POLITICAL NEWS - ASHCROFT
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| U.S. Senate Approves Ashcroft, 58-42
Updated 5:17 PM ET February 1, 2001
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sharply divided Senate confirmed John Ashcroft
as attorney general on a 58-42 vote on Thursday with an overwhelming majority
of Democrats sending President George W. Bush a ``shot across the bow'' by
voting no.
All 50 Senate Republicans, plus eight Democrats, backed Ashcroft, an ardent
conservative and hero to the religious right, which helped Bush win the White
House last year.
Democrats said their nearly united front against Ashcroft -- 42 of 50
Senate Democrats -- should be read as a warning by Bush that he can expect
an even tougher fight if he ever offers another such conservative nominee.
Shortly after the vote, Ashcroft, who during confirmation hearings promised
to enforce all of the nation's laws, even ones he has opposed -- like abortion
rights, gay rights and gun control -- headed to the U.S. Supreme Court to
take the oath of office in private as the nation's 79th attorney general.
``Let me send a clear message today,'' Ashcroft said in a statement. ``I
will confront injustice by leading a professional Justice Department that
is free of politics, that is uncompromisingly fair, a department defined
by integrity and dedicated to upholding the rule of law.''
There were enough Democrats opposed to Ashcroft to block the nomination
with a filibuster, a procedural delay. But Democrats said they wanted to
give the new president an up-or-down vote, at least on putting together his
Cabinet.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, called the vote ``a shot across
the bow'' of the Bush White House. ``I think we have helped set the tone
for many of the upcoming issues that will face us,'' he said.
Forty-one is the number of senators needed to continue a filibuster and
thereby tie up legislation or even a presidential nominee.
DEMOCRATS PLEASED
Shortly before the vote, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said, ``I'll
be very, very pleased if we can do better than 40, in part, because I do
think it's important for us to demonstrate that we can stay together.''
``Obviously, this one is a very difficult one because it's compounded
by personal relationships with a former colleague,'' Daschle told reporters
referring to Ashcroft's one term as a senator from Missouri.
``But we will attempt to be as clear and as unequivocal as we can that
we hope that nominees for the courts, we hope nominees for sensitive positions,
come from the center not from the far right,'' Daschle said.
Republicans said Ashcroft, 58, Bush's most controversial Cabinet-level
nominee, should be taken at his word when he promised to uphold all the nation's
laws.
But a number of Democrats challenged him, along with a coalition of more
than 200 largely liberal special-interest groups, including the National
Organization for Women, Handgun Control and the AFL-CIO.
Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, said a number of Democrats told
him they voted against Ashcroft because of fear of retaliation at the polls
by liberal groups.
``I think it's very unfortunate,'' Bond said.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who helped lead the charge
against Ashcroft, said opposition was based on distrust of Ashcroft, not
fear of liberal groups.
``I hope this vote sends a very strong message to the president'' about
the commitment by Senate Democrats to civil rights, Kennedy said.
Approval of Ashcroft, 58, leaves only one of Bush's Cabinet level nominees
to be confirmed by the Senate 12 days after his inauguration. Robert Zoellick,
Bush's choice for U.S. trade representative, will be voted on next Tuesday
and is expected to be approved, probably unanimously.
At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush made congratulatory
phone calls to Ashcroft and Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott shortly after
the vote. ``We're very pleased,'' Fleischer said.
LOTT SAYS ``MOVE ON''
In the debate prior to the vote, Lott of Mississippi urged colleagues
to ``vote for John Ashcroft -- you won't regret it.'' But he also said, ``Let's
move on. Let's work together.''
``Let's move on to important legislation. Let's argue about ideas. Let's
argue how to make education better. Let's argue about how to give tax relief.''
``That's what the people want us to talk about,'' Lott said. ''They want
us to get the vicious and partisan stuff behind us.''
``I don't think insurmountable damage has been done,'' Lott said. ``I
think we can build on the other things that we have done in the last month.''
The eight Democrats voting in favor of Ashcroft were: John Breaux of
Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Robert
Byrd of West Virginia, Zell Miller of Georgia, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin,
and Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, both of North Dakota.
Among the Democrats voting against was Sen. Jean Carnahan of Missouri,
who was named to the Senate in place of her dead husband after he beat Ashcroft
last November.
``We won,'' said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and chairman of the
Judiciary Committee. ``Sen. Ashcroft is going to be attorney general. That's
a very powerful position.''
``There was a time that we were worried that none of them would vote for
Ashcroft,'' Hatch said.
Even if no Democrat had voted for Ashcroft and the chamber had deadlocked
on the nomination, 50-50, he would have been confirmed, with Vice President
Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote.
Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Sun Jan 14 2001
Ashcroft Has Promises of Support from 11 Senate Dems
New York -- George W. Bush was thinking about John Ashcroft as a possible
Attorney General as early as March 1998 -- a full year before Bush admitted
he was running for President, TIME magazine is set to report in fresh editions.
Bush didn't know him well, but his adviser Karl Rove and his father did.
President Bush even considered Ashcroft for Attorney General in 1991.
George W. Bush has mentioned Ashcroft in sentences that also include the
words Supreme Court.
"I like him not only because he's a born- again Christian," Bush told
a friend, "but because he's a Governor. He knows how to compromise."
Ashcroft spent much of 1998 pondering a run for the G.O.P. presidential
nomination, but dropped out before the year was over, TIME reports. Asked
afterward if he was glad not to have people "poking and prodding" him to
campaign everywhere, Ashcroft said, "The only person poking and prodding
me, was me."
Late last week Republican sources tell TIME, Ashcroft was quietly advising
allies that he had secured private promises of support from 11 Senate Democrats,
which, if they held tight, would be more than enough to earn him the job.
Just in case, the Ashcroft Defense League rolled out its own counterattack
last week.
Grass-roots campaigns and phone banks were slapped together. Pat Robertson,
head of the Christian Coalition, promised to deliver pro-Ashcroft phone messages
to half a million of his supporters, reports TIME. Ashcroft, who Bush knew
mostly by reputation, is said to be surprised by the vitriolic opposition
his nomination has drawn from liberals, TIME's young turk Jay Carney
reports.
And Bush aides weren't expecting such an ugly fight. But they're not shying
away from it. Bush's adviser Karl Rove and others have told Bush that spilling
some blood over Ashcroft is "a no-lose proposition." "It will make our base
happy," says a top adviser. "And it will be over in two weeks."
|
Tuesday January 2, 2001
Groups To Campaign Against Ashcroft
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Civil rights groups opposing President-elect Bush's
choice for attorney general, John Ashcroft, are demanding that Democratic
senators abandon the tradition of supporting former colleagues and vote against
the nomination.
The organizations will join with organized labor to confront Democrats
at public events in their home states to win commitments of a ``no'' vote,
the Rev. Jesse Jackson said in an interview Monday.
He said the campaign also would target New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman,
Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Jackson said Democratic senators ``will be challenged very publicly''
at events such as Martin Luther King Day celebrations this month. ``Those
who are with the civil rights agenda must not choose collegiality over civil
rights and social justice,'' he said.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle signaled a willingness Tuesday to
``ask all the tough questions that need to be asked'' of Ashcroft.
``The most important question is'' whether Ashcroft will enforce laws
that ``he's acknowledged publicly he disagrees with,'' said Daschle, appearing
on ABC's ``Good Morning America.'' The Democratic senator cited laws on women's
rights and civil rights.
Ashcroft is a conservative Republican senator from Missouri who lost
re-election on Nov. 7 to Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan (news - web sites),
whose name remained on the ballot after he was killed in a plane crash.
Carnahan's widow, Jean, was appointed to the seat.
Senators are known for supporting nominations of former colleagues -
and Jackson's comment about collegiality was aimed at that tradition. The
new Senate will be split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, although
the vice president-to-be, Dick Cheney, will be able to break any tie votes
in his role as president of the Senate.
Ashcroft has drawn opposition for his anti-abortion views and for leading
a drive to defeat the nomination of a black Missouri Supreme Court judge,
Ronnie White, to the federal bench.
Whitman has drawn the ire of blacks because of racial profiling by the
New Jersey state police and because of a photograph of the governor personally
frisking a black youth.
Ashcroft has countered the criticism by noting he supported 23 of the
26 nominations of black judges that came up for a vote during his Senate
tenure.
As Missouri governor from 1985 to 1993, he signed into law a state holiday
honoring King; established musician Scott Joplin's house as Missouri's only
historic site honoring a black individual; created an award honoring black
educator George Washington Carver; named a black woman to a state judgeship;
and led a fight to save Lincoln University, which was founded by black
soldiers.
Whitman is a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights. Regarding
racial profiling, she repeatedly has defended her administration by saying
hers was the first to admit to the practice and to take steps to eliminate
it. Critics said minorities were involved in a disproportionate number of
traffic stops, searches and arrests by state troopers.
Last year, a picture was released showing her frisking a black youth
during a police tour in Camden, N.J., in 1996.
``Did I step over a line from being an observer to a participant that
I shouldn't have and didn't need to in that instance? Yes,'' Whitman said
in an interview last July. ``But, unfortunately, that is my nature. When
they said, 'Do you want to do it?' I said 'Sure,' without thinking, and I
should have thought.''
Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Monday January 1, 2001
Jackson To Campaign Against Ashcroft
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Civil rights groups will publicly confront Democratic
senators and demand that they vote against their former Republican colleague,
John Ashcroft, for attorney general, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson
said Monday.
Jackson said the groups, joined by organized labor, will concentrate
their lobbying away from Washington and confront lawmakers at public events
such as Martin Luther King Day celebrations this month.
The effort also will try to defeat the nomination of New Jersey Gov.
Christie Whitman as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ashcroft, a Missouri conservative, lost re-election to the Senate in
November; his Democratic opponent, Gov. Mel Carnahan, died in a plane crash
before the election, but his name remained on the ballot.
Ashcroft has been known for his staunch anti-abortion stand and for leading
a drive to kill the nomination Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ronnie White,
who is black, to the federal bench.
Whitman has drawn the ire of blacks because of racial profiling by the
New Jersey state police and because of a photograph of the governor frisking
a young black man detained by the police.
Jackson told The Associated Press that Democratic senators ``will be
challenged very publicly. Those who are with the civil rights agenda must
not choose collegiality over civil rights and social justice.''
