Perry renews criticism of Sanchez S&L
Posted on 10/02/2002 2:09:38 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Perry renews criticism of Sanchez S&L
Democrat's campaign calls release of documents illegal
10/02/2002
AUSTIN - The relentless political drumbeat on homeowners insurance paused briefly Tuesday, as Republican Gov. Rick Perry played variations on a theme from months gone by: Democrat Tony Sanchez's failed savings and loan.
The Perry camp offered reporters a four-inch stack of documents designed to rebut Mr. Sanchez's contention that regulators approved of management actions at Laredo-based Tesoro Savings and Loan, a thrift founded by Mr. Sanchez and his father that failed in 1988, leading to a $161 million federal bailout.
The Sanchez forces countered that the documents were illegally obtained, and that Mr. Sanchez could not legally release the information that would rebut the papers because of the privacy of people mentioned in those rebuttal materials.
The flap centers on commissions paid by Tesoro to officers for loans that eventually went bad, costing the savings and loan about $7 million. The Dallas Morning News reported in December that federal regulators had identified conflicts of interest, because the officers who approved the loans were the same ones who were paid commissions totaling about $400,000.
At the time, Mr. Sanchez said that in-house government supervisors approved the very actions that led federal regulators to consider a mismanagement lawsuit, a claim ultimately not filed but settled when Mr. Sanchez paid the government $1 million.
The documents released by the Perry camp and first reported by the Austin American-Statesman on Monday rebut that explanation. They include correspondence between federal and state agents objecting to and questioning the legality of the commissions.
The papers appear to be from the files of the Texas Savings and Loan Department. But no such documents were released last year after The News requested all public documents on Tesoro. The Sanchez campaign said it had filed a similar request and did not get the documents, either.
Since the documents were not classified as public, it is a third-degree felony for Mr. Perry to release them, even if they were obtained from an agency employee or former worker who had made personal copies, a spokesman for the Sanchez campaign said.
"Wherever they came from, they are protected documents," said Sanchez spokesman Glenn Smith. "They are not open records - we couldn't even get them."
Mr. Perry's spokesman pooh-poohed such talk.
"We believe these documents to be relevant input to the public and entirely proper to be entered into the public record," Ray Sullivan said. "The documents were provided by an individual or group of individuals who are whistle-blowers and not state employees."
E-mail pslover@dallasnews.com
 |
 |
|
|
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.