News Release: West Texas Appeals Court Lets Ken Paxton Off The Hook

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCTOBER 1, 2021

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been dismissed from a major public records lawsuit after the Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo reversed the decision from the trial court that allowed him to be sued directly.

Dolcefino Consulting had filed a lawsuit in early 2018 to try to force the state school to turn over public records they were refusing to release detailing the firing of former football coach Mike Leach.

After years of court hearings and multiple judges across West Texas, Judge Paul Davis had ruled we had the right to sue Attorney General Paxton for his role in the cover-up by Texas Tech.

Ken Paxton is charged with ensuring the right of Texans to see public records, but his office is also supposed to represent state universities at the same time.

The conflict of interest in this case became clear and Dolcefino Consulting added the Attorney General to the lawsuit. We believe the structure of the Texas Public Information Act is unconstitutional and denies us the right to due process when schools like Texas Tech refuse to follow the law.

“We are still left with a broken system for accessing information that should be public,” said Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “How can we or anyone get a fair shake when the impartial third party in these cases simply cannot be impartial? There is a clear conflict of interest.”

The opinion for the decision by the appeals court was written by Justice Judy Parker. Parker called the argument by Dolcefino Consulting compelling but decided that because the legislature wrote the law the way it did, our constitutional rights haven’t been violated despite the refusal of Ken Paxton to provide us with due process.

“No offense to the Texas Seventh Court of Appeals, but they all went to Texas Tech for law school, so they have their own conflict in this case.” Dolcefino said. “Texas Tech has destroyed records, lied about the existence of public records, overcharged us for records, and the Attorney General has colluded with the school to help them get away with it.”

Documents accidentally released in the litigation prove that the school lied to fans and donors about the firing of Coach Leach. They also prove that Texas Tech hid public records from us and you.

The case has been sent back to the 99th District Court in Lubbock and Dolcefino Consulting will keep fighting to hold Paxton and Texas Tech responsible for hiding the truth.


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