A.G. candidate's record questioned
UPI
A.G. candidate's record questioned
DALLAS, April 3 (UPI) - A Dallas newspaper says Republican attorney
general hopeful Barry Williamson is not all he's cracking himself up to
be. The Dallas Morning News says (Friday) public records indicate
Williams, who is a state railroad commissioner, did not represent
hundreds of clients in state and federal court, as he has claimed.
bc-tx-texpolitics
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UPI
A.G. candidate's record questioned
DALLAS, April 3 (UPI) - A Dallas newspaper says public records do not
support Republican attorney general candidate Barry Williamson's highly
touted legal resume.
The Dallas Morning News said today a review of Williamson's
experience as an attorney could not document his campaign claim that
he's represented hundreds of clients and tried cases in federal and
state courts across Texas.
After receiving his law degree from the University of Arkansas in
1982, Williamson worked for a Midland law firm from 1983 to 1985,
specializing in commercial, banking and finance, and oil and gas law.
The newspaper said that during those years, Williamson filed 67 civil
cases in Midland's state district and county courts, with almost all of
the banking and finance cases involving the same client. Records also
show he filed two cases in federal court, neither of which he tried.
Williamson spokesman Eric Bearse said any inconsistencies in the
Republican's legal resume are because much of his work was handled
outside a courtroom and is not part of the public record.
Bearse said Williamson did represent ``hundreds of clients,'' even
though he filed only 67 cases, because ``there are a lot of cases that
you work on that aren't specifically filed under your name.''
He could not provide a specific number of cases, saying such
information is ``hard to get your arms around.''
Williamson's opponent in the April 14 runoff, former Texas Supreme
Court Justice John Cornyn, has accused Williamson of faking his resume
to mislead voters.
Cornyn noted that Williamson won his Railroad Commission post in 1992
after he attacked Democratic incumbent Lena Guerrero for faking her
resume by claiming she had graduated from college when she had not.
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