WASHINGTON — As President Bush fought to keep Congress in Republican