The new Senate will be split 50-50, although incoming Vice President
Dick Cheney (news - web sites) can break a tie. Senators are known for supporting
nominations of former colleagues - and Jackson's comment about collegiality
was aimed at that tradition.
Before the lobbying spreads around the nation, the effort kicks off with
a news conference Tuesday in Washington by the Black Leadership Forum, an
umbrella organization of civil rights groups.
On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, there will by a rally in Tallahassee, Fla.,
protesting the number of votes thrown out in minority precincts in that state,
in Chicago and other locations, Jackson said.
Ashcroft has countered the criticism by noting he supported 90 percent
of the black judicial nominees who came up for a vote.
As Missouri governor from 1985 to 1993, he signed into law a state holiday
honoring King; established musician Scott Joplin's house as Missouri's only
historic site honoring a black individual; created an award honoring black
educator George Washington Carver; named a black woman to a state judgeship;
and led a fight to save Lincoln University, which was founded by black
soldiers.
Whitman is a moderate who supports abortion rights.
She has repeatedly defended her administration by saying hers was the
first to admit to racial profiling and to take steps to eliminate it.
Last year, a picture was released showing her frisking a black youth
during a police tour in Camden, N.J., in 1996.
``Did I step over a line from being an observer to a participant that
I shouldn't have and didn't need to in that instance? Yes,'' Whitman said
in an interview last July. ``But unfortunately that is my nature. When they
said, 'Do you want to do it,' I said sure, without thinking, and I should
have thought.''
Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Tuesday January 2, 2001
Civil-Rights Groups To Protest Vote
By GREG TOPPO, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Civil rights groups will meet in the nation's capital
this week to discuss what they contend was widespread denial of blacks' voting
rights during the 2000 presidential election.
In an event advertised as a ``national emergency summit,'' leaders of
the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference and other groups will meet Thursday at Howard University to ``shape
a response to the denial of voting rights'' in the Nov. 7 election.
Among events mentioned at a related gathering Tuesday was a plan by the
Rev. Al Sharpton for a ``Shadow Inaugural'' march on Jan. 20, Inauguration
Day, to the Supreme Court building in Washington.
``This is not over,'' Sharpton said Tuesday. ``George Bush was selected
by the judges, not elected by the people.''
Several groups, as well as dozens of black members of Congress, have
alleged that black voters were kept from the polls in Florida and other states
on Election Day, and ballots of others were systematically discarded.
Exit polls showed that nine out of 10 blacks voted for Vice President
Al Gore (news - web sites) rather than George W. Bush (news - web sites),
the Republican governor of Texas who eked out a narrow victory by virtue
of contested balloting in Florida.
Many Gore supporters believed manual recounts of ballots in disputed
Florida precincts would give him the nationwide victory, but the U.S. Supreme
Court (news - web sites) halted the recounts Dec. 12. Florida's 25 electoral
votes gave Bush the presidency.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has alleged ``a clear pattern of voter
suppression'' of blacks in Florida. He has promised demonstrations in the
days leading up to the inauguration and is to appear in a Jan. 20 rally in
Tallahassee, Fla. Protests are also scheduled in Chicago and other cities.
Police in Washington said Tuesday only a handful of groups told them they
planned protests. Police had no estimates on how many demonstrators were
expected.
During Thursday's meeting, the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People will report findings from post-election hearings it held
with voters in Florida. At the NAACP's request, the Justice Department (news
- web sites) is reviewing the allegations in Florida and elsewhere.
Members of the all-Democratic Congressional Black Caucus (news - web
sites) last month said Florida voters were hampered by defective voting machines,
and voter lists there were improperly purged of black voters' names. They
said voters were intimidated by police, and thousands of ballots were thrown
out in areas with large minority populations.
``It's a wake-up call for us, because we've ignored the issues of the
details of democracy,'' syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux said during
Tuesday's event, a forum on the election.
Sharpton and others said the protests will mark the beginning of widespread
voter education and registration drives. They said black leaders will mount
protests against two Bush Cabinet nominations: Sen. John Ashcroft, of Missouri,
and New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman.
On the Net: NAACP site:
http://www.naacp.org
Congressional Black Caucus:
http://www.house.gov/clyburn/cbc.htm
Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Monday January 1, 2001
Democrats Concerned About Ashcroft
By BRIGITTE GREENBERG, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Not all of President-elect Bush's Cabinet choices face
clear sailing for Senate confirmation, Democratic lawmakers say, aiming their
fire primarily at Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called Ashcroft's confirmation prospects
``hardly a done deal'' and said he is ``truly worried'' that the conservative
nominee would not enforce federal laws banning violence against abortion
clinics or laws that restrict gun ownership. In fact, Schumer contended that
Ashcroft would work to repeal those laws.
``He is far and away the most troubling choice,'' Schumer said Sunday
on ABC's ``This Week.'' ``The question is will Senator Ashcroft enforce the
law of the land on things that he's morally opposed to.''
However, Sen. Orrin Hatch (news - web sites), R-Utah, whose Judiciary
Committee will consider Ashcroft's nomination, said he would be surprised
if the Senate didn't confirm Ashcroft, the outgoing Republican senator from
Missouri who has served as that state's attorney general and governor.
``He is a man of integrity. He is a man of great experience,'' Hatch
said on ABC. ``I have no doubt, as a former attorney general and hopefully
as this attorney general, he will enforce the law, regardless of whether
he agrees with it or not.''
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., also expressed concerns about
Ashcroft. He said he and other Democrats intend to ask him tough questions
during his confirmation hearings - specifically whether he intends to enforce
civil rights laws that protect minorities and statutes protecting equal rights
for women.
``He has to convince a lot of his colleagues and a lot of those who are
concerned ... that he can do that,'' Daschle said on NBC's ``Meet the
Press.''
Senate Republican Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma said he doesn't understand
why Ashcroft's critics are ``taking these unfair cracks at him.''
``I think some people are ... looking for an issue. They're looking for
a fight,'' Nickles told NBC. ``They want to have a big divisive battle. I
think they're picking on the wrong person with John Ashcroft.''
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said on CBS' ``Face the Nation'' he believes
Ashcroft will be confirmed, but not before he is thoroughly questioned by
skeptical Democratic senators. Likewise, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., told ``Fox
News Sunday'' he knows of no reason why Ashcroft would be rejected
outright.
While Ashcroft's nomination brought some criticism, Bush seemed less willing
to join an ideological fight over whether homosexuals may serve openly in
the military. Former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats lost out as a possible nominee
for defense secretary when he told the president-elect he wanted to scale
back accommodations made to women and gays in the service, Newsweek magazine
reported.
Efforts to reach Coats were not immediately successful.
Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett declined to comment. ``Any personnel decisions
made by the president-elect are not open for discussion, out of respect for
those not chosen as well as those we did choose,'' he said.
Another Bush Cabinet choice that raised questions Sunday was former Colorado
Attorney General Gale Norton, nominated for interior secretary. She has expressed
support for oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
an idea that Bush favors and many Democratic senators oppose.
``The question is will she reach out and ... try to meet half way, as
opposed to saying it's my way or no way?'' Schumer said.
The bigger question, Democrats said, is whether Bush can work with a Senate
that is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Bush has expressed
a desire to appoint a Democrat to his Cabinet but has not done so thus far.
Levin said that wouldn't be enough anyway. ``He's going to have to show
in programs and policies a willingness to work with Democrats, to work out
compromises with us. A single selection of a Democrat here and there in his
Cabinet is not going to make the difference, except in the most superficial
way.''
Hatch said Bush's stated intention to reach out and work with Democrats
is genuine. ``I know Bush has tried to get some Democrats into the Cabinet.
He hasn't been successful so far,'' the senator said.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Sunday December 31, 2000
Dems Concerned About Ashcroft Nod
By BRIGITTE GREENBERG, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Several influential Democrats said Sunday that they
are distressed by President-elect Bush's cabinet choices to date, mentioning
attorney general-designate John Ashcroft as a particular problem because
of his opposition to abortion and gun control measures.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called Ashcroft's prospects at Senate
confirmation for attorney general ``hardly a done deal'' and said he is ``truly
worried'' that Ashcroft would not enforce federal laws banning violence against
abortion clinics or laws that restrict gun ownership. In fact, Schumer commented
that Ashcroft would work to repeal those laws.
``He is far and away the most troubling choice,'' Schumer said on ABC's
``This Week.'' ``The question is will Senator Ashcroft enforce the law of
the land on things that he's morally opposed to.''
However, Sen. Orrin Hatch (news - web sites), R-Utah, appearing on the
same program, said he would be surprised if the Senate does not confirm Ashcroft,
the outgoing senator from Missouri who has served as that state's attorney
general and governor.
``He is a man of integrity. He is a man of great experience,'' Hatch
said. ``I have no doubt, as a former attorney general and hopefully as this
attorney general, he will enforce the law, regardless of whether he agrees
with it or not.''
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., also expressed concerns about
Ashcroft, saying that he and other Democrats intend to ask him tough questions
during his confirmation hearings, specifically whether he intends to enforce
civil rights laws that protect minorities and statutes protecting equal rights
for women.
``He has to convince a lot of his colleagues and a lot of those who are
concerned ... that he can do that,'' Daschle told NBC's ``Meet the Press.''
Senate Republican Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma said he doesn't understand
why Ashcroft's critics are ``taking these unfair cracks at him.''
``I think some people are ... looking for an issue. They're looking for
a fight,'' Nickles told NBC. ``They want to have a big divisive battle. I
think they're picking on the wrong person with John Ashcroft.''
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told CBS' ``Face the Nation'' he believes Ashcroft
will eventually be confirmed, but not before he is thoroughly questioned
by skeptical Democratic senators. Likewise, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., told
``Fox News Sunday'' he knows of no reason why Ashcroft would be rejected
outright.
While Ashcroft's nomination brought some criticism, Bush seemed less willing
to join an ideological fight over whether gays may serve in the military.
Former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, a candidate for secretary of defense, lost
out on the job when he reportedly told Bush he wanted to scale back
accommodations made to women and gays in the service, Newsweek reported,
quoting an unnamed source. Efforts to reach Coats Sunday were not immediately
successful. Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett declined to comment on the report.
