John Cornyn Says He Regrets Investigations of Washington Cronies
Cornyn Says He Regrets Investigations of Washington Cronies:
Opposes Investigation into U.S. Attorney Scandal, Continuing Washington Record of Enabling Abuse
Houston, TX. – After six years of rubber-stamping the administration’s brazen abuses of power, John Cornyn said Thursday he was uninterested in investigating lawbreaking by government officials, said the Rick Noriega campaign today.
In last Thursday’s debate, responding to a question about the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent report which concluded that nine United States Attorneys had been improperly dismissed for political reasons, Cornyn dismissed any further inquiry into potential violations of federal law out of hand, explaining that “we have a pretty good idea what happened.”
He elaborated on his indifference to an investigation by citing the danger that politics would be “mixed up” in the prosecution of crimes by government officials. He went on to lament that many “good people chewed up by that [Washington's] ugliness and their reputations destroyed.”
Here’s the video:
Just 20 minutes later, Cornyn lamented the diminished sense among Americans “that we are a nation that believes in applying laws to everyone.”
Really?
“John Cornyn consistently fails to grasp the connection between his failures to confront abuses of power and the decimated trust of the American people in their government,” said Holly Shulman, Press Secretary.
According to John Cornyn’s indecipherable logic, prosecution of government officials for crimes – at least by Republicans – is unworkable since politics will inevitably be ‘mixed up’ in any investigation. The U.S. attorney scandal presented a direct assault on the impartial administration of justice and you’d hope John Cornyn, a former Attorney General, would get it.
“It’s not clear which of his many corrupt and troubled Washington friends Cornyn believes had their reputations unjustly destroyed by investigations,” said Shulman. “It turns out that Cornyn is only a proponent of the ‘rule of law,’ when it doesn’t apply to his ethically and legally tarnished political allies.”
Cornyn’s debate comments follow a track record of hostility to oversight, which he has demonstrated on a range of topics: manipulation of Iraq War intelligence, waste and fraud by government contractors, extrajudicial domestic spying, and torture.
CORNYN’S OPPOSITION TO ACCOUNTABILITY
When Other Lawmakers Called for Investigation of Bailouts, Cornyn Called for a Time Out. According to the Daily Deal, “Other lawmakers aren’t waiting for reflections, however. House back-benchers Scott Garrett, R-N.J., and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, have actually introduced legislation that would set up a bipartisan committee to investigate Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s actions and make recommendations aimed at preventing future financial disasters. No doubt, the much-harried Paulson appreciated Sen. John Cornyn’s call to take a time out. As more firms threaten to crumble into the Manhattan pavement, the Texas Republican suggested from the Senate floor that ‘we need to cool down, take a breath and look at the economy more closely.’” [Daily Deal, 9/19/08]
John Cornyn voted against oversight in Iraq At Least 15 times. [S.2400 Vote #120 6/16/04; HR 3058, Vote #259, 10/19/05; HR 2862, Vote #228, 9/14/05; S 1042, Vote #316, 11/10/05; S 2766, Vote #176, 6/20/06; HR 2658, Vote #278, 7/16/03; HR 5631, Vote #236, 9/7/06; HR 1495, Vote #168, 5/16/07; HR 1591, Vote #147, 4/26/07; S.Amdt. 4885 to H.R. 5631, Vote # 233, 9/6/06, passed 54-44; HR 2658, Vote #281, 7/16/03; HR 2658, Vote #283, 7/16/03; HR 2658, Vote #279, 7/16/03; H 2658, Vote #287, 7/17/03; S. Amdt. 1275 to H.R. 2658, Vote # 284, 7/16/03, passed 51-45]
Cornyn Voted to Allow Iraq Contractors, Including Halliburton, To Continue Paying Top Bush Administration Officials. In October 2003, Cornyn voted to kill an amendment that would cut off Iraq reconstruction contracts for any company that has financial ties to the president, vice president or any Cabinet member. Specifically, the amendment was targeted at Halliburton, which had already received $1.4 billion to restore Iraq’s oil industry while continuing to make severance payments to Vice President Cheney. [Vote 386, 10/16/03; AP, 10/16/03; NPR, "Morning Edition," 10/17/03]
Cornyn Killed Plan to Provide Oversight For Iraq Reconstruction Spending. In October 2003, Cornyn voted to kill a proposal that would have allowed President Bush to quickly spend the first half of the $20.3 billion for reconstruction in the Fiscal Year 2004 emergency spending bill, while requiring him to get Congressional approval before spending the rest in 2004. [Vote 385, 10/16/03; AP, 10/16/03]
John Cornyn Voted To Grant Blanket Amnesty to Law Breaking Telecoms Involved in Extrajudicial Domestic Spying. In 2008, John Cornyn voted for a bill which granted amnesty for telecom companies that participated in the government’s warrantless wiretapping program. [H.R. 6304, Vote 168, 07/09/08]
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