THE BUSH CABINET
The Case for Ashcroft
If he fails the test, who passes?
The attack on Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft exemplifies all that is bad about the current dialogue on race in the United States. Good men and women who challenge liberal policy orthodoxy are vilified, while the civil rights establishment plays defense even for felons if they pass the race test.
True, liberal interest groups have criticized Sen. Ashcroft for his stands on abortion, the death penalty and gun control. But knowing a great many Americans agree with Sen. Ashcroft on these subjects, they've decided to make race the hot-button issue. Sen. Ashcroft's opposition to both affirmative action and Judge Ronnie White's nomination to the federal bench are cited by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union and other similar organizations as reasons why he should not be confirmed as attorney general.
Former Democratic Rep. Gus Savage of Chicago, for example, was found guilty by the House Ethics Committee of sexual misconduct in his thwarted attempts to seduce a young female Peace Corps worker while on an official visit to Africa. He charged that his accusers were racist, and prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus supported his successful 1990 re-election bid.
Rev. Henry Lyons, head of the National Baptist Convention, was found guilty of misappropriating money that was donated to rebuild black churches, yet there was no condemnation by civil rights organizations.
And former Rep. Mel Reynolds, convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker, said he was the victim of the racism of a politically motivated white prosecutor.
In all of these cases the groups that call into question the qualifications of Sen. Ashcroft were either defenders of the miscreants or took a pass at challenging them. In other words, if you hold the correct political views on race you can be a sexual predator, a crook or a pedophile and still receive an A on the civil rights and civil liberties groups' report card.
Members of Congress and the media, meanwhile, have no trouble finding bigotry on the right, but hesitate to challenge bigotry or playing the race card when it is clothed in benevolent intent and perpetrated by so-called civil rights groups and civil libertarians.
Further, we need leadership in promoting solutions to the most pressing problems of our society, such as youth crime and violence, substance abuse, homelessness, and dysfunctional educational systems. Sen. Ashcroft has been the foremost champion of the role of faith-based service providers in addressing these problems through his "charitable choice" legislation, which allows states to contract with these organizations.
He is an excellent choice for attorney general.
Mr. Woodson is president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington.