``Any personnel decisions made by the president-elect are not open for
discussion, out of respect for those not chosen as well as those we did choose,''
he said Sunday.
Another Bush Cabinet choice that raised questions Sunday was former Colorado
attorney general Gale Norton, nominated for Secretary of the Interior. She
has expressed support for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, an idea that Bush favors and many Democratic senators oppose.
``The question is will she reach out and ... try to meet half way, as
opposed to saying it's my way or no way?'' Schumer said.
The bigger question, Democrats said, is whether Bush can work with a
Senate that is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Bush has expressed
a desire to appoint a Democrat to his Cabinet but has not done so at this
point.
Levin said that wouldn't be enough anyway. ``He's going to have to show
in programs and policies a willingness to work with Democrats, to work out
compromises with us. A single selection of a Democrat here and there in his
Cabinet is not going to make the difference, except in the most superficial
way,'' he said.
Hatch said Bush's stated intention to reach out and work with Democrats
is genuine. ``I know (President-elect) Bush has tried to get some Democrats
into the Cabinet. He hasn't been successful so far.''
Another potential problem for Bush may be Sen. John McCain (news - web
sites)'s insistence on campaign finance reform. McCain, R-Ariz., pushed the
issue heavily during his failed primary run for the presidency and all
indications are that he will not drop his plan, despite Bush's opposition.
``I think (McCain) needs to show a little deference to President Bush
and help him get his agenda started and work out a time, a mutually agreeable
time, to where he can bring up campaign finance,'' Nickles, R-Okla., told
NBC. Campaign finance reform is still possible, he said, but unlikely to
come in the form McCain has proposed.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Sunday December 31, 2000
Ashcroft Faces Tough Fight, Democrats Say
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s
choice to become attorney general, outgoing Sen. John Ashcroft, will face
a very tough fight for confirmation in the Senate if he is found to be too
extremist, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said on Sunday.
``I think it's very difficult for us as people who try to govern from
the center to accept'' a nominee from the extreme right or left, the South
Dakotan said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.''
``There have been those in the past,'' he said, referring to Senate rejections
of nominees considered extremists. ``We'll have to see whether this is that
kind of an instance.''
Daschle vowed a tough grilling at confirmation hearings for Ashcroft,
58, an abortion rights foe and one of the most vocal Christian conservatives
in U.S. public life.
A strong supporter of the death penalty, he helped thwart President Clinton
(news - web sites)'s nomination of Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ronnie White,
the first black to serve on the state's high court, as a federal judge.
He was ``very unfair, very unjust'' in accusing White of being
``pro-criminal'' and soft on capital punishment because of a reversal in
a single case, Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said on the CBS program
``Face the Nation.'' But Levin said he expected Ashcroft to be confirmed.
Ashcroft lost his bid for re-election as Missouri's junior senator in
November to a deceased Democrat, Gov. Mel Carnahan (news - web sites), who
died in a plane crash shortly before the election. The newly elected Senate
being sworn on Wednesday is split 50-50 between Bush's Republicans and opposition
Democrats.
Lining up to oppose Ashcroft may be the angriest coalition of liberal,
civil rights and pro-choice groups since the 1987 battle over President Ronald
Reagan's failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.
'Real Reservations' About Ashcroft
New York Democrat Charles Schumer -- a member of the Judiciary Committee
that will hold a nomination hearing before it goes to a vote on the Senate
floor -- said he had ``real reservations'' about Ashcroft
``Yes, the president is entitled to choose a conservative, but the question
is will Senator Ashcroft enforce the law of the land on things that he is
morally opposed to -- issues like choice,'' he said on the ABC News Program
``This Week.''
``I think his confirmation is hardly a done deal,'' Schumer added. He
called Ashcroft ``a man of integrity,'' but said he was one of the five senators
``most off the mainstream.''
Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on ``Fox News Sunday'' that Ashcroft
would also face questions about his 1998 comments to a segregationist magazine,
Southern Partisan, that Confederate war heroes were ``patriots.''
Ashcroft's anti-abortion rights stance and his controversial civil rights
record could set up the toughest confirmation fight since 1989, when another
former Republican senator, John Tower of Texas, lost his chance to become
defense secretary under Bush's father, President George Bush.
Tower's nomination was dogged by allegations of personal misconduct,
including chasing women and excessive drinking.
But Sen. Don Nickles, an Oklahoma Republican, predicted Ashcroft would
be confirmed by a large margin in the Senate although, he charged, some people
wanted to have ``a big divisive battle.'' Daschle, who will be the Senate
majority leader for 17 days in January until Bush and his tie-breaking vice
president, Dick Cheney (news - web sites), are sworn in on Jan. 20, shot
back: ``You don't have to look far for a fight.''
Daschle acknowledged bitterness over the messy process that ended 36 days
after the Nov. 7 presidential election with a concession by Democratic Vice
President Al Gore (news - web sites). Gore won about 500,000 more popular
votes nationally than Bush and had been seeking a hand recount of thousands
of contested ballots in the decisive state of Florida, when the U.S. Supreme
Court (news - web sites) blocked further manual recounts in that state.
``I think there is bitterness not only with the 500,000 but with the
way the whole Florida debacle was handled,'' Daschle said. ``But we've got
to put it behind us. We've got to heal those wounds and allow us as a country
and as a Senate to go forward, recognizing that there are injustices that
probably never will be resolved,'' he said.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved.
|
| National Abortion Federation Responds To Nomination of Gov. Tommy
Thompson As Head of HHS and Former Senator Ashcroft as Attorney General
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2000 /U.S. Newswire/ --
The following was released today by the National Abortion Federation (NAF):
The National Abortion Federation reacted strongly today to George W. Bush's
nomination of Gov. Thompson to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
"The head of the Department of Health and Human Services is the President's
main advisor on national health care issues," said Vicki Saporta, Executive
Director of the National Abortion Federation (NAF). "By nominating someone
who is so clearly opposed to a woman's right to the full spectrum of reproductive
health care choices, Bush has chosen to pander to the religious right at
the expense of the nation's women and their families."
"Governor Thompson has one of the worst records of any US governor when
it comes to safeguarding women's reproductive health care," said Saporta.
"During his tenure as governor of Wisconsin, he has signed numerous measures
restricting the ability of women - in particular low-income women - to access
safe abortion care."
Since Thompson was elected governor in 1986, he supported restricting
Medicaid funding for abortion and signed into law a bill prohibiting insurance
provided through the Private Employer Health Care Purchasing Alliance from
covering abortion except to protect the woman's life. He signed a 24-hour
waiting period for women seeking an abortion, and a law requiring minors
to obtain the consent of a parent before obtaining an abortion. He also signed
legislation banning pre-viability, safe abortion procedures, similar to a
Nebraska ban that was struck down by the Supreme Court this summer.
"Americans should be alarmed that George W. Bush has chosen two
men with extreme anti-choice positions to head the two agencies that have
the most direct impact on women's reproductive health care," continued Saporta.
"Not only could Thompson be expected to restrict women's access to abortion
care if confirmed, but former Senator Ashcroft would be in a position as
Attorney General to profoundly affect the health and safety of the men and
women who risk their lives to provide safe, legal abortion services to women."
As the chief law enforcer in the country, the Attorney General oversees the
Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers, as well
as ensures that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act protects
the rights of women and health care providers to safely enter clinics.
"We have serious concerns as to whether Ashcroft will fully enforce FACE,
which acts a deterrent to violence. Ashcroft was among the most conservative
members of the Senate, and has taken a position on the right to choose that
is out of step with mainstream America. We've been collecting statistics
on incidents of violence and harassment against abortion providers for more
than twenty years, and we know that when the laws aren't fully enforced,
violence increases. If Ashcroft is confirmed, we fear a potential uptick
in the violence directed at abortion providers."
Saporta said, "During his campaign for President, George W. Bush stated
repeatedly that he trusted the American people to make the decisions that
have the greatest impact on their lives. His announcement today, combined
with the selection of Ashcroft for Attorney General last week, sends a clear
message that Bush does not trust Americans when it comes to their own private
health care decisions. Today's announcement should serve as a wake-up call
to all women and families that the right to choose will be imperiled if these
two candidates are confirmed."
---
The National Abortion Federation is the professional association of abortion
providers in the U.S. and Canada. NAF is dedicated to ensuring that abortion
remains safe, legal and accessible.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2000 U.S. Newswire All Rights Reserved.
|
| Wednesday December 27, 2000
Ashcroft's Conservative Leanings
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Ashcroft once hailed Confederate war heroes as
``patriots,'' refused to sign a report on minorities in America and rented
his fund-raising list to Linda Tripp at the very moment he was sitting in
judgment of President Clinton (news - web sites) at the impeachment trial.
Now the conservative views of President-elect Bush's choice to be attorney
general - a former state law enforcement official and governor - are being
laid out in public as his soon-to-be former Senate colleagues weigh his
nomination.
An Associated Press review of his writings, speeches and interviews found
that Ashcroft:
-Opposed federal money for drug treatment, saying government assistance
shouldn't further the ``lowest and least'' conduct.
-Advocated an increased role for charities in assisting the needy.
-Fought vigorously against abortion rights.
-Opposed federal job training money to Americans who don't complete high
school, saying a diploma was necessary to ``enable workers to adapt and meet
the needs of ever-changing technology.''
-Pushed several amendments that would permanently alter the Constitution
for various conservative causes, from outlawing abortion to balancing the
budget.
Ashcroft's Democratic critics have made clear they intend to focus on
his views on race and civil rights - issues which he addressed over a quarter
century in public service.
In a 1998 interview, Ashcroft criticized efforts by some historians to
portray early Americans, like slave-owning George Washington, as racists,
calling them ``malicious attacks'' and ``revisionist nonsense.''
``Your magazine also helps set the record straight,'' Ashcroft told the
Southern Partisan, a two-decade-old periodical that has published articles
defending Confederate figures and once sold a T-shirt commemorating Abraham
Lincoln with the phrase his assassin uttered, ``Thus always to tyrants.''
``You've got a heritage of ... defending Southern patriots like (Gen.
Robert E.) Lee, (Gen. Stonewall) Jackson and (Confederate President Jefferson)
Davis,'' Ashcroft said. At the time, he was courting conservatives for a
possible presidential candidacy.
