It's one thing for the Collin County Commissioners Court to be seething mad because the county has to foot the bill for the prosecution of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Lawyers always make out like bandits.

But it's really worrying to watch how the Republican-controlled court fought tooth and nail over paying special prosecutors to handle the criminal case against Paxton at the rate they were promised.

The whole thing smacks of partisan pandering — an attempt to undermine legal proceedings against one of their own.

From the beginning, the commissioners wanted to cap legal fees at $100,000 for the prosecution of Paxton, who's accused of violating state securities laws and faces three felony charges. Paxton is accused of duping people into investing in a McKinney startup energy company without telling them he was getting paid by the company.

He was a state lawmaker at the time of the alleged crime.

I should point out that the federal government brought up civil charges against Paxton for the same allegations, and a federal judge threw the charges out earlier this month. That outcome bodes well for Paxton, and it prompted growing calls among Republicans for the state criminal charges to be dropped.

The problem — at least in terms of perceptions — is that Republicans began putting their hands on the scale long before the civil charges went away.

A federal judge threw out civil charges against Paxton this month, but his state criminal case is pending. (Jae S. Lee/Staff Photographer)

Back in January, Collin County Judge Keith Self questioned the need for "gold-plated justice," a reference to the cost of the prosecution. But he said the county's hands were tied by a judge's order requiring the county to pick up the tab.

His commissioners court has been bickering about the legal bills ever since, egged on by other GOP operatives who've balked at subsidizing what they're calling a political witch hunt.

Now, there is some evidence of serious political meddling in the case.

The most disturbing revelation of foul play came last week when my colleague, Lauren McGaughy, obtained a series of text messages among five state lawmakers from Collin County: Reps. Jodie Laubenberg (R-Parker), Jeff Leach (R-Plano), Scott Sanford (R-McKinney) and Matt Shaheen (R-Plano), and Sen. Van Taylor (R-Plano).

In those texts, lawmakers talked about pressuring county commissioners to cut funding for the case.

They didn't stop there.

They also discussed exhorting Self to violate the court order handed down by the presiding district judge.

"All of us agree (hopefully) on the end goal," Leach wrote in an Oct. 17 text. "Question is what can we do to move the ball toward that goal line."

Shaheen responded: "I'll ask Keith [Self] if they lowered the fees and discuss options to stop payments."

"Perfect," Leach shot back. "Let him know we are here to help — not hurt. If Keith got sent to jail for this — I'd be the first to bail him out."

Or, perhaps, Leach would've been the first to follow Self to jail.

In politics, sunshine is strong disinfectant.

And it's no surprise that, just a few days after we published McGaughy's story, Collin County commissioners backed away from putting financial pressure on the prosecution. Well, sort of.

Rather than refusing to pay future bills for the special prosecutors or immediately appeal the judge's order, commissioners agreed to keep their powder dry. They passed a resolution that keeps their options open.

By the way, Collin County is on the hook for the special prosecutors because that's where the criminal case originated. Collin County District Judge Scott Becker negotiated the $300-per-hour fee when he appointed them.

It's a sticky situation.

"We do have a case here that has mixed politics and law. There's no doubt about it," said Self, a Paxton supporter who has donated to the attorney general's campaign. "We have to be very careful as a commissioners court not to be seen to, or even attempting to, place our thumb on the scales of justice in this case."

Sorry, but it looks like that horse left the barn.

The only question now is whether the commissioners and the outside partisan hacks are going to let justice run its course — which means the Paxton case is fully vetted in a court of law — or whether they will keep throwing up roadblocks.

If Collin County lawmakers don't like the state law that forces the county to pay up, their time would be better spent trying to change that law rather than meddling in a criminal case involving a high-profile politician on his home turf.

They may say they're looking out for taxpayers, but it also looks like they're going out of their way to make life easier for Paxton.