Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have misstated his current employment status to the Texas State Bar.
According to State Bar records available to the public on-line, it appears that for the past six years, Attorney General Gonzales has listed himself as a "full time judge" with the Texas bar, even though he has not held a judicial position since 2000.
This is important because his employment status affects with the Texas state bar affects whether he must take 15 hours of CLE each year, including 3 hours of ethics. CLE acts as a tax on attorneys; it will cost you about $200 a year to stay compliant.
I went and checked on this matter personally. So far as I know, no one else in the media or otherwise has picked up this story. More after the fold:
During the 77th session (2000), the Texas Legislature added Texas Government Code 81.115, which requires attorneys to provide accurate profile information for the Texas State Bar website. See http://www.texasbar.com/...
The Texas State Bar also requires that attorneys every year take 15 hours of continuing legal education ("CLE), unless the attorney is exempt. See http://www.texasbar.com/...
Federal employees are NOT exempt. However, "full time" judges are exempt from CLE requirements
Knowing that Alberto Gonzales is a member of the Texas State Bar, I thought it would be interesting to check out what he has told the State Bar about his employment.
I went to the Texas State Bar home page at http://www.texasbar.com/ and typed in Alberto Gonzales into the lawyer search page. Alberto is listed as a "full time judge."
The last time Mr. Gonzales was a full-time judge was in 2000. In January 2001, he became White House Counsel. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Now...some of you at this point are saying that this was merely an oversight by Mr. Gonzales. Surely, you will say, Mr. Gonzales probably just forgot to update his bio for the Texas State Bar. He is, after all, a busy man.
So, riddle me this: if Mr. Gonzales merely "forgot" to update his bio for the Texas state bar to reflect that he was no longer a judge, how come the Texas state bar lists his address at what appears to be the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.?
From my perspective, it looks like Attorney General Gonzales decided that he would misrepresent his status to the state bar to get out of CLE requirements. Its a small thing, sure, but it fits hand-in-glove with his attitude towards the law.
Now, look, I'm just a simple person and an occasional blogger. I've given the links above, and anyone who likes can go check it out and tell me I'm wrong. But check it out for yourself...