From the “how did he get so rich on a government salary?” files.
Still a crook any way you look
Over the course of Ken Paxton’s decade-long rise to prominence, through scandal and turmoil, questions about his finances have followed him. Opponents scrutinized his real estate holdings and suggested that he has used his public office to enrich himself personally — allegations that have never been proven.
With Mr. Paxton locked in a close, contentious race for U.S. Senate in Texas, his Democratic opponent has questioned how Mr. Paxton, the state attorney general, has amassed a multimillion dollar real estate portfolio on a public servant’s salary.
Now, Mr. Paxton’s federal financial disclosure forms and additional records obtained by The New York Times shed light on one unusual source of his income: a cellular tower company from which Mr. Paxton made between $100,000 and $1 million about every 18 months.
The company controls at least one tower in a city north of Dallas that was erected around 20 years ago on the property of a hospital where Mr. Paxton was a board member.
Mr. Paxton co-founded the company, Premier Vertical Properties, in 2005; he reported serving on the board of the hospital, Centennial Medical Center, from 2003 to 2013. Records show that Premier signed a deal to lease space on the tower to T-Mobile in 2006; the hospital’s parent company at the time, Tenet Hospitals, was mentioned in the lease agreements.
The terms of any agreement that may have been struck between Mr. Paxton’s company and the hospital are not clear. Tenet did not respond to questions, and the hospital’s current administration said it could not provide information about a deal made before its tenure.
Industry experts said a hospital’s board would need to review and approve a decision to lease land to a cell tower company such as Premier. It is not clear whether Mr. Paxton, as a board member, voted on any contract between the hospital and his company, or whether he had participated in any such discussions.
[…]
Industry experts expressed surprise that a cell tower in a prime spot — near a highway and a hospital in a busy area — would be snapped up by a cell tower company like Mr. Paxton’s, which had been created only the year before, and not by a larger, more established firm.
“It’s basically like the guy that steps to bat and hits a home run off one swing,” said Hugh Odom, who runs a cell tower consulting firm that exclusively represents landowners.
Emphasis mine. I put that there to make it clear that the issue being raised in this story is not that Paxton made a smart and/or lucky investment, but that as a board member for a hospital that gave a contract to his company that turned into a lucrative deal he was in a position to stack the deck in his favor. His financial disclosure forms aren’t very clear about how much all this is actually worth, but that’s a side issue. It’s a gift link, so read the rest and decide for yourself, is this another example of Paxton self-dealing, or is it just an annoying example of a good thing happening to a bad person.