Nominee Barr Rolls Out Welcome Mat for Congressional Watchdogs

WASHINGTON — For congressional watchdogs assigned to keep tabs on the executive branch, an order to look into something at the Justice Department used to ruin their day. When Dick Thornburgh was attorney general, he routinely refused to meet with them at all, and his aides continually challenged their authority to investigate sensitive subjects.

But recently, when three auditors from the General Accounting Office--the congressional agency that monitors the executive branch--trudged over to the Justice Department on such a mission, Acting Atty. Gen. William P. Barr greeted the astonished investigators in shirt sleeves and cordially escorted them to his own conference room.

“It was all symbols and demeanor,” says Lowell Dodge, director of administration of justice issues for the GAO, “but it was a powerful message.” Barr’s aides made clear that “he wants to deal differently with the Congress and with the GAO,” Dodge said.

The seeming sea change in attitude toward potential critics reflects the fact that Barr, whose confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee open today, is likely to be a far less confrontational attorney general than Thornburgh.

Some observers said that Barr, 41, if confirmed as the nation’s top law enforcement official, is likely to make the post less of a partisan spearhead than Thornburgh did. Others said the fact that Barr’s major sources of support are at the White House--led by President Bush and C. Boyden Gray, counsel to the President--is likely to prevent him from maintaining objectivity in matters involving the Administration in an election year.