As Texas judge, Gonzales heard donors' cases

Practice legal, but still faces criticism

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff  |  January 27, 2005

WASHINGTON -- When White House counsel Alberto Gonzales was a Texas Supreme Court justice running to stay in office in 2000, he took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from companies that had business before him and he did not recuse himself from voting on their cases.

The practice is legal in Texas, and Gonzales was not the only judge to benefit from it. But his record in 2000 -- when he raised $539,000 for the Republican primary, outraising his opponent by a 1,047-to-1 ratio -- drew special criticism from an Austin-based group that tracks the influence of money on government.

Gonzales's nomination to be US attorney general was approved yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted 10-8 on party lines to send his confirmation to the Senate floor. Criticism of his nomination has focused on his role in formulating the Bush administration's policies on torture and interrogations.

But to government watchdog groups, his record of declining to recuse himself from cases involving campaign contributors is also worthy of scrutiny.

''It raises questions about the integrity of his decision-making process," said Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause, a public corruption watchdog group. ''When you have people come before the bench from whom you have accepted campaign contributions, and you don't recuse yourself, that raises questions."