Here's the story coming out of the Texas attorney general's office last week that should have captured the headlines: Attorney General Ken Paxton has established a special unit that will target the $32 billion human trafficking industry, an odious criminal enterprise that has metastasized in Houston particularly and across the state.

Instead, news of that worthy endeavor was subsumed by the ongoing legal morass that only grows heavier and more entangling for the embattled attorney general. As Paxton begins his second year in office, he faces the real possibility of a criminal trial in the near future on securities fraud charges stemming from his work as a private attorney. He also faces new legal questions about a land deal that involved himself, the Collin County district attorney and eight others.

As attorney general Paxton has never known a sunshiny day free of personal legal problems. Even before his 2014 election, he paid a $1,000 fine for failing to register as a securities investment adviser representative. He also has had to recuse himself from some of his agency's work to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

It's only going to get worse. In fact, the attorney general could face prison time.

Like any other defendant, the state's chief legal and law-enforcement officer deserves the presumption of innocence. At the same time, the people of Texas deserve an agency head who can focus full-time on his duties. It's hard to see how an elected official fighting to avoid a long-term lease on a cell in Huntsville can run a major state agency responsible for representing the state of Texas in court, pursuing child-support payments and, yes, prosecuting white-collar crime of the sort he himself may have committed. It's also hard to see how his staff can enjoy going to work every morning when their boss is accused of violating the very laws they have sworn to uphold.

The time has come for Paxton to step down.

Meanwhile, Texas voters need to own up to their complicity in this messy matter. They spurned better qualified candidates in both parties and followed the zeal and persuasiveness of hard-right ideologues - including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz - over a legal and ethical cliff. They chose Paxton even though his legal plight already was well known, even though he virtually disappeared from the campaign trail in the final weeks to avoid hard questions and even though law-enforcement groups began withdrawing their endorsements as more about the allegations came to light. Paxton's election is the most glaring sign that internal turmoil, competing factions and corruption are beginning to take their toll on a party that's held almost absolute power in the state for more than two decades.

A former Texas attorney general - Paxton's predecessor, in fact - has the power to persuade Paxton to do the right thing. Gov. Greg Abbott should insist that he resign and then should appoint a solid conservative with impeccable legal and ethical credentials to take charge of the agency. For the good of the state, for the long-term health of the Republican Party in Texas, Ken Paxton has to go.