Texas Voters in Favor of Ashcroft

Controversy over John Aschroft’s nomination to become the next attorney general isn’t just on Capitol Hill.

The offices of Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison have been fielding calls, letters and faxes from constituents regarding the nomination, mostly in favor of Ashcroft.

Gramm’s office received over 9,000 pieces of correspondence about the attorney general hearings, a normal amount for a controversial issue. Approximately 60 percent were in favor of confirmation and 40 percent were opposed.

A spokeswoman for Hutchison’s office said that they have received a large volume of correspondence, the majority in support of Ashcroft.

Both supporters and opponents of Ashcroft held demonstrations on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

The Family Research Council and Citizens for a Sound Economy, along with several other groups, sponsored speakers in favor of Ashcroft. A few hours later, the National Organization for Women and the National Council of La Raza, a national Latino civil rights organization, held signs and speeches protesting Ashcroft.

Members of the anti-Ashcroft campaign paint Ashcroft as an extremist who may not enforce certain laws he opposes the highest enforcement official in the country.

Patricia Ireland, president of NOW, said opposition to Ashcroft is not out of anger over Bush’s election to the presidency, but rather because Ashcroft is too conservative to represent all Americans.

“Ashcroft makes Jesse Helms look centrist,” Ireland said, referring to the conservative senator from North Carolina.

In turn, conservative supporters have accused liberal opponents of exaggerating Ashcroft’s stances, unfairly painting him in a bad light and using their opposition to the attorney general to send a message to President Bush that his administration will need to compromise.

Texas voters have spoken out by sending senators and representatives their comments and feelings on the Ashcroft nomination.

A Colleyville voter asked for fair treatment of Ashcroft in a letter to Sen. Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which passed Ashcroft ‘s nomination to the floor by a narrow margin of 10 to eight votes Tuesday.

“It is hard for me to understand how and why you can be treating [former] Sen. Ashcroft the way you are,” the letter said. “Ashcroft is certainly a man of as high or higher moral standards than the one in office during the Clinton administration.”

One letter to Gramm from an Arlington resident asked the senator to vote against Ashcroft because the writer did not want Ashcroft to oppose his morals and support abortion.

“You should not force him to compromise his beliefs,” the letter read. “That would be so cruel.”

Rep. Thornberry’s office received over 50 pieces of correspondence on Ashcroft’s appointment, even though as a congressman, Thornberry has no say in the nomination of an attorney general.

Ninety percent of the letters were in favor of Ashcroft and Thornberry responded to all that he would keep his constituent’s thoughts in mind. James C. Miller III, a counselor for Citizens for a Sound Economy and former Office of Management and the Budget director under the Reagan administration, spoke Wednesday in favor of Ashcroft and said he has been portrayed unfairly.

“His views on homosexuality have been misrepresented,” Miller said. “You don ‘t sit there and take slugs from people uttering falsehoods about you without some damage.”

Miller said he felt Ashcroft’s views on abortion have been accurate.

All the Republican senators and several Democrats have implied they will vote in favor of Ashcroft, giving the 51 votes needed for approval.

Ireland said NOW would not stop at the Ashcroft nominations. Opposition to an ultra-conservative Supreme Court nominee, she said, would be even greater.

Miller said that he thinks Ashcroft will get the Senate’s approval and emerge unscathed by the controversy.

“I think the history books will say he had a tough confirmation hearings, but I think they’ll also say he was one of the best attorneys general,” Miller said.