer
State Representative, District Six
Contact every Republican State Representative and State Senator by Email and follow up with a call to their office telling them that Process Matters and the Texas Legislature shouldn’t operate like the Banana Republic that DC has become.