Dan Morales
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Daniel C. "Dan" Morales (born 1956) served as Texas attorney general from 1991 through 1999, during the administrations of Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush. As attorney general, Morales reached a $17 billion settlement with big tobacco companies. He also authored the controversial state interpretation of the Hopwood v. Texas case, which ended all affirmative action in higher education in Texas until the United States Supreme Court reversed Hopwood in 2003.
In October 2003, Morales reached a plea deal and admitted to having falsified documents in an attempt to give another lawyer a chunk of the state's tobacco settlement. Before the agreement, Morales had faced trial on twelve counts that included conspiracy and using political money for private purposes.
Morales defeated the Republican state Senator J.E. "Buster" Brown of Houston in the general election of 1990. He was reelected in the largely Republican year of 1994 but did not seek a third term as attorney general in 1998. In 2002, however, he entered the Democratic gubernatorial primary but lost the nomination to Tony Sanchez. In that campaign, Morales refused to engage in a Spanish-language debate sought by the Sanchez. He claimed that Sanchez's request for a Spanish debate would divide, rather than unite the state.[citation needed]
After his primary loss, Morales stunned his party by endorsing the successful Republican nominees for governor and lieutenant governor, Rick Perry and David Dewhurst, respectively. In the 1990s, many Democrats had expected Morales to become in time either governor or U.S. senator.
Morales and a onetime law associate were indicted on federal charges of trying to fraudulently obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in attorney fees from a state settlement with tobacco companies.
Upon his plea of guilt, federal Judge Sam Sparks said. "You've breached the very valuable trust the people of Texas gave you,"[citation needed]
Morales served time in the federal prison in Texarkana.
He was released to a halfway house near his native San Antonio at Christmas 2006. He was released on Friday, March 30, 2007, according to the United States Bureau of Prisons. On December 15, 2004, the Texas Supreme Court accepted Morales' resignation from the bar in lieu of discipline.[1]
Prior to his attorney general tenure, Morales was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from Bexar County.
Morales and his ex-wife, Christi, have a young son.
| Preceded by Joe Hernandez |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 124 (San Antonio) 1985–1991 |
Succeeded by Christine Hernandez |
| Preceded by Jim Mattox |
Texas Attorney General 1991–1999 |
Succeeded by John Cornyn |
