WASHINGTON — As civil rights leaders seek to mobilize opposition to Sen. John Ashcroft's nomination for attorney general, many are adopting a two-word rallying cry: Ronnie White.
White is a judge in Ashcroft's home state of Missouri whose elevation to the federal bench was rejected by the Senate in 1999 after Ashcroft mounted a vigorous and unusual lobbying effort, branding the judge "pro-criminal."
White is African American, and for that reason, Ashcroft's opponents accuse the senator of inflaming racial prejudices through his attacks on the judge. The White case, coupled with Ashcroft's comments on Southern Civil War "patriots" and other sensitive issues, promises to make racial politics a hot-button issue in Ashcroft's confirmation hearings, activists say.
"Ronnie White will figure prominently in this debate. This was an example of Ashcroft engaging essentially in a hate crime against an eminently qualified African American solely for political gain," said Nan Aron, head of Alliance for Justice, a civil rights coalition.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), speaking Sunday on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation," said Ashcroft was "very unfair, very unjust" in describing White as "pro-criminal," adding that the comments were based on White's actions in a single case.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, speaking on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press," promised that the issue of Ashcroft's behavior in the White nomination would be fully explored during the confirmation process.
None of Ashcroft's Senate colleagues--including Democrats--has moved publicly to oppose his nomination, and his confirmation is all but assured. But the passionate rhetoric from prominent liberal groups suggests that the battle to confirm Ashcroft will prove the most acrimonious of any of President-elect George W. Bush's Cabinet nominations.
Ashcroft has declined to give interviews until the confirmation process is completed. But his conservative supporters hail the former Missouri governor as a man of integrity, and Bush's transition team has put out a packet to defend Ashcroft's role in the White controversy.
"When people take a careful look at the [White] nomination battle and Sen. Ashcroft's record, it will be a nonissue," said Juleanna Glover Weiss, a spokeswoman for the Bush transition team.
Ashcroft himself has said that he helped sink White's nomination because the judge was soft on crime--characterizations disputed by White and his supporters--not because he is black. Attempts to reach White were unsuccessful.