``We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect or else we'll be
taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred
fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda,'' he added.
During the campaign last winter, Bush's campaign criticized John McCain
(news - web sites) for using a consultant who wrote for and helped edit Southern
Partisan, calling the consultant's writings in the magazine ``offensive''
and ``out of line.''
But a Bush spokeswoman offered words of support and explanation for
Ashcroft's contribution to the same magazine.
``He will be an exceptionally strong enforcer of the civil rights laws
as he has been a proponent in Missouri and throughout his career,'' spokeswoman
Juleanna Glover Weiss said.
She said Ashcroft's comments reflected that he ``believes in an exact
reading on history'' and that he ``holds sacred the legacies of Jefferson,
Washington and Martin Luther King.''
As Missouri governor from 1985 to 1993, Ashcroft signed into law a state
holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader;
established musician Scott Joplin's house as Missouri's only historic site
honoring a black person; created an award honoring black educator George
Washington Carver; named a black woman to a state judgeship; and led a fight
to save Lincoln University, which was founded by black soldiers.
And when he considered becoming Republican Party chairman in 1993, he
urged Republicans to be ``tolerant'' and to avoid being ``mistakenly portrayed
as petty, divisive and mean-spirited.''
But in 1988, Ashcroft served on a federal commission to study the plight
of minorities in America but refused to sign the panel's final report.
That report concluded that the nation was slipping in its efforts to
achieve equality for blacks, Hispanics and Indians and that many minorities
were ``afflicted by the ills of poverty and deprivation.''
Ashcroft was one of only two people on the 40-member panel, which included
former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and King's widow, Coretta,
to refuse to endorse the findings.
Ashcroft's office said then that he believed the report's portrayal of
minorities was too negative, ``overly broad and counterproductive.''
Weiss said Ashcroft was instrumental in getting the panel created, but
when ``the report was written, he was acutely disappointed and believed it
had missed some opportunities.''
``He believed that it addressed the plight of some minorities, but it
didn't address all minorities,'' she said.
A decade later, Ashcroft found himself under attack from black leaders
after he helped scuttle a federal judgeship for Missouri Supreme Court Judge
Ronnie White, the first black on the state's high court.
Ashcroft said he considered White to be soft on criminals, and noted
he had supported 23 of the 26 nominations of black judges during his Senate
tenure. But black leaders pledged to work against Ashcroft's re-election.
Ashcroft came under fire for accepting an honorary degree and giving
the commencement speech at Bob Jones University, which once opposed interracial
marriages and dating.
Ashcroft said he was unaware of the university's views when he gave the
speech but declined to return the degree.
In his book, ``Lessons from a Father to a Son,'' Ashcroft devoted an entire
chapter to the issue of race, writing his father taught him that ``race did
not deserve our focus'' and ``wanted to empty me of prejudice by helping
me to fall in love with the highest levels of black performance.''
In February 1999 as he sat in judgment of Clinton during the Senate
impeachment trial, Ashcroft's political action committee sold access to his
fund-raising mailing list to Tripp, whose secret tape recordings of Monica
Lewinsky prompted the investigation, so she could raise money for a legal
defense fund.
Federal records show Ashcroft earlier rented the same list to Paula Jones,
who had sued Clinton for sexual harassment.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Wednesday December 27, 2000
Ashcroft: Dixie Heroes Were Patriots
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Ashcroft, President-elect Bush's choice to
be America's top law enforcement officer, once hailed Confederate war heroes
as ``patriots'' and suggested they shouldn't be portrayed as having died
for ``some perverted agenda.''
The Missouri Republican tapped to be the next attorney general also has
advocated an increased role for charities while opposing federal money for
drug treatment, saying government assistance shouldn't further the ``lowest
and least'' conduct.
And a decade ago he refused to sign a presidential panel's report that
concluded America was falling behind in efforts to bring equality to minorities,
calling it too negative.
As his soon-to-be former colleagues in the Senate prepare for Ashcroft's
confirmation hearings, the GOP senator's conservative speeches, writings
and interviews are being scrutinized for what they may foreshadow of his
views as attorney general. Democrats and critics have made clear they intend
to make Ashcroft's civil rights record an issue.
His record shows he vigorously sought to end abortions, advocated a larger
role for charities, pushed amendments that would permanently alter the
Constitution for various conservative causes and sent what critics say is
a mixed message on race and poverty issues.
In a 1998 interview, Ashcroft criticized efforts by some historians to
portray early Americans, like slave-owning George Washington, as racist,
calling them ``malicious attacks'' and ``revisionist nonsense.''
``Your magazine also helps set the record straight,'' Ashcroft told the
Southern Partisan, a two-decade-old periodical that has published articles
defending Confederate soldiers and political figures and once sold a T-shirt
commemorating Abraham Lincoln with the phrase his assassin uttered, ``Thus
always to tyrants.''
``You've got a heritage of ... defending Southern patriots like (Gen.
Robert E.) Lee, (Gen. Stonewall) Jackson and (Confederate President Jefferson)
Davis,'' Ashcroft said in an interview. At the time, he was courting
conservatives for a possible presidential candidacy.
``We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect or else we'll be
taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred
fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda,'' he added.
Juleanna Glover Weiss, a spokeswoman for Bush's transition, said Ashcroft's
comments reflected that he ``believes in an exact reading on history.''
``He holds sacred the legacies of Jefferson, Washington and Martin Luther
King,'' she said. ``Senator Ashcroft's favorite historical figure is Abraham
Lincoln. He has been an avid student of history.''
She added, ``he will be an exceptionally strong enforcer of the civil
rights laws as he has been a proponent in Missouri and throughout his
career.''
As Missouri governor from 1985 to 1993, Ashcroft signed into law a state
holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader;
established musician Scott Joplin's house as Missouri's only historic site
honoring a black person; created an award honoring black educator George
Washington Carver; named a black woman to a state judgeship; and led a fight
to save Lincoln University, which was founded by black soldiers.
And when he considered becoming Republican Party chairman in 1993, he
urged Republicans to be ``tolerant'' and to avoid being ``mistakenly portrayed
as petty, divisive and mean-spirited.''
But in 1988, after Ashcroft served on a federal commission that studied
the plight of minorities in America, he refused to sign the panel's final
report.
That report concluded that the nation was slipping in its efforts to
achieve equality for blacks, Hispanics and Indians and that many minorities
were ``afflicted by the ills of poverty and deprivation.''
Ashcroft was one of only two people on the 40-member panel, which included
former Presidents Ford and Carter and King's widow, Coretta, to refuse to
endorse the findings.
Ashcroft's office said at the time that he believed the report's portrayal
of minorities was too negative and that its ``generalizations about setbacks
in progress are overly broad and counterproductive.''
Weiss said Ashcroft was instrumental in getting the panel created by
the president, but when ``the report was written, he was acutely disappointed
and believed it had missed some opportunities.
``He believed that it addressed the plight of some minorities, but it
didn't address all minorities,'' she said.
A decade later, Ashcroft found himself under attack from black leaders
after he helped scuttle a federal judgeship for Missouri Supreme Court Judge
Ronnie White, the first black on the state's high court.
Ashcroft said he considered White to be soft on criminals, and noted
he had supported 23 of the 26 nominations of black judges during his Senate
tenure. But black leaders pledged to work against Ashcroft's re-election.
Ashcroft came under fire for accepting an honorary degree and giving
the commencement speech at Bob Jones University, which once opposed interracial
marriages and dating.
Ashcroft said he was unaware of the university's views when he gave the
speech but declined to return the degree.
And though they didn't garner national attention, Ashcroft's comments
in Southern Partisan drew sharp criticism from black leaders in his state.
In the magazine interview, Ashcroft was asked about his views on a girl
who was sent home from school because she displayed a Confederate flag on
her knapsack.
``The right of individuals to respect our history is a right that the
politically correct crowd wants to eliminate, and this is just not acceptable,''
Ashcroft responded.
In the Senate, Ashcroft pushed ``charitable choice'' legislation that
empowered charities and religious organizations to better assist the needy.
He has spoken out, however, against using federal funds for drug treatment.
``A government which takes the resources that we would devote toward the
interdiction of drugs and converts them to treatment resources ... and then
assures citizens that if you're involved in drugs we'll be there to catch
you with a treatment center and also implements a clean needle program is
a government that accommodates us at our lowest and least instead of calls
us to our highest and best,'' Ashcroft said in a speech.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Thursday December 28, 2000
Bush Springs Cabinet Surprise at Pentagon
By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Naming President-elect George W. Bush's Cabinet
has taken on all the earmarks of a covert operation, a competition between
those who want to keep secrets and those who want to reveal them.
For the second time in a week, Bush and his team managed to spring a surprise,
announcing Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary on Thursday. Rumsfeld's name
had circulated briefly as a possible appointee, but to the CIA (news - web
sites). No one had suggested he might head the Pentagon (news - web sites).
Rumsfeld acknowledged the speculation about the CIA job and then, with
a mischievous grin, added: ``I guess we can confirm today, Mr. President-elect,
that it's not me.''
But keeping the secret required some last-minute subterfuge.
When the media were seated in the room where Bush was scheduled to have
``a news event,'' on the floor behind the podium were five small pieces of
gray duct tape used to mark where participants should stand for the television
cameras carrying it live across the country.
One bore Vice President-elect Dick Cheney's name, another Bush's and three
were marked with the letters A, B and C, clearly intended to convey the idea
that the president-elect was to make three personnel announcements.
Moments before start time, the B and C strips were surreptitiously removed,
making it clear Bush had just one Cabinet member to name and a senior one
at that.
Guessing Game
``I know a lot was written about a lot of speculation,'' transition spokesman
Ari Fleischer said on Thursday. ``And, frankly, as you saw this afternoon,
much of it was off base.''
The guessing game began early in the week when Bush said he probably would
have ``a couple'' of Cabinet announcements to make and then teased reporters
by telling them ``nobody was ruled out'' and that they would ``just have
to wait and see.''
Bush, who values loyalty and friendship above all else, has assembled
a team of senior aides and advisers with an enviable capacity for secrecy
and they delight in springing surprises.
