AUSTIN, Texas – When a small county in the Colorado mountains banished everyone but locals to blunt the spread of the coronavirus, an unlikely outsider raised a fuss: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who called it an affront to Texans who own property there and pressed health officials to soften the rules. “The banishment of nonresident Texas homeowners is entirely unconstitutional and unacceptable,” Paxton said in a news release April 9, when his office sent a letter asking authorities in Gunnison County to reverse course.
An Associated Press review of county and campaign finance records shows Paxton's actions stood to benefit an exclusive group of Texans, including a Dallas donor and college classmate who helped Paxton launch his run