Senate Panel Rejects Lucas

Let’s face it, the nomination by President George Bush of William Lucas to be our chief civil rights enforcer was yet another dirty trick, on ground level with candidate George Bush’s loaded statement that Michael Dukakis is a “card-carrying” member of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The appointment of a black man, as Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) noted, appears to have been cynically designed to entrap the vote of embarrassed ex-segregationists in general and Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, in particular (Part I, Aug. 2). Meantime, the New Yorker expressed the desperation of us concerned Americans, in paragraphs possibly unread in the White House. “The civil rights movement,” over the past 50 years proves, said the magazine, that groups and our government can act morally, “and, however thoroughly we search our history, we will find few passages as fine as this one.” But it is this “precious” thing the Supreme Court has been destroying “bit by bit.”

At issue is a replacement for William Bradford Reynolds, President Reagan’s fox in charge of the chickens, with (the civil rights establishment hopes) someone who will reverse the present downward spiral.

Isn’t it bad enough that Reagan-Bush (amid much flag-waving) led the nation down from first place to some lower rung. Must we now also look forward to being classed with those dirty little republics who treat their own citizens like dirt?

DAVID ALAN MUNRO

Laguna Beach