Questions for Ashcroft

President-elect George W. Bush repeatedly promised during his campaign that he would govern from the political middle. But his nomination late last week of outgoing Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general raises troubling questions about the sincerity of that promise.

If confirmed, as is likely, the Republican senator from Missouri will become the nation’s highest law enforcement officer in January. His responsibilities will range widely, from civil rights and antitrust enforcement to oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. He probably will also have strong influence on Bush’s judicial nominations. The job comes with enormous legal and political clout as well as a national bully pulpit.

The attorney general’s post is one of two in the Cabinet that Bush’s conservative backers consider “must-have,” the secretary of Health and Human Services (yet unannounced) being the other. With Ashcroft’s nomination, they scored a huge win.

The 58-year-old politician is a devout Pentecostal Christian, as staunch an opponent of abortion and gun control as he is a supporter of the death penalty. He has a troubling record in the area of civil rights, and he’s no conciliator. “Two things you find in the middle of the road,” Ashcroft once said, are “a moderate and a dead skunk.”

Such rigid views could present a real problem in the wake of a bruising presidential election, one that saw Bush barely win the electoral vote while losing the popular vote. Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), have indicated they won’t oppose their colleague in his quest for the attorney general’s office, but they promise tough questioning during his confirmation hearings. Those questions should fully explore Ashcroft’s views on the issues he will face once in office.

What are his views, for example, on enforcement of voting rights laws? The question is particularly pertinent given the problems spotlighted in Florida, where, it was alleged, aged and inaccurate voting machines were disproportionately found in poor, minority neighborhoods.

On abortion, how vigorously will Ashcroft enforce federal laws protecting clinic personnel and patients from violent protests?

Ashcroft led a nasty, partisan charge last year against the confirmation of a prominent, moderate black jurist, Ronnie White, to the federal bench. White’s stinging loss in the Senate--the first defeat for a federal judicial nominee in many years, following Ashcroft’s absurd allegation that White was soft on crime--has rightly angered many civil rights groups and should trouble all Americans. Ashcroft, though he did not oppose other black nominees, should expect aggressive questioning on why he blocked White’s nomination.

When introduced last week by Bush, the Missourian promised that as attorney general he will enforce all the nation’s laws. In his Senate confirmation hearings Ashcroft must flesh out that vow on the record.