After the president-elect revealed his choice of outgoing Republican
Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri as attorney general last week, aides gloated
about having ``fooled'' the media, especially the 24-hour cable news
networks.
The worst-kept secret of the Bush campaign was that retired Gen. Colin
Powell would be his secretary of state. The best kept ones still may be to
come. Bush has at least seven Cabinet appointments left to make. One of them
may or may not be the Democrat he virtually promised to include.
Missing Democrat
Asked he if were having trouble persuading any to join his Cabinet, Bush
quipped: ``I'm not having any trouble getting Democrats to return my phone
calls.''
``We've talked to some Democrats. I've talked to Democrats about their
willingness to work with us in Congress,'' he said. ''I've talked to some
Democrats about whether or not there may be an interest of leaving their
current positions, and most people want to stay in place.''
Republican sources expected Bush to name Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson
to head the Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Department, perhaps
as early as tomorrow at another ``news event'' scheduled for 10 a.m. One
Bush aide said there could well be multiple announcements.
The president-elect appeared to be enjoying the game, too.
``I want to thank you all. I hope everybody has a good New Year. And
by the way, see you in the morning,'' Bush said.
``Who with?'' several reporters shot back.
``I'm not supposed to say anything, I'm sorry. I'm learning the discipline.
I'm learning life within the bubble,'' Bush joked.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved.
|
| Wednesday December 27, 2000
Ashcroft Once Hailed Confederates
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Ashcroft, President-elect Bush's choice to
be America's top law enforcement officer, once hailed Confederate war heroes
as ``patriots'' and suggested they shouldn't be portrayed as having died
for ``some perverted agenda.''
The Missouri Republican tapped to be the next attorney general also has
advocated an increased role for charities while opposing federal money for
drug treatment, saying government assistance shouldn't further the ``lowest
and least'' conduct.
And a decade ago he refused to sign a presidential panel's report that
concluded America was falling behind in efforts to bring equality to minorities,
calling it too negative.
As his soon-to-be former colleagues in the Senate prepare for Ashcroft's
confirmation hearings, the GOP senator's conservative speeches, writings
and interviews are being scrutinized for what they may foreshadow of his
views as attorney general. Democrats and critics have made clear they intend
to make Ashcroft's civil rights record an issue.
His record shows he vigorously sought to end abortions, advocated a larger
role for charities, pushed amendments that would permanently alter the
Constitution for various conservative causes and sent what critics say is
a mixed message on race and poverty issues.
In a 1998 interview, Ashcroft criticized efforts by some historians to
portray early Americans, like slave-owning George Washington, as racist,
calling them ``malicious attacks'' and ``revisionist nonsense.''
``Your magazine also helps set the record straight,'' Ashcroft told the
Southern Partisan, a two-decade-old periodical that has published articles
defending Confederate soldiers and political figures and once sold a T-shirt
commemorating Abraham Lincoln with the phrase his assassin uttered, ``Thus
always to tyrants.''
``You've got a heritage of ... defending Southern patriots like (Gen.
Robert E.) Lee, (Gen. Stonewall) Jackson and (Confederate President Jefferson)
Davis,'' Ashcroft said in an interview. At the time, he was courting
conservatives for a possible presidential candidacy.
``We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect or else we'll be
taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred
fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda,'' he added.
Juleanna Glover Weiss, a spokeswoman for Bush's transition, said Ashcroft's
comments reflected that he ``believes in an exact reading on history.''
``He holds sacred the legacies of Jefferson, Washington and Martin Luther
King,'' she said. ``Senator Ashcroft's favorite historical figure is Abraham
Lincoln. He has been an avid student of history.''
She added, ``he will be an exceptionally strong enforcer of the civil
rights laws as he has been a proponent in Missouri and throughout his
career.''
As Missouri governor from 1985 to 1993, Ashcroft signed into law a state
holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader;
established musician Scott Joplin's house as Missouri's only historic site
honoring a black person; created an award honoring black educator George
Washington Carver; named a black woman to a state judgeship; and led a fight
to save Lincoln University, which was founded by black soldiers.
And when he considered becoming Republican Party chairman in 1993, he
urged Republicans to be ``tolerant'' and to avoid being ``mistakenly portrayed
as petty, divisive and mean-spirited.''
But in 1989, when former President George Bush appointed Ashcroft to a
federal commission to study the plight of minorities in America, he refused
to sign the panel's final report.
That report concluded that the nation was slipping in its efforts to
achieve equality for blacks, Hispanics and Indians and that many minorities
were ``afflicted by the ills of poverty and deprivation.''
Ashcroft was one of only two people on the 40-member panel, which included
former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and King's widow, Coretta,
to refuse to endorse the findings.
Ashcroft's office said at the time that he believed the report's portrayal
of minorities was too negative and that its ``generalizations about setbacks
in progress are overly broad and counterproductive.''
Weiss said Ashcroft was instrumental in getting the panel created by
the president, but when ``the report was written, he was acutely disappointed
and believed it had missed some opportunities.
``He believed that it addressed the plight of some minorities, but it
didn't address all minorities,'' she said.
A decade later, Ashcroft found himself under attack from black leaders
after he helped scuttle a federal judgeship for Missouri Supreme Court Judge
Ronnie White, the first black on the state's high court.
Ashcroft said he considered White to be soft on criminals, and noted
he had supported 23 of the 26 nominations of black judges during his Senate
tenure. But black leaders pledged to work against Ashcroft's re-election.
Ashcroft came under fire for accepting an honorary degree and giving
the commencement speech at Bob Jones University, which once opposed interracial
marriages and dating.
Ashcroft said he was unaware of the university's views when he gave the
speech but declined to return the degree.
And though they didn't garner national attention, Ashcroft's comments
in Southern Partisan drew sharp criticism from black leaders in his state.
In the magazine interview, Ashcroft was asked about his views on a girl
who was sent home from school because she displayed a Confederate flag on
her knapsack.
``The right of individuals to respect our history is a right that the
politically correct crowd wants to eliminate, and this is just not acceptable,''
Ashcroft responded.
In the Senate, Ashcroft pushed ``charitable choice'' legislation that
empowered charities and religious organizations to better assist the needy.
He has spoken out, however, against using federal funds for drug treatment.
``A government which takes the resources that we would devote toward
the interdiction of drugs and converts them to treatment resources ... and
then assures citizens that if you're involved in drugs we'll be there to
catch you with a treatment center and also implements a clean needle program
is a government that accommodates us at our lowest and least instead of calls
us to our highest and best,'' Ashcroft said in a speech.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Monday December 25, 2000
Bush Taps Ashcroft for Attorney General
By ABCNEWS.com
As George W. Bush continues to stock his Cabinet, Missouri Sen. John
Ashcroft has accepted an offer to head up the Justice Department as attorney
general. Bush also has named New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman to head up
the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a move being cheered by conservative Republicans, President-elect George
W. Bush nominated Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general on
Friday.
To perhaps balance the appointment of the deeply conservative senator,
Bush also announced he was naming New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, a moderate
Republican who supports abortion rights, to head the Environmental Protection
Agency.
But it is the nomination of Ashcroft, a deeply religious man with a strong
conservative record in the Senate, that is likely to draw opposition during
Senate confirmation hearings.
Ashcroft's nomination to be attorney general has angered the civil rights
and abortion rights communities. But Bush later defended his choice.
"John Ashcroft will make a fine attorney general," Bush said. "He is
a man who will uphold the law."
Not a Bipartisan Move
The nomination of Ashcroft is anything but a bipartisan move. Ronald
Reagan's attorney general, Ed Meese, called the appointment "outstanding,"
while liberal and progressive groups released a slew of objections.
"An effective attorney general must be a person of prudent character and
executive ability," Bush said of Ashcroft, who gained notoriety recently
after losing his re-election bid to a dead man, the late Missouri Gov. Mel
Carnahan.
Citing Ashcroft's "enormous integrity" as one reason for the pick, Bush
said he "is a man of deep convictions and strong principle."
Before winning election to the Senate, Ashcroft spent eight years as
attorney general of Missouri and another eight as the state's governor. A
devout Christian and a proud conservative, he sings gospel and doesn't drink
or smoke.
Ashcroft was also the first senator to call for President Clinton's
resignation during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Throughout his term in Congress,
Ashcroft was noted as a moral crusader, someone who doesn't stay quiet or
compromise his principles.
Whitman, 54, championed open-space preservation in New Jersey and refused
to abandon an unpopular auto emissions test designed to reduce air pollution.
Her term as governor ends in January 2002.
An Ashcroft Justice Department
Abortion Rights
Ashcroft opposes all abortion, and abortion-rights advocates fear that
could lead to lax enforcement of laws assuring women access to clinics without
close-range interference by anti-abortion protesters.
Civil rights and racial issues
Ashcroft is against affirmative action, and opposed the nomination of
Bill Lann Lee as President Clinton's civil rights chief, citing Lee's support
for the policy. He's also reviled by black leaders for spearheading a movement
to shoot down the appointment of a black Missouri judge, Ronnie White, to
the federal bench. But Ashcroft's stance on issues like voting rights, racial
profiling and alleged voting irregularities in Florida remains unclear.
Death penalty
At Ashcroft's appointment, President-Elect Bush said there was no reason
to have a moratorium on the federal death penalty, and Ashcroft agreed. Ashcroft
is a very strong supporter of the death penalty. Bush oversaw a record 40
executions in Texas last year as governor and 152 over the course of six
years. Ashcroft said he has weighed the issues on this subject when he was
governor of Missouri from 1984-92. Seven people were executed under Ashcroft,
compared to 26 put to death under the late Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan.
Drugs
Ashcroft's record in the Senate suggests he'll be a zealous proponent
of the war on drugs. One of his proudest achievements was legislation to
increase penalties for methamphetamine dealers.
Firearms
Ashcroft supports tough penalties for violators of federal firearms laws.
He proposed banning juvenile possession of semiautomatic weapons and
high-capacity ammunition clips, but has supported measures allowing Missourians
to carry concealed weapons.
Microsoft
Ashcroft probably won't tell the government to halt entirely its antitrust
case against Microsoft. Ashcroft is one of the most tech-savvy senators,
and was one of the first to have a Web page. In a 1998 Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing, he he took a very skeptical view of some of the company's business
practices and noted it had a "monopoly share of the market."
Tobacco
The Justice Department's crusade against Big Tobacco may end under Ashcroft.
In 1998, he voted against against Sen. John McCain's tobacco regulation bill
to impose huge penalties on tobacco companies if they didn't decrease rates
of youth smoking, saying among other things that the companies shouldn't
take all the blame. "There is something that really hasn't been talked about
in the debate: individual responsibility. ... People have known there are
adverse health impacts," he said at the time.
Bush also named Mitch Daniels, senior vice president of corporate strategy
and policy at Eli Lilly, an Indianapolis-based pharmaceuticals company, as
director of the Office of Management and Budget. Daniels, who served as an
adviser to Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1987, will be charged with preparing
the president's massive annual federal budget proposal.
"He will be an important adviser within my administration. [He] will help
ensure that our federal government maintains fiscal discipline," Bush said
in a statement.
Controversy on Abortion, Civil Liberties
Prominent Democrats, African-American groups, civil liberties and abortion
rights organizations are all lining up to give Ashcroft a hard time during
confirmation. All of Bush's Cabinet nominees will have to pass a Senate evenly
divided between Democrats and Republicans.
Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People For the American Way, said
he was already rallying his forces.
"I don't believe anyone in the U.S. Senate has a worse record on civil
rights and civil liberties," he said. "This is truly a bad nomination. We
will be working with others in the progressive community and we will make
every effort to stop the nomination."
Ashcroft's staunch anti-abortion stance worries many Democrats. As senator,
he tried to get the Constitution amended to outlaw abortion, even in cases
of rape and incest.
"President-elect Bush's moderate demeanor during the campaign was a facade
to hide his anti-choice views. His nomination of John Ashcroft reveals his
determination to use the powers of the presidency to end legal abortion,"
the National Abortion Rights Action League said in a statement.
Ashcroft's single-handed campaign to block African-American Missouri
judge Ronnie White from getting a U.S. District Court seat angered black
voters. Ashcroft only got 17 percent of the black vote in November's senatorial
election, and his support among self-described moderates also slipped.
But at least one prominent Democrat had a good word for Ashcroft. Wisconsin
Sen. Russ Feingold, who like Ashcroft serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee,
said he looked forward to working with the new attorney general.
"President-elect Bush has proposed a respected public servant with a
fine legal mind to be attorney general of the United States ... I look forward
to working with John Ashcroft as he addresses the new challenges before him,"
Feingold said on Friday.
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, said he was
happy with the nomination. The anti-abortion, anti-drug, Christian conservative
Ashcroft has a long history of supporting conservative causes, he said.
"He's fought for things that conservatives want," Keene said.
Another conservative leader told ABCNEWS he considered this job to be
"the big kahuna," and Ashcroft's nomination might give Bush leeway to appoint
more moderates in other positions.
'Mixed Record' on Environment
Bush gave the nod to moderate Republicans by choosing Whitman for the
EPA.
The president-elect praised Whitman's work on environmental issues in
New Jersey, and said they share the view that environmental policy should
move "beyond the command and control mindset that believes Washington has
got all the answers."
"I know Governor Whitman well," he said. "She is a strong person. She
is plenty capable of taking on this difficult but important assignment."
Bush also announced he would elevate the EPA administrator to a Cabinet-level
post, as President Clinton did before him.
Whitman, in accepting the nation's top environmental spot, said, "This
job will be a challenge.
"I have never underestimated the importance of environmental protection,
just as I have never overestimated the ease of achieving it," she said.
Whitman, unpopular with conservatives because she supports abortion rights
and gay rights, will be put in a role where she'll have no effect on social
policy.
By nominating Whitman on the same day as Ashcroft, Bush apparently hopes
to balance a conservative with a moderate.
Environmentalists say she's the best they could expect from a Republican
administration, but the New Jersey governor faces criticism even though she
spearheaded preservation in the nation's most densely developed state and
backed an unpopular auto emission test designed to reduce pollution. But
critics say she compromised water pollution protections and cut spending
for state offices that prosecute environmental abuses by industry.
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said Whitman has a "mixed record
on the environment, but on balance we believe the Sierra Club could work
with her."
Whitman could run into trouble with pro-business conservatives for her
support for "smart growth" plans to curb sprawl by restricting the
suburbanization of rural areas. And her liberal stands on abortion and gay
rights have made her a punching bag for social conservatives trying to prove
their right-wing credentials.
Bush also nominated Virginia Gov. James Gilmore for head of the Republican
National Committee.
Thompson for What, Exactly?
The Bush camp reportedly is looking at Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson
for a Cabinet position - but which one is up in the air. The Associated Press
reports the conservative, anti-abortion Thompson has accepted a position
to head the Department of Health and Human Services, but the Wisconsin governor
told reporters Thursday he would prefer to be secretary of transportation.
The Rev. Floyd Flake, a former Democratic congressman, took himself out
of the running for Education Secretary. Though he and Bush agree on school
vouchers and he said he wants to work with the administration, he told the
AP the timing isn't right for him to take the Cabinet position.
The development set back Bush's effort to name Democrats to his
Cabinet.
Sources said Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., is a strong possibility for
U.S. trade representative. Former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., who appears to
have the inside track for secretary of defense, met with Bush in Washington
on Monday.
Although Bush's aides say it could take a week or two to complete work
on the Cabinet, several top nominees have already been named.
Bush tapped his campaign chairman and top fund-raiser Don Evans to serve
as commerce secretary, former Florida housing official Mel Martinez as housing
secretary, former California Agricultural Director Ann Veneman as head of
the USDA and Paul O'Neill, a former Office of Management and Budget official
and current chairman of the aluminum manufacturing giant Alcoa, as his choice
for treasury secretary.
Bush and his family will be spending Christmas in Austin, Texas, and
plans to take Dec. 26-28 for a family vacation in Boca Grande, Fla., with
his parents.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and ABC News Internet Ventures.
|
| Monday December 25, 2000
Ashcroft Faces Tough Questions
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - While senators of both parties predicted that Sen.
John Ashcroft will be confirmed as attorney general, Democrats promised some
tough questions for the outgoing Missouri senator, and moderate Republicans
called on President-elect Bush to choose more centrists for his Cabinet.
Ashcroft, who lost his re-election bid to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan
(news - web sites), has been an aggressive opponent of abortion rights and
has close ties to religious conservatives. Carnahan's widow will take the
Senate seat next month.
Ashcroft's selection to serve as top enforcer of the nation's laws ``creates
a more pressing need for balance with moderates in the Cabinet, some pro-choice
people to provide some diversity to offset some of Senator Ashcroft's more
conservative views,'' Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday on CBS' ``Face
the Nation.''
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, agreed. ``We'd obviously like to see more
pro-choice moderate Republicans in the Cabinet,'' she said.
Bush, meanwhile, plans to resume announcing Cabinet selections later
this week after spending a few days of post-holiday fishing with relatives
in Florida. He has officially filled six Cabinet posts so far.
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of
Vermont, said the panel will discuss Ashcroft's and Bush's views on enforcing
the nation's laws, and Ashcroft's role in defeating the nomination of Ronnie
White, the first black Missouri Supreme Court justice, for a federal
judgeship.
``I do not intend to lead a fight against him. I intend to make sure that
he is given a far more fair hearing than some have been given in the past,''
Leahy said on ABC's ``This Week.''
``That does not mean it'll be a pushover hearing,'' he said. ``Of course
there'll be tough questions.''
Ashcroft came under fire earlier this year after accepting an honorary
degree from Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian school in
Greenville, S.C., that until earlier this year had anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon
statements on its Web site and forbade interracial dating.
Leahy, who is Catholic, said he did not believe Ashcroft's views included
religious or racial bigotry.
``Bob Jones University has referred to both the Mormons and Catholics
as being a cult religion. You have a Mormon and a Catholic as the two leaders
of the Judiciary Committee, Senator (Orrin) Hatch and myself,'' Leahy said.
``I have never once heard Senator Ashcroft make an anti-Catholic or anti-Mormon
or anti-any-religion statement. I think we can lay that one (to rest). Nor
have I heard him ever make a racist comment.''
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., told CBS the Senate grants Cabinet picks ``a
presumption of correctness'' but there will be ``a lot of questions'' for
Ashcroft. Most of those, Graham said, will focus on whether Ashcroft's opposition
to White had ``a credible basis'' or ``whether it raises some troubling questions
as to a pattern of dealing with issues of minorities.''
Another Democratic senator, John Breaux of Louisiana, told CBS that while
Ashcroft ``is probably more conservative than over 95 percent of his fellow
colleagues in the Senate, I think he still will be confirmed. I think he's
a man of integrity.''
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Sunday December 24, 2000
Democrat Vows 'Fair Hearing' for Nominee Ashcroft
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative outgoing Sen. John Ashcroft, a target
of opposition as a prospective attorney general, will get a fair hearing
when he comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democratic Sen. Patrick
Leahy of Vermont said Sunday.
Ashcroft, 58, became an immediate lightning rod for liberal critics from
feminists to civil rights advocates after being named by President-elect
Bush on Friday as his choice to head the Justice Department (news - web
sites).
Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, acknowledged
there were questions about Ashcroft, in part because of the role he played
in 1999 in successfully opposing the nomination of Ronnie White, the first
black justice on the Missouri Supreme Court, to a federal district court
seat.
Leahy said that White would have been ``a superb federal judge'' and Ashcroft
had helped create ``a false impression'' about White before the Senate.
But Leahy added that lawmakers must remember that the issue at Ashcroft's
confirmation hearing would be what his views were on how to enforce the nation's
laws in the future.
Won't Try To Stop Nomination
``I do not intend to lead a fight against him,'' Leahy said, ``I intend
to make sure that he is given a far more fair hearing than some have been
given in the past.''
Ashcroft must be confirmed by the Senate before taking over from outgoing
Attorney General Janet Reno.
A staunch opponent of abortion and a supporter of capital punishment and
tougher penalties for drug dealers and other criminals, Ashcroft narrowly
lost a Senate re-election bid last month, losing to a dead man.
He was defeated by an outpouring of voter sympathy and support for Missouri
Gov. Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash three weeks before the election
but remained on the ballot.
Ashcroft's selection was widely seen as an effort by Bush to placate
the conservative wing of the Republican Party. It followed a series of choices,
such as that of retired Gen. Colin Powell for secretary of state and businessman
Paul O'Neill for secretary of the treasury, that were seen as adding pragmatic,
non-ideological figures to a prospective Bush Cabinet.
At least one Republican senator, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, suggested
Sunday that Ashcroft's selection meant more moderates would now have to be
named.
``The thing about John's selection is, I think, that it creates a more
pressing need for balance with moderates in the Cabinet, some pro-choice
people to provide some diversity, to offset some of Senator Ashcroft's more
conservative views,'' Specter said on CBS' ``Face the Nation'' program.
Saturday the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
said it would oppose Ashcroft because of his positions on civil rights and
affirmative action.
``It is outrageous for President-elect Bush to select someone who has
consistently opposed civil rights and affirmative action to be responsible
for enforcing the nation's laws,'' NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said in a
statement.
Jon Kyl, a Republican senator from Arizona and a close friend of Ashcroft's,
appearing on the same program as Leahy, was asked about Ashcroft's acceptance
of an honorary degree from Bob Jones University, the South Carolina religious
college that until recently enforced a policy against interracial dating.
Record Shows No Racial Bias
Kyl said Ashcroft's record demonstrated that he had no racial bias, adding,
``Anyone who knows John (Ashcroft) knows that he is man of great
integrity.''
Leahy agreed he had never heard Ashcroft ``make any anti-religion statement,
nor have I heard him make a racist comment.'' He said many nominees had been
treated unfairly by Republican lawmakers during the Clinton administration
but it was time for the unfairness to stop.
``I don't believe in Democrats now seeking revenge, and I will not be
part of that,'' Leahy said. But Ashcroft's confirmation ''will not be a pushover
hearing,'' he said, adding, ``Of course there'll be tough questions.''
President-elect Bush's father, former President Bush, defended his son's
picks for Cabinet jobs Sunday against complaints that the proposed new lineup
looked a lot like the one he had in place.
For example, Powell served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under
Bush, and O'Neill was a deputy budget director under President Ford.
The elder Bush said that if one was looking for Republicans with a certain
experience in government, then ``in all likelihood'' they would have served
in his administration or President Reagan's.
``When they look at the totality of George's Cabinet, they will see new
faces, and they will see some very experienced people, which will send a
very calming message not only in this country but around the world,'' Bush
said in an interview on ABC's ''This Week.''
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved.
|
| Sunday December 24, 2000
Ashcroft As AG a Divisive Choice
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Among senators who must confirm or reject President-elect
Bush's Cabinet choices, Republicans cited a need for more ideological ``balance''
Sunday while Democrats promised to raise ``tough'' and ``troubling'' questions
for his attorney general nominee.
Senators in both parties, making the rounds of the talk show circuit,
generally agreed that Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., an aggressive champion of
religious conservative causes, is likely to be confirmed as top enforcer
of the nation's laws.
Yet Republicans such as Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., told CBS' ``Face the
Nation'' that picking Ashcroft, who strongly opposes abortion rights, ``creates
a more pressing need for balance with moderates in the Cabinet, some pro-choice
people to provide some diversity to offset some of Senator Ashcroft's more
conservative views.''
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, agreed, saying ``we'd obviously like to
see more pro-choice moderate Republicans in the Cabinet.''
Democratic senators, meanwhile, vowed to challenge Ashcroft's views,
primarily on civil rights issues. Ashcroft lost his bid for re-election last
month to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan . Carnahan's wife will replace Ashcroft
in the Senate next month.
``I do not intend to lead a fight against him. I intend to make sure
that he is given a far more fair hearing than some have been given in the
past,'' Vermont Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary
Committee, told ABC's ``This Week.''
``That does not mean it'll be a pushover hearing,'' he said. ``Of course
there'll be tough questions.''
Leahy said some of the ``obvious areas of discussion'' for the Judiciary
Committee include Ashcroft's and Bush's views on ``enforcing the nation's
laws'' and Ashcroft's role in defeating the nomination of Ronnie White, the
first black Missouri Supreme Court justice, for a federal judgeship.
Ashcroft is a member of the Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah. Ashcroft and Hatch are both religious conservatives and past
GOP presidential hopefuls who opposed White and joined other Republicans
in blocking the appointment of Bill Lann Lee to head the civil rights division
at the Justice Department.
Ashcroft came under fire earlier this year after accepting an honorary
degree from Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian school in
Greenville, S.C., that until earlier this year had anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon
statements on its Web site and forbade interracial dating.
Leahy, who is Catholic, said he did not believe Ashcroft's views include
religious or racial bigotry.
``Bob Jones University has referred to both the Mormons and Catholics
as being a cult religion. You have a Mormon and a Catholic as the two leaders
of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch and myself,'' Leahy said. ``I have
never once heard Senator Ashcroft make an anti-Catholic or anti-Mormon or
anti-any-religion statement. I think we can lay that one (to rest). Nor have
I heard him ever make a racist comment.''
Ashcroft, 58, grew up in Springfield, Mo., as the son of a prominent
minister and educator who helped make the Assemblies of God one of the nation's
largest Protestant denominations. He enjoys gospel singing and adheres to
his faith's aversion to drinking, smoking or dancing.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., told CBS the Senate grants Cabinet picks ``a
presumption of correctness'' but there will be ``a lot of questions'' for
Ashcroft. Most of those, Graham said, will focus on whether Ashcroft's opposition
to White had ``a credible basis'' or ``whether it raises some troubling questions
as to a pattern of dealing with issues of minorities.''
Sen. John Breaux, D-La., who chose to stay in the Senate after being
rumored as a possible Bush Cabinet choice, told CBS that ``while John Ashcroft
is probably more conservative than over 95 percent of his fellow colleagues
in the Senate, I think he still will be confirmed. I think he's a man of
integrity.''
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., echoed that on CNN's ``Late Edition,''
while Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said Ashcroft will be prepared to defend
``a good record.''
Outside the Senate, Ashcroft's nomination faces resistance from liberals,
social critics and blacks, some of whom remain deeply skeptical about the
legitimacy of Bush's Florida win.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which
gave Ashcroft a failing grade on supporting civil rights issues, said it
would ``strongly oppose'' his nomination. But the National Council for a
Republican Congress said in a statement that Ashcroft supports ``the idea
that all Americans should be treated equally without regard to their
race.''
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| NAACP to Oppose Ashcroft Nomination for Attorney General
BALTIMORE, Md., Dec. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Kweisi Mfume, president &
CEO, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
said today that the NAACP would strongly oppose the nomination of Missouri
Sen. John Ashcroft as U.S.
Attorney General because of his strong opposition to civil rights laws
and affirmative action.
Mfume said: "It is outrageous for President-elect Bush to select someone
who has consistently opposed civil rights and affirmative action to be
responsible for enforcing the nation's laws. Ashcroft has one of the Senate's
most negative voting records on civil rights. He received a grade of "F"
on each of the last three NAACP report cards because of his anti-progressive
voting record, having voted to approve only three of 15 legislative issues
supported by the NAACP and other civil rights groups."
A large African American voter turnout in Missouri, one of the states
where the NAACP worked to mobilize voteres during the presidential election,
largely contributed to Ashcroft's defeat for reelection to the senate. In
1999, Ashcroft led the senate opposition to President Clinton's nomination
of Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White to a seat on the Federal District
Court.
White was the first African American jurist to sit on Missouri's highest
court. Ashcroft also opposed the nomination of Bill Lann Lee as Assistant
U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division. Ashcroft voted
against hate crimes legislation and as attorney general, he would be in charge
of enforcing existing hate crime laws. He also opposes background checks
for gun purchases and supports the death penalty.
"If this nomination is an example of how Bush reaches out to all Americans,
we are in for a long four years," said Mfume. "You don't reach out to all
Americans by nominating someone with an anti-civil rights record to hold
the nation's highest law enforcement position. When Ashcroft ran for reelection,
over 90 percent of African American voters in Missouri voted for the late
governor Mel Caranhan."
------
Founded in 1909, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization.
Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and
the world are the premier advocates for civil rights, conducting voter
mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private
sectors.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2000 U.S. Newswire All Rights Reserved.
|
| Bush Nominates John Ashcroft Attorney General
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- President-elect George W. Bush
today announced his selection of Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft, a former governor
and attorney general of Missouri, to serve as attorney general.
Sen. Ashcroft currently serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee and
chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.
"Sen. Ashcroft is a man of great integrity, a man of great judgment,
and a man who knows the law; he will make a terrific Attorney General," said
President-elect Bush.
As Attorney General, Sen. Ashcroft, 58, will head the U.S. Department
of Justice and serve as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal
government. The Attorney General represents the United States in legal matters
and gives advice and opinions to the President and heads of the executive
departments of government.
Sen. Ashcroft was first elected governor of Missouri in 1984, and was
re-elected in 1988. He served as chairman of the Republican Governors'
Association in 1989 through 1990, and served as chairman of the National
Governor's Association in 1991 and 1992. Prior to his term as governor, Sen.
Ashcroft served as Missouri's attorney general from 1976 until 1985.
While attorney general, he served as president of the National Association
of Attorneys General, and received the organization's top award in 1983.
Sen. Ashcroft also served as Missouri's assistant attorney general from 1975
through 1976, and the state's auditor from 1973 through 1975.
Before entering public service, Sen. Ashcroft taught business law at Southwest
Missouri State University. He graduated with honors from Yale University
in 1964, and earned a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1967.
He and his wife, Janet, have three children and one grandchild.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2000 U.S. Newswire All Rights Reserved.
|
| Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: Nomination of Religious
Extremist John Ashcroft Shrewd Move to Undermine Woman's Choice, Clinic
Safety
WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by Reverend
Carlton W. Veazey, president of Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice:
"THE DECEPTION IS OVER." NOMINATION OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMIST JOHN ASHCROFT
SHREWD MOVE TO UNDERMINE WOMAN'S CHOICE AND CLINIC SAFETY
President-elect George W. Bush's nomination of Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft
to be U.S. attorney general aligns the new administration with Religious
Right extremists intent on overturning a woman's right to choose, said Reverend
Carlton W. Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice.
After some moderate nominations, including the pro-choice General Colin
Powell, "the deception about bipartisanship is over," Rev. Veazey said.
"Nominating Ashcroft is a shrewd move to appeal to the Republican
ultra-conservative wing by putting one of their own in a position to do the
most harm to a woman's right to choose."
"This is a clear attack by Bush on safe, legal abortion services and
an opening for a resurgence of abortion clinic violence," said Reverend Veazey.
The attorney general is responsible for clinic safety under the Freedom of
Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
"The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is watching every move
of the Bush Administration," said Rev. Veazey. "As we've learned too many
times, reproductive choice and religious freedom are always at stake."
"The majority of Americans voted pro-choice," said Rev. Veazey. "But
where women's health is concerned, Bush sides with a politician whose friends
include Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition, Jerry Falwell of the Moral
Majority, Gary Bauer and the rest of the irreligious rightwing whose agenda
is pro-fetus and anti-woman."
Ashcroft, a minister in the Assembly of God, has a l00 percent anti-choice
voting record in the Senate and signed some of the most stringent abortion
restrictions in the country as governor of Missouri. Under Ashcroft, the
Missouri constitution was amended to include a "human life amendment" that
even most social moderates oppose as religious.
------
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, founded in 1973,
is the national interfaith pro-choice coalition whose members include
organizations from the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United
Methodist Church, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association,
the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2000 U.S. Newswire All Rights Reserved.
|
| Taxpayer Group Lauds Bush's AG Pick, Points to Ashcroft's Outstanding
Pro-Taxpayer Record in Senate
ALEXANDRIA, VA, Dec. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The 300,000-member National
Taxpayers Union (NTU) praised President-elect George W. Bush's selection
of Missouri Senator John Ashcroft as the next United States Attorney
General.
"President-elect Bush has made a first-rate choice," said NTU President
John Berthoud. "John Ashcroft has compiled a truly outstanding record on
behalf of taxpayers during his time in the United States Senate and has shown
himself to be a friend of freedom."
In each year of his service in the United States Senate, John Ashcroft
earned an "A" and was named a "Taxpayers' Friend" in NTU's annual rating
of Congress, an objective and comprehensive measurement of the fiscal voting
record of each Member of Congress.
In NTU's most recent rating, Ashcroft voted with taxpayers 79 percent
of the time, while the average Senator voted with taxpayers a mere 45 percent
of the time. NTU's annual rating is the only analysis of the voting records
of each Member of Congress that includes every single vote on taxes and spending
in each session of Congress.
"After eight years of law and order taking a back seat to political activism
and economic statism, taxpayers can look forward to a new era where the U.S.
Justice Department will use its authority to pursue justice for American
citizens, instead of abusing its authority to pursue a big government economic
agenda," said Berthoud. "Under John Ashcroft, we believe taxpayers will see
an end to the current anti-taxpayer, anti-free market lawsuits and frivolous
antitrust cases. Thankfully, the U.S. Justice Department will once again
focus on punishing criminals instead of pursuing the big-government agenda
of a select Washington elite."
"John Ashcroft is a man of integrity, who has consistently demonstrated
that he believes in limited government and a free market. We applaud his
appointment."
---
NTU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1969 to work
for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and accountable government at all
levels.
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2000 U.S. Newswire All Rights Reserved.
|
| Friday December 22, 2000
Profile of Sen. John Ashcroft
By SCOTT CHARTON, Associated Press Writer
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The son of a Pentecostal preacher, Missouri
Sen. John Ashcroft balances his public role with a personal passion for music
and gospel songs in particular.
President-elect George W. Bush's nominee for attorney general has served
as a lay speaker and singer in countless pulpits, spreading a message Ashcroft
says he has accepted since he was 12.
Reticent about discussing his faith with reporters, Ashcroft told The
Associated Press in November: ``I believe it is against my religion to impose
my religion on others.''
But Ashcroft's devotion to his faith - he is the highest-ranking elected
politician in his denomination, the Assemblies of God - is well-known in
Missouri.
Ashcroft, 58, had scored comfortable election victories until his last
race, losing Nov. 7 to the late Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan in one of the
nation's most closely watched contests.
The two were tied in the poll when Carnahan was killed Oct. 16 in plane
crash. At first, Ashcroft suspended his public campaign activities, then
crept cautiously back into campaign mode.
Ashcroft lost to Carnahan by about 49,000 votes out of more than 2.3
million cast. Carnahan's widow, Jean, was named to take the Senate seat.
Ashcroft served as Missouri attorney general from 1977 to 1985, when
he started the first of two consecutive terms as governor.
During his re-election campaign, Ashcroft was criticized for his role
in defeating the nomination for a federal judgeship of Missouri Supreme Court
Judge Ronnie White, the first black on the high court.
Ashcroft said he considered White's record to be soft on criminals. But
black leaders said they felt there were racist overtones in the defeat of
White, and pledged to work against Ashcroft's re-election.
Defending the senator's record, Ashcroft's allies pointed out he placed
the first woman on Missouri's highest court and the first black judge on
the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City and in the Senate voted for
dozens of women and minority nominees.
Ashcroft can be stiff in formal settings, and even informal ones. ``Some
politicians dominate a room; he fades into the wallpaper,'' the National
Review once observed.
He does not drink, smoke or dance. At his gubernatorial inaugural balls,
Ashcroft bypassed leading the traditional first dance, instead playing ``The
Missouri Waltz'' on the piano as his wife, Janet, watched and smiled.
Ashcroft can be a fierce partisan and is solidly conservative, opposing
most abortions, supporting allowing Missourians to carry concealed guns and
backing the death penalty.
His public life has been scandal-free. Perhaps the incident that gained
him the most notoriety while governor came when his wife had the state library
opened on Mother's Day, a state holiday, so their son could finish his
homework.
Ashcroft can display a corny sense of humor, often cracking jokes at
his own expense. He loves performing. Last week in Columbia, Mo., Ashcroft
jumped at an invitation to play Christmas carols on the piano in a senior
citizens apartment complex, leading residents in singing ``Jingle Bells.''
A baritone, he is one of the Singing Senators quartet, which has produced
a CD and performed on the Grand Ole Opry and in Branson, Mo. Ashcroft has
sung, played piano and preached at Christian gatherings.
The Assemblies of God has its world headquarters next door to Central
Assembly of God, the downtown Springfield, Mo., congregation Ashcroft has
attended since he was 6. His late father, the Rev. J. Robert Ashcroft, traveled
as an evangelist and led three of the denomination's colleges.
Among U.S. Pentecostal groups, only the Church of God in Christ, a black
denomination, has more members than the Assemblies of God. Pentecostalism
and the similar Charismatic movement preach personalized commitment to Christ
and a second experience known as the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In a 1998 interview with the AP, Ashcroft said he received that baptism
but he declined to say anything further about that aspect of his faith. He
said that at 12, ``I made a decision that I wanted to accept Christ as my
savior.''
When he was sworn in as governor and senator, Ashcroft asked for ritual
anointings with oil before his inaugurations. And in both offices, he was
the host at devotion sessions for staff members each morning before work
started.
In Washington, the Ashcrofts joined 19 believers to start a new Assemblies
congregation near their Capitol Hill home. By December 1998, 175 typically
attended the congregation. Ashcroft has said he and his wife give 10 percent
of their income to their church, a Biblical practice called tithing.
John Ashcroft site:
http://www.johnashcroft.com/
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Friday December 22, 2000
Press Release
ACLJ Applauds Appointment of Senator John Ashcroft to Attorney General
Post
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2000--The American Center for Law
and Justice, an international public interest law firm, said today that
President-elect Bush's selection of Missouri Senator John Ashcroft as U.S.
Attorney General is an excellent choice and sends an important signal that
the new administration is committed to legal excellence and the rule of
law.
``Senator Ashcroft is a man of impeccable integrity and principle,''
said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. ``He has a keen understanding
of the law and the constitution and has a profound respect for the rule of
law. It is clear that through this appointment, President-elect Bush places
a high value on excellence, integrity, and principle when it comes to the
nation's top law enforcement officer. At the same time, Senator Ashcroft's
experience and background will make him an ideal Attorney General who will
be able to enforce the nation's laws while protecting the constitutional
rights of its citizens. This selection not only makes sense, but will set
the proper tone at the Justice Department.''
The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest
law firm that focuses on constitutional issues. The ACLJ specializes in
pro-family, pro-life, and pro-liberty issues. The Web site address is
www.aclj.org.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
The American Center for Law and Justice
Gene Kapp, 770/831-1114
Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2000 Business Wire. All rights reserved. |
| Friday December 22 12:37 PM ET
John Ashcroft Biography
By The Associated Press,
NAME - John Ashcroft
AGE-BIRTH DATE - 58; May 9, 1942.
EDUCATION - A.B., Yale University, 1964; J.D., University of Chicago,
1967.
EXPERIENCE - lawyer; Republican nominee for the U.S. House of
Representatives, 1972; Missouri auditor, 1973-75; Missouri assistant attorney
general, 1975-76; Missouri attorney general, 1976-85; Missouri governor,
1985-93; U.S. Senator, 1994-2000.
FAMILY - Wife, Janet; three children.
QUOTE - ``The pursuit of liberty and equal justice for every citizen
requires that we foster integrity in the nation's highest law enforcement
office.''
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
| Statement of Ralph G. Neas, President People For the American Way
WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement by
Ralph G. Neas, President of People For The American Way:
While it is extremely rare for People For the American Way to oppose
an Executive Branch nomination, we must oppose strongly the nomination of
John Ashcroft to be Attorney General of the United States.
The Attorney General of the United States is not only the lawyer for
the President, but also the lawyer for the people of the United States. He
is the principal enforcer of our nation's civil rights laws.
John Ashcroft is the antithesis of the person required to lead the Department
of Justice. With the possible exception of Senator Jesse Helms, I do not
believe anyone in the United States Senate has a more abysmal record on civil
rights and civil liberties.
The office of Attorney General is the worst executive branch position
for George W. Bush to use as political payback to the far right. This nomination
is an insult to every person who is committed to our nation's promise of
equal justice for all.
The nomination of John Ashcroft to Attorney General is a particular poke
in the eye to African Americans after Ashcroft's incredibly irresponsible
behavior to block the judicial nomination of Judge Ronnie White.
This is truly an astonishingly bad nomination.
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