Ashcroft Draws ‘Missing Cabinet Member’ Straw
President Bush designated Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to stay away from his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, making Ashcroft the successor to head the government should catastrophe strike at the Capitol.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, hospitalized for a back condition, also was absent. Mineta is the lone Democrat in Bush’s Cabinet.
The absence of a Cabinet secretary maintained a long-standing tradition that one member not attend presidential addresses to Congress.
Ashcroft stayed in an undisclosed location as the rest of Bush’s Cabinet, top military aides and three Supreme Court justices gathered for the address.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez do not have to worry about being designated the “missing Cabinet member” at such speeches. Both are naturalized citizens, barred by the Constitution from serving as president.
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