Editing Sam Rayburn (section)

=== Personal integrity ===
Although many Texas legislators were on the payroll of public service corporations, Rayburn refused to be. As he recounted in a speech during his congressional campaign:
<blockquote>When I became a member of the law firm of Steger, Thurmond and Rayburn, Messrs. Thurmond and Steger were representing the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe Railroad Company]], receiving pay monthly. When the first check came after I entered the firm, Mr. Thurmond brought to my desk one-third of the amount of the check, explaining what it was for. I said to him that I was a member of the Legislature, representing the people of Fannin County, and that my experience had taught me that men who represent the people should be as far removed as possible from concerns whose interests he was liable to be called on to legislate concerning, and that on that ground I would not accept a dollar of the railroad's money, though I was legally entitled to it. I never did take a dollar of it. I have been guided by the principle in all my dealings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rayburn |first=Sam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wux2AAAAMAAJ |title="Speak, Mister Speaker" |date=1978 |publisher=Sam Rayburn Foundation |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

This practice of refusing to accept fees from clients with interests before the legislature was "virtually unheard-of" at the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Champagne |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=omx3AAAAMAAJ |title=Congressman Sam Rayburn |date=1984 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-1012-5 |pages=32 |language=en}}</ref> Later, while serving in Congress, a wealthy oil man had a very expensive horse delivered to Rayburn's farm in Bonham. No one apparently knew the oil man delivered the horse except him, Rayburn, and a Rayburn staffer. Rayburn returned the horse.<ref>Anthony Champagne, ''Congressman Sam Rayburn'' 31 (1984)</ref>

H.G. Dulaney, an aide to Rayburn and later the director of the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum, said that after speaking in Texas on one occasion Rayburn learned his driver had been given an envelope with money inside from the sponsor of the speech. He said Rayburn made the driver turn around and return the money. Author [[Robert Caro]] said, "No one could buy him. Lobbyists could not buy him so much as a meal. Not even the taxpayer could buy him a meal. He refused not only fees but travel expenses for out-of-town speeches; hosts who... attempted to press checks upon him quickly realized they had made a mistake... Rayburn would say, 'I'm not for sale' - and then he would walk away without a backward glance."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3545640&itype=NGPSID|title=Bennett backs off on ethics remarks|last=Eddington|first=Mark|date=February 25, 2006|website=The Salt Lake Tribune|language=en-US|access-date=August 9, 2019}}</ref>