Copyright 2001 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
January 9, 2001, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 11A
LENGTH: 961 words
HEADLINE:
Ashcroft fine pick for post
BYLINE: Jon Kyl
BODY:
I served in the Senate with John Ashcroft for
six years. A man
of integrity and compassion, John may also be the most
qualified
nominee for U.S. attorney general ever, having been a two-term
state attorney general, two-term governor and U.S. senator.
In
these roles, John compiled an outstanding record of protecting
the rights of
all people. Sadly, radical groups are trying to
distort his record and
reputation. Here is the John Ashcroft I
know:
John has consistently
supported laws protecting women. He co-sponsored
the Violence Against Women
Act and urged the attorney general
to "fully enforce the law and protect
persons seeking to provide
or obtain, or assist in providing or obtaining,
reproductive health
services from violent attack." He voted to prohibit
people fined
for violence at abortion clinics from avoiding
those fines by
declaring bankruptcy. John also supported
breast- and cervical-cancer
coverage for low-income women under Medicaid.
As governor, he signed into law Missouri's first hate-crimes statute
and the state's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. He established
Missouri's only historic site honoring an African-American and
led the
fight to save Lincoln University, founded by black soldiers.
Last
year, John held the only Senate hearing on the subject of
racial profiling.
Calling it "an unconstitutional practice,"
he indicated his support for a
bill to document its prevalence.
He appointed the first black judge to
Missouri's second-highest
court and has supported every African-American
judicial nominee
confirmed by the Senate -- 26 separate nominations.
Despite this, John has been assailed for opposing the nomination
of one African-American to the federal district bench. Fifty-four
senators voted to reject Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie
White
because so many Missouri and national law enforcement groups
vigorously
opposed him over his dissents in death-penalty and
drug cases.
White's supporters say he voted for the death penalty in 70% of
capital cases. More important, though, is his dissent rate --
the number
of times he disagreed with the majority. It was 11.6%,
the highest on the
state Supreme Court. The next-closest rate
was 2.6%. Voting to give a
clearly guilty criminal a new trial
(as White has done) would create a more
lenient standard for multiple
cop-killers and rapist-murderers. It would
lower the bar for similar
murder cases in the future. That's why law
enforcement officials,
and the Senate, opposed him.
The John
Ashcroft I know will enforce the laws to protect all
Americans equally,
whether he agrees with those laws or not.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.,
is a member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
LOAD-DATE: January 18, 2001
