A new report has revealed that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was the subject of an investigation for perjury for signing several conflicting statements concerning his residence in an alleged attempt to keep his position as the highest-paid judge in the Lone Star State. He was also later accused of “double dipping” by supplementing his Senate salary with public pensions that he did not disclose for years.
The Texas Republican, who has fallen behind Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the upcoming Senate primary runoff for the seat he currently occupies, was also sued by Webb County in the fall of 1991 for a conflict of interest for being a member of the Texas Supreme Court while also still presiding over the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region.
Reports published in June 1992 reveal that the then-judge had a lawsuit filed against him before he stepped down from that second administrative judicial position. “The seemingly endless brouhaha began with Cornyn’s decision to retain his post as administrative judge for the region that includes San Antonio after he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court,” the San Antonio Light explained.
“The extra salary he made from the $18,000-per-year administrative post temporarily made him the highest-paid judge in the state,” the report continued, according to Breitbart. “Webb County District Attorney Joe Rubio sued Cornyn to remove him from the administrative job, but that suit was settled shortly before Cornyn agreed [in January 1992] to resign the administrative judgeship at the end of March.”
“Left unresolved in the courts was whether Cornyn was required legally to maintain a residence in the 22-county region,” it added. During the time that the senator held the two positions, he was making over $109,000 a year, which in today’s economy would be worth triple that figure. Breitbart then noted that he issued conflicting statements about his residency so he could keep those positions, which led to a perjury investigation by the Travis County District Attorney.
An article from the Houston Post provided a deeper look into how Travis County District Attorney Ronald Earle examined the documents. According to the article, there were four sworn statements signed by Cornyn that all claimed his legal residence was located in Austin. A fifth statement said that Cornyn had not given up his legal residency in San Antonio.
This raised questions of perjury because both cannot be true. He was either legally residing in Austin or in San Antonio. Not both. The fifth statement said the Texas Republican abandoned his second judicial post which presided over 22 counties in the state. He also told the court that state law does not mandate active judges to reside within the regions they supervise.
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However, that point was disputed by attorneys who said lawmakers never intended presiding judges to live outside their regions. Cornyn handwaved the complaints away, claiming they were nothing more than “political harassment.” The future senator told the press, “[It’s] an attempt to embarrass me. He’ll dismiss it virtually out of hand.”
Ultimately, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office opted not to pursue criminal charges against Cornyn and he essentially swept the matter under the rug, going on to become the state’s attorney general in 1999 before running for the Senate. Cornyn has collected over a million dollars in Texas pension payments since becoming a member of the U.S. Senate. A series of financial-disclosure amendments state he has been collecting a $10,132 pension since 2006.
Watch Paxton skewer Cornyn here: