Texas Democrats to AG Paxton: Investigate Cambridge Analytica for Data Privacy Violations, Election Laws
Washington, D.C.—Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led a letter to the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urging him to investigate Cambridge Analytica for data privacy violations and election laws in Texas.
“Attorneys General for Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have opened up their own investigations into Cambridge Analytica and we urge you to also follow suit. Indeed, the office of the Attorney General has an obligation to ensure that Texans data has not been misused,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers continued: “Campaigns in our state must be free of nefarious actors masquerading as political strategists. We take privacy and election laws incredibly seriously, and urge you to move as quickly as possible to investigate these issues.”
Other members who joined this letter include Rep. Gene Green (TX-29); Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15); Rep. Al Green (TX-09); Rep. Filemon Vela (TX-34); and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX-35).
Full text of the letter follows and can be found here.
March 26, 2018
Ken Paxton
Attorney General for Texas
300 W. 15th Street
Austin, TX 78701
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
We write to urge you to investigate Cambridge Analytica, the firm that worked for the Ted Cruz and Donald Trump presidential campaigns during the 2016 election cycle, for violations of data privacy and election laws in the wake of credible reports the company may have acted illegally. We also urge you to suspend Cambridge Analyitica from participating in any Texas political campaign in 2018.
Attorneys General for Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have opened up their own investigations into Cambridge Analytica and we urge you to also follow suit. Indeed, the office of the Attorney General has an obligation to ensure that Texans data has not been misused.
Recent revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis and political strategy company based in the United Kingdom, secretly acquired and manipulated the personal, private information of more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission or that of Facebook, must be thoroughly investigated. We are incredibly troubled by this development and are especially concerned how Texans are affected by this apparent deception.
Equally concerning is video footage of Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix discussing the use of bribery and entrapment as a standard political tactic the firm can offer to clients. Bribes to elected officials, sending women to seduce political opponents, and shell companies to hide their involvement in campaigns seems to be how Cambridge Analytica does business. These practices have no place in political campaigns in our state.
Campaigns in our state must be free of nefarious actors masquerading as political strategists. We take privacy and election laws incredibly seriously, and urge you to move as quickly as possible to investigate these issues. We look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
CC:
Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas
Rolando B. Pablos, Secretary of State for Texas
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