Texas Senate debate #1 of 3
Excerpt:
"I believe John Cornyn is a bright and intelligent man, but he has never worked in a legislative body," said Mr. Kirk, who sought to portray himself as a moderate able to work with both sides of the aisle in the Senate.
Mr. Cornyn said Mr. Kirk was trying to dupe voters into believing that he was in step with Bush policies. "He likes to say he stands behind President Bush," Mr. Cornyn said. "I would say far behind." Each side tried to hang the Enron albatross around the other's neck.
Mr. Cornyn has called Mr. Kirk a lobbyist for Enron, accusing him of profiting personally from the failed energy trader, which paid the law firm for which he works $180,000 in lobbying fees.
Those fees went for the work of a lawyer in the Tulsa office of Dallas-based Gardere Wynne Sewell who helped draft legislation involving oil and gas royalties.
Mr. Kirk said he hadn't known about the arrangement, and because he doesn't share profits at Gardere, didn't profit from it.
Mr. Kirk has blasted Mr. Cornyn for taking $190,000 in campaign donations from Enron executives and issuing rulings as attorney general that let the company protect some of its financial secrets.
"You basically served as the in-house counsel for Enron; the bad news is the people of Texas were paying you at the time," Mr. Kirk said.
Mr. Cornyn accepted the donations before news of the company's financial scandals broke, and Mr. Cornyn later donated $200,000 to a fund for ex-Enron workers.
"How can you stand here to attack me on Enron when your firm paid you $180,000 and some of it ended up in your pocket?" Mr. Cornyn countered.
This week, Mr. Kirk called on Mr. Cornyn to step down as attorney general and to return his $90,000-a-year salary, accusing him of being an "absentee attorney general" for months.
Mr. Cornyn has defended his work ethic, saying he keeps in constant touch with his office by phone and email.
And he has questioned the $227,000 annual salary Mr. Kirk has collected from Gardere, which paid him a full-time salary while served as Dallas mayor and continues to do so while he spends time running for the Senate. Mr. Cornyn calls it a "sweetheart deal" from a firm that would doubtless expect payback if Mr. Kirk went to the Senate.
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