UPDATE: 8:48 p.m. CST
Statement from Congressman Jim Cooper:
"I was attacked today by a desperate Washington lobbyist who found it easier to make false charges against me than to defend the scandals in his industry.
After a four-hour hearing on electric co-ops, the head of the trade association for co-ops, Glenn English, got tired of defending the wrongdoing by a Texas co-op and lashed into me. Two top executives from the Texas co-op are currently evading subpoenas from federal marshals, and Mr. English did not want that to be the headline. He did not want people to know that his clients had stolen millions of dollars from their customers. So instead he made a false accusation against me.
Mr. English's specific charge is that he was told that I was under investigation for accessing his trade association's password-protected website without authorization. That is not true: I had full authorization, repeatedly, from a top co-op insider. That insider gave me their name and password to use for the website. If Mr. English wants to get mad at someone, perhaps he should look at his own organization.
Mr. English is trying to prevent Tennessee co-op customers from ever receiving the refund check that I think co-ops owe them. Tennessee co-ops hold nearly $1 billion of customer money, or roughly $1,800 per customer, but have never told Tennesseans exactly what they own, or how to get the money. I have been fighting Washington lobbyists in order to get Tennesseans their money back. Naturally, the folks who currently enjoy the benefits of that $1 billion are fighting back, hard."
Story as originally posted:
Congressman Jim Cooper apparently has hit a sore spot with his work investigating rural electric co-ops: A former congressional colleague today accused him of hacking into a Web site and being under FBI investigation.
According to Glenn English, a former 10-term Democratic congressman from Oklahoma who now heads up the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Cooper had obtained unauthorized access to his group's Web site.
English made the charge at hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today after Cooper had charged that there was widespread mismanagement in rural electric cooperatives. The Washington, D.C., political newspaper Roll Call reports that, when Glenn started his testimony, he stated "NRECA counsel has advised me that Mr. Cooper is currently under investigation by the FBI for unauthorized access and downloading information from NRECA's password-protected website."
After that statement, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California) immediately gaveled the hearing to a close. Of the move by the NRECA, Waxman said, "In 1994, when I was investigating the tobacco industry, a cigarette company threatened me with jail unless I turned over my files to them. Their lawsuit was quickly thrown out of court, but it gave me first-hand experience with corporate intimidation. In my view, attempts to intimidate the Committee when we are investigating serious issues is a mistake. We won't be intimidated and we will continue to try to protect the interests of co-op customers by looking into any credible allegations of misconduct by the co-op boards."
Contacted by NashvillePost.com, Cooper's communications director John Spragens said, "Glenn English's move was laughable and a move to intimidate Congress that will not work. It is nothing more than a stunt. It is a distraction technique trying to take focus off his industry. I hope his association members are watching."
Asked about the accusation by Roll Call, a spokesman for the FBI said he would not "comment on accusations made by others concerning its investigative activity."
For more information about the focus of this hearing, which was set up to look into the mismanagement of an electric co op in Texas, click here.
Washington, D.C. |
John Spragens |
Glenn English |
James Hayes Shofner 'Jim' Cooper |
Politics: Federal government |
Affairs of State
You must be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, you can join our esteemed subscribers.