"It couldn’t be clearer: James Talarico sees Texans tax dollars as his own personal slush fund."
The claim
On Fox News, Ken Paxton said "It couldn’t be clearer: James Talarico sees Texans tax dollars as his own personal slush fund." He made additional comments calling Talarico's consulting work done for MAYA Consulting "blatant corruption".
Ken Paxton, Fox News, Sep 17 2026
What was actually said
Talarico consulted for MAYA consulting (now VIDA Collaborative) starting in 2019 stating he was "working with districts, nonprofits, and communities to build excellent and equitable educational opportunities for all our students." There is no evidence that his work with MAYA lead to any illegal pay for play in contracts that they were later awarded. These remarks come as reports alleging that Ken Paxton took nearly 1,000 trips accompanied by state police, costing the state $3.3 million dollars from 2015 in security detail costs. Paxton took trips to Hawaii before his trust purchased land there, and a combined 77 trips to Utah and Florida were Paxton's trust also owns property.