Monday afternoon, the Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA) sent out a proud email, patting one their most prominent members on the back. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has a new op-ed out, you see, in which he tells the Corpus Christi Caller-Times' audience all the things he's done to combat human trafficking in Texas during his time as attorney general, and the group wants to make sure people read it.
Paxton's article is an attempt to take a victory lap for the successes his office has had combating what he calls "modern-day slavery" ahead of his election against Houston attorney Justin Nelson, who's made inroads against the incumbent by focusing on Paxton's fights against allowances made for children brought to the country illegally and the Affordable Care Act, as well as the fact that the attorney general is still under felony indictment.
So the attorney general could use the good press. Unfortunately for Paxton, he doesn't just have to deal with Nelson, he has to deal with his own employees. As the RAGA and Paxton were getting the word out about the good attorney general's work supporting women, Paxton's spokesman, Marc Rylander, hopped on the old Twitter machine and retweeted a few gems about the recent sexual assault allegations made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Rylander equates the detailed, public allegations by Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor, with cheating at a kindergarten game of "pin the tail on the donkey."
Rylander also retweeted another tweet from Mark Simone, a right-wing radio host, exclaiming that "Judge Kavanaugh now being accused of kicking his mother several times … while in the womb,” before deleting the tweet.
Rylander did not return a request for an interview Monday.
Paxton's office has at least one deep tie to Kavanaugh. Zina Bash, Kavanaugh's confirmation sherpa who became a subject of controversy during the judge's confirmation hearings, was hired by Paxton earlier this year before heading back to Washington when Kavanaugh was nominated.