By the time Ken Paxton finally leaves behind the eighth floor of the Price Daniel Sr. State Office Building, where the attorney general’s executive team works, he’ll have spent 12 years as what occupants of his office like to consider Texas’ top law enforcement official. Those dozen years—tied with his predecessor, Greg Abbott, for the longest AG stint in state history—were fought and clawed for, through incessant turmoil and scandal, by the former probate attorney from McKinney.
And Paxton’s tenure has also been filled with lots, and lots, of travel—across Texas, namely to his homebase in Collin County; all around the United States; and, increasingly, to exotic destinations abroad.
It’s not readily apparent who has covered the costs of the attorney general’s travels. Some of these trips appear to have been connected to his official work as AG, while others have been for political or personal purposes. But accompanying Paxton on most of these trips has been a state police security detail, a perk that comes along with serving as governor, lieutenant governor, or AG. And the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is, by law, required to report the quarterly expenses incurred by the state police providing security for these top officials, broken down by destination and the correlating expense of travel, food, fuel, and lodging—providing one window onto taxpayer costs.
