The four men behind the whistleblower lawsuit that put Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in political jeopardy were once employees and allies Mr. Paxton chose to further his conservative agenda.

The four staff members, James Blake Brickman, David Maxwell, Mark Penley and Ryan Vassar, joined forces when they decided that the actions they saw involving Mr. Paxton were too concerning to leave at that.

They filed the whistleblower lawsuit in 2020 after Mr. Paxton ignored their repeated expressions of concern. According to the 372-page dossier that exposed his allegations, the four staff members fell out with Paxton after the FBI raided the home of Nate Paul, a wealthy Austin real estate investor and Paxton donor, in 2019. Convinced that the authorities had acted illegally, Mr. Paul enlisted the help of Mr. Paxton.

In the lawsuit, the four men allege that Mr. Paxton not only used his influence to arrange and attend a meeting of Mr. Paul and his attorney with the staff of the local district attorney’s office, but also assigned a private attorney to look into Mr. Paul’s concerns.

All four said in the complaint that they believed Mr. Paxton “had violated Texas criminal law, including, but not limited to, bribery, undue influence, and abuse of office laws.”

Mr. Paxton, they said in legal documents, “has flagrantly violated and appears to believe he is above the very law that he promotes on his own website.”

Mr. Paxton responded by suspending and then firing them.

Earlier this year, Paxton said that he had reached an agreement with them. But more trouble arose when he asked the state to pay them $3.3 million in compensation, prompting a Texas House committee to investigate his actions to schedule a Saturday afternoon vote on whether to impeach Paxton.

During a press conference on Friday, Paxton called the efforts to charge him “illegal” and “political theatrics,” adding that he had not been given the opportunity to challenge the allegations against him.

He also said he was confident that calls for his impeachment would not prevail. “I hope the House makes the right decision, but if not, I expect a quick resolution in the Texas Senate,” he said.

These are the four complainants.

James Blake Brickman

Mr. Brickman was assistant attorney general for policy and strategy initiatives from February 2020 until his termination on Oct. 20, 2020, according to legal documents. The documents said that Mr. Brickman and Mr. Paxton had a good working relationship before the scandals arose and that, at Mr. Paxton’s request, Mr. Brickman moved his wife and three children to Austin. to work with him. The documents allege that months before Mr. Brickman began expressing concern about Mr. Paxton’s behavior, the attorney general regularly praised his work and once called him an “incredible addition” to his office.

But after staff members questioned efforts to help Paul, the relationship soured, the documents say. Brickman was asked to step away from key meetings, a move he said in court papers was intended to “lessen Brickman’s duties and responsibilities in order to punish, try to intimidate, embarrass or humiliate him.”

Before joining Paxton, Brickman was chief of staff to former Republican Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky. He also served as chief of staff to former Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, also a Republican.

David Maxwell

For 10 years, Mr. Maxwell oversaw a team of approximately 350 employees at the Texas Attorney General’s office, where he served as deputy chief and director of the law enforcement division. The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Maxwell came into conflict with Mr. Paxton when he learned of Mr. Paxton’s attempt to insert himself into the federal investigation involving Mr. Paul. In the lawsuit he filed with other complainants, Mr. Maxwell and Mark Penley asserted that “many of Paul’s complaints were outside state jurisdiction.”

In legal filings, Mr. Maxwell described himself as an “honest, thorough and tough law enforcement investigator.” His law enforcement career spanned some 50 years, including 35 with the Texas Department of Public Safety, most of that time as a Texas Ranger, according to legal documents.

Mr. Maxwell is also known in Texas for helping to identify the man who fatally raped and stabbed his sister, Diane Maxwell Jackson, decades after the crime. which took place in 1969. A judge sentenced his killer to life in prison in 2004.

mark penley

Mr. Penley served as Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Justice under Mr. Paxton for just over a year, from October 8, 2019 to November 2, 2020. During that time, he oversaw a team of about 220 employees in various divisions. , including criminal prosecutions, special prosecutions, criminal appeals and crime victim services, according to legal documents. Mr. Penley, a retired federal prosecutor, has practiced law for nearly 40 years.

Mr. Penley also found himself at odds with Mr. Paxton several times as Mr. Paxton worked to help Mr. Paul resolve his legal problems. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Penley at one point refused to sign a memorandum approving the hiring of the special prosecutor assigned to the raid on Mr. Paul’s properties.

ryan vassar

Until the end of 2020, Mr. Vassar served as the Assistant Attorney General for Legal Counsel for the Attorney General’s Office. He was the last of four former staff members in Mr. Paxton’s office to be fired after corruption allegations against Mr. Paxton surfaced. Vassar said in the lawsuit that he turned down many requests from his former boss to help uncover information that would help Paul.

Vassar had a long legal career in Texas before the scandal broke. Most recently, he has accepted a job as general counsel at the Cicero Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization, according to the institute’s website. For three years, Mr. Vassar clerked for Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willett. He graduated with an accounting degree from Texas Tech University and a law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston.