John Ashcroft: the Controversial Issues

— -- President-elect George W. Bush's nominee for attorney general, former Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri faces a tough confirmation hearing before the Senate this week.

And while Senate Republicans are predicting their one-time colleague will be confirmed, the hearings promise to become rancorous. In a career in public life during which he also served as both attorney general and governor of Missouri, Ashcroft has been involved in a number of controversial matters — enough so that a 200-member coalition of Democratic-leaning interest groups announced their opposition to his appointment last Tuesday.

Here is an overview of important issues that have become the center of attention as Ashcroft's hearings are set to begin.

Judgeships

Ronnie White's isn't the only nomination for a federal judgeshipthat experienced controversy involving Ashcroft, who wagedwell-publicized battles against other White House nominees.

In June 1995, a Jefferson City attorney who once sharplyquestioned Ashcroft, then state attorney general, in acourt-ordered deposition went public with assertions that Ashcroftwas nursing a decade-old grudge by opposing his nomination to thefederal bench.

Attorney Alex Bartlett was among six candidates chosen by anindependent commission in 1993 for President Clinton to considerfor two court vacancies in Missouri.

Bartlett said he was told by Clinton administration officialsthat Ashcroft was raising questions that centered on the oldlawsuit. The case, which Ashcroft brought as Missouri's attorneygeneral, charged Inland Oil with consumer fraud over a gasolineadditive. Bartlett was one of the attorneys for Inland Oil.

Bartlett said the problem revolved around a deposition taken ofAshcroft and other officials in the state attorney general's officein 1983, he said. Ashcroft objected to the deposition, but a courtordered that it be taken. At the deposition, Bartlett said Ashcroftdeclined to answer some questions and would not produce somedocuments related to the case. As those issues were being hashedout, the case was settled.

An Ashcroft spokesman declined at the time to comment directlyon Bartlett's allegations, but said Ashcroft was demanding thatnominees "possess the highest standards of character and ethics."

Noting that the Inland incident happened a decade before hisnomination, Bartlett said: "It may burn some bridges, but I justfelt something needed to be said."

Concealed Guns

Ashcroft is a supporter of allowing people to carry concealedguns. In 1999, Ashcroft lent his voice to radio ads endorsing anunsuccessful referendum that would have let Missourians apply tocounty sheriffs for permits to carry concealed guns. The campaignwas heavily backed by the National Rifle Association.

Opposition to the initiative was funded largely by HandgunControl Inc., a lobby group founded by President Reagan's formerpress secretary Jim Brady and his wife, Sarah.

During last year's election, gun-control advocates rantelevisions ads against Ashcroft featuring the Bradys. However,Ashcroft's stance on concealed guns has changed over time. Asgovernor, Ashcroft expressed "grave concerns" in 1992 aboutthen-pending state legislation allowing Missourians to pack hiddenhandguns.

Abortion Rights

Ashcroft has said he is opposed to abortion in all cases except those which would endanger the life of the mother. He is opposed to abortion in cases of incest or rape.

Abortion-rights proponents say Ashcroft would work to limit or overturn a woman's right to choose.

"John Ashcroft … will roll back decades of legal advances and public policy gains for women and their families," the National Women's Law Center said in a statement released Tuesday.

Also at issue, say groups opposed to the nomination, is the willingness of Ashcroft and those working under him at the Justice Department to prosecute people accused of violent crimes against doctors performing or providing access to abortions.

Bob Jones University

In May, 1999, Ashcroft traveled to Bob Jones University in SouthCarolina to receive an honorary degree.

The Christian school in Greenville, S.C., has a segregationisthistory and until recently banned interracial dating and marriage.It lost its tax-exempt status in the 1970s because of racialdiscrimination but was a popular stop for many GOP candidatesseeking conservative support.

Ashcroft said despite accepting an honorary degree from BobJones University, he rejected the college's anti-Catholic beliefsand its policy against interracial dating. He said he didn't haveprior knowledge that the school held those positions.

While Democrats said Ashcroft used poor judgment in speaking atthe school, they stopped short of accusing the senator of being abigot. He has come under criticism from liberal organizations whosay his conservative ideology might interfere with the attorneygeneral's duties to enforce civil rights and other federalprograms.

The Confederacy

In the October 1998 edition of Southern Partisan, a SouthCarolina magazine, Ashcroft said "traditionalists must do more"to defend Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gens. StonewallJackson and Robert E. Lee.

An Ashcroft spokesman defended the remarks, noting that Lee, forexample, should not be disrespected as an American despite hisleading role in the Confederate cause.

The Missouri Citizen Education Fund, a coalition of several St.Louis-area groups, circulated a petition calling for Ashcroft topublicly retract his magazine-interview praise for the Confederateleaders. The group accused Ashcroft of pandering to racist elementsin society.

To discount the racism accusations, Republicans forwarded a copyof a 1991 letter from the Mound City Bar Association, a blacklawyers group, that praised Ashcroft's decision as Missourigovernor to appoint a black woman to a state judgeship.

Voting Rights

As governor of Missouri, Ashcroft twice vetoed legislation intended to allow the League of Women Voters to register new voters in St. Louis, a Democratic-leaning city.

The bills would have implemented the same voter-registration procedures already used in the more heavily Republican areas of the St. Louis suburbs.

Ashcroft cited concerns over voter fraud as his rationale for nixing the legislation. But observers claimed that was not the case.

"There is no evidence that the fraud feared by the Election Board would take place if outside groups were permitted to sign up voters," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said in a July 1989 editorial. "Accordingly, the bill ought to become law."

Transportation

A 1993 book published by Ashcroft's office at the end of his twoterms as governor praised passage of a highway program as one ofhis top accomplishments. But the plan is now considered a financialflop.

Ashcroft's book says of the plan, in part: "In February 1992,after leading an extensive legislative campaign, Governor Ashcroftsigned into law legislation hailed as the most important economicdevelopment bill of the decade."

The 1992 plan was embraced by the Republican governor and abipartisan majority of lawmakers. It boosted the state gasoline taxby 6 cents on the dollar and made some big promises: buildingfour-lane highways to all Missouri cities with 5,000 or moreresidents; creation of 40,000 new jobs; and "roads twice as safefor travel."

But the then-state auditor of Ashcroft's own political party,along with independent analysts, have declared the 1992 plan afinancial failure as a blueprint for road building. They concludedthat the plan started out with $1.3 billion more in projects thanmoney, and that the plan's projections didn't account for inflationor growth in the scope of projects.

Ashcroft sidestepped responsibility, saying he relied on statetransportation officials — part of his administration — to crunchthe numbers and make them work. Any problems with the math came inthe planning stage, he said, not from his office.

All this has left the Legislature and state officials strugglingfor ways to win voter approval of increased revenues for roadbuilding.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.