The Gleeful Destroyers Take Aim at Ted Olson

As the Senate considers the nomination of Theodore B. Olson to be U.S. solicitor general, I urge the senators to turn off the personal destruction machine that has become part of our partisan landscape. Unfortunately, the close election, the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush vs. Gore and the evenly decided Senate enhance the possibility that the machine will continue to operate on all cylinders--to the detriment of the American people.

Both political parties play the personal destruction game, in which there is a gross distortion of the record, views and character of a nominee. The list of Republican and Democratic victims is long.

In his book “The Confirmation Mess,” Yale law school professor Stephen Carter observes: “We have reached in our confirmation processes a strange pass at which, once we decide to oppose a nominee, any argument will do. Nobody is interested in playing by a fair set of rules; ... still less do many people seem to care how much right and left have come to resemble each other in the gleeful and reckless distortions .... If the demonized nominee loses, all that has gone before is justified. Activists working against a nomination can say just about anything, and the news media will report it (as allegation, to be sure, not as fact), only worrying later about whether it was true.”

The latest candidate for destruction is Olson, a decent and honorable man who is exceptionally well qualified to be the solicitor general. Olson now finds his candor and credibility called into question regarding his involvement with the conservative magazine American Spectator and the so-called Arkansas Project, an effort to research criminal and ethical allegations against President Clinton.

I do not know the nature and extent of Olson’s relationship with either the American Spectator or the Arkansas Project, but I do know that Olson is a truth-teller, and you can rely on his explanations.

Several years ago, when I was the state chair of the American College of Trial Lawyers for the District of Columbia, it was my responsibility to help select for admission to the college the most skilled, dedicated and honest advocates. Tops on my list was Olson, and because of his stellar qualifications and reputation for integrity, he sailed through the selection process--supported by liberals, moderates and conservatives.

Those who oppose Olson cannot do so on the basis of his qualifications, so they put into play, with little factual basis, questions about his honesty.

People would have far more respect for senators who opposed Olson because they disagreed with his views rather than the trumped up issue of his candor with Congress. But it is well known that an attack on one’s character, however baseless, is more effective than one based on politics or philosophy.

What is at stake here is more important than one nominee. The politics of personal destruction harms good people and their families, deprives our country of effective leaders, deters qualified people from seeking public office, maims those who eventually survive the process, slows down the operation of government and adds to the public’s cynicism about Congress and its partisan motives.

Our nation is blessed with many wonderful people who are willing to make personal sacrifice to serve. While they should be questioned about their record and challenged where appropriate, they should not become targets of a search and destroy mission.

Olson is a skillful lawyer and an honest man. I am confident that he would be a great solicitor general and would represent the American people with skill, honesty and impartiality. The personal destruction machine must be closed down and Olson should be confirmed.