Austin. On Tuesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office issued a statement asking state budget preparers to fund a $3.3 million payout to whistleblowers, saying the cost of continuing the trial would be much higher.

But the attorney general dodged the question of whether he would use his own campaign coffers if the Legislature didn’t pay the bill in taxpayer dollars.

Paxton and his agency clashed with lawmakers for the first time on Tuesday since they agreed to settle a whistleblower lawsuit with four former senior employees who pleaded for revenge after Paxton was accused of serious crimes.

While conditions are set, the agreement is “subject to all necessary funding approvals.”

At a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Houston Democratic Representative Jarvis Johnson asked if Paxton would be willing to use his campaign account to raise $3.3 million.

Paxton, a third-term Republican, did not answer the question. Instead, the agency’s lawyer, Chris Hilton, who sat next to him, spoke.

“I don’t want to speak on behalf of the attorney general,” said Hilton, who heads the office’s general judiciary division.

“I will just say that there is not a single whistleblowing case where any person has paid anything because that person is not liable under the provisions of the law,” Hilton said. “Furthermore, under the terms of the Settlement agreement, neither party admits guilt, liability, or wrongdoing.”

While a whistleblower lawsuit was filed against the agency, many of the charges centered on Paxton’s own actions.

It is unclear whether the attorney general will be allowed to use his campaign coffers to cover the settlement. As a rule, state law prohibits the use of this money for personal needs, but allows it to be spent on the expenses of officials.

As of January, Paxton’s campaign account had $2.3 million, according to his latest filing with the Texas Ethics Commission. Legislators and certain state officials are not allowed to raise campaign money during the legislative session.

On Tuesday, Hilton told lawmakers that it would be better for the state to resolve the situation now than to continue to fight in court.

The agency has already spent nearly $600,000 on outside lawyers hired to handle the whistleblower lawsuit, which was filed in late 2020, he said.

“From a financial point of view, there is no benefit to the state in this case, even a full acquittal in court leads to significant costs,” Hilton told the committee.

When asked what would happen if the money didn’t arrive, Hilton said that since the lawsuit was still pending, he didn’t want to “go into too many details.”

But he reiterated that the settlement was “to save money for the state of Texas.”

“This is a settlement in the interests of the state,” he said.

Rep. Steve Ellison, a San Antonio Republican, said it strikes him that lawmakers are between “the proverbial rock and hard place.”

“Either we are paying $3.3 million now, or we are paying much more, either in additional legal fees or because of an adverse outcome,” he said.

Earlier, Paxton said that while cost was a factor in the settlement, so was the Travis County venue. In a recent interview with conservative talk radio, Paxton called Travis County “over-liberal” and unlikely to shake him up.

Some lawmakers are unhappy about the $3.3 million bill being paid, including Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, who told CBS DFW last week that it was “an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.” Abbott told The Texas Tribune on Monday. that he should learn more about it.

“This may not even make it to my table, but as Speaker Phelan made clear, this is a matter that the attorney general will have to fully explain to both the House and the Senate,” said Abbott, a third-term Republican. Tribune.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the whistleblowers said the denial of funding for the settlement would set a bad example for other government officials who might want to report possible corruption.

Whistleblowers include former Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Mark Penley, former Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel Ryan Vassar, former Deputy Attorney General for Policy and Strategic Initiatives James “Blake” Brickman, and former Law Enforcement Director David Maxwell. All four were fired.

They were among a group of eight senior Attorney General officials who went to law enforcement in late 2020 with accusations that Paxton had abused his position to help a campaign sponsor.

The FBI has launched an investigation into the allegations, which was recently conducted by Justice Department officials in Washington, according to the Associated Press. Paxton denies wrongdoing. Last year, a third-term Republican called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt.

When an MP asked about the investigation on Tuesday, Hilton declined to comment, saying it was “beyond my remit.” Paxton didn’t answer the question.

The $3.3 million payout is just one aspect of the settlement, which also says Paxton will apologize to whistleblowers for calling them “rogue employees.” His agency will also remove a press release critical of the whistleblowers, and the final settlement agreement will include a line that says, “Paxton acknowledges that Plaintiffs acted in the way they felt was right.”

The document says that the conclusion of a settlement agreement means the non-acknowledgement of “responsibility or guilt” by any party.