Cornyn Keeping Tainted Money

Sen. John Cornyn: Standing by the rights of accused, especially when they've given to his campaign

Typical behavior among politicians is to return or donate to charity campaign cash that becomes tainted by a donor's scandal, but not our boy John Cornyn, Texas' junior senator.

Investor R. Allen Stanford of Houston on Tuesday was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of a "massive, ongoing fraud" to the tune of about $8 billion. Stanford was a huge political player making big contributions to both major parties. Many politicians are now saying they'll donate that money to charity, but according to WFAA-TV in Dallas (tip of the hat to Talking Points Memo for the link), Cornyn says he's keeping the $20,000 he got from Stanford because he "believes in the presumption of innocence," according to his office. He's not the only Texan doing so: Congressman Pete Sessions is keeping his Stanford cash as well, WFAA reports. Senior Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will donate her money to charity.

Of course, Cornyn is the same senator who recently sent a letter to President Obama decrying the decision to close Guantanamo and urging that terrorism suspects not be brought to America for trial. Hmmm … perhaps Cornyn's valiant idealism only applies to a certain class of the accused?