Talarico petitions court to unseal Paxton's ethics questions days before his agency's millions turn up in his paycheck.

…(cont) Two weeks later, September 10th, same notebook — Talarico's up in Dallas, no official role at the GOP's own convention, needling Paxton anyway, the paper says, part of a steady drip of campaign tactics aimed at the center. Good politics. Is showing up uninvited to your opponent's convention and getting under his skin bad strategy, or is it exactly the kind of thing a sharp campaign does?

Then it's this week, September 17th, and Fox News has a name I hadn't written down yet: MAYA Consulting. Talarico drew what the story calls a hefty salary from that firm, and the campaign pushed back on the story — while overseeing the Texas Education Agency, the very agency that handed MAYA Consulting millions of dollars in contracts. Millions. I keep coming back to that word because I genuinely don't know where else in my notes to put it.

Here's my demonstration, and it's not the kitchen — my wife made me promise I'd leave the kitchen alone this week. It's the garage two blocks over. In three or four visits this year I don't think I asked the guy behind the counter whether he owns a piece of the parts supplier he keeps sending my fan belt orders to. Should I have? If the inspector and the supplier turn out to be the same pocket, does the sticker still mean what it says it means?

So walk it with me. One document — Paxton's testimony — sits sealed, and a Senate candidate is in court arguing the public has a right to see it. Another set of numbers — the salary, the firm, the contracts, the agency's own signature on the checks — didn't need a judge's order at all. It was sitting in a news story with Talarico's own name on it, same month, same state, page nine. Does a fact need a judge's order to matter, or does it just need somebody to turn the page?

Wait, hang on — one more line, right at the bottom of the notebook, and I almost missed it climbing back up the page. The petition wants a judge to unseal what two men said under oath. The contracts, the salary, the agency's own checks — none of that needed a judge. It was public the whole time, same week, same fold, waiting on the same question the depositions are stuck on: what does it actually take to unseal millions?