Tuesday, August 26, 1997
Cornyn gets head start on campaign for Texas
AG
By LORETTA FULTON Senior Staff Writer
Texas Supreme Court Justice John Cornyn will be in Abilene
the week of Sept. 22 to officially campaign for the office of
Texas attorney general.
But he got a head start Monday during a press conference following
his address at Abilene Christian University's opening ceremony.
"I'm in the process of gearing up for a statewide campaign,"
he said. He will join two other men - Tom Pauken and Barry Williamson
- in the race for the Republican nomination in the March 1998
primary.
Pauken is former chairman of the state Republican Party and
Williamson is a Railroad Commissioner.
ornyn, a justice on the high court since 1991, has been a practicing
lawyer for 20 years.
"I'm interested in putting my legal training and experience
to work to represent the people of Texas as their attorney general,"
he said.
Cornyn had several disagreements with Attorney General Dan
Morales, who is seeking re-election and to date has one opponent,
Morris Overstreet, a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
He criticized Morales' enforcement of child support laws. The
state Legislature came close to taking that responsibility away
from Morales, Cornyn said, "because of his poor record of
enforcing child support obligations."
Cornyn said Morales' collection rate has hovered around 19
percent and, because of that, a number of private companies have
gotten into the business.
"We need to a better job than that," he said.
Cornyn also criticized Morales for hiring outside lawyers to
represent Texas in some high profile cases. The attorney general's
office has a $250 million annual budget and more than 3,800 employees.
"You would think that within that office and with that
sort of budget that he could find a lawyer if he himself were
not able to do it," Cornyn said.
Cornyn said his main concern is "we need to have a real
lawyer in that position who is interested in serving as the state's
lawyer and who is not just interested in sort of a political stepping
stone to some other office."
Cornyn has law degrees from St. Mary' University in San Antonio
and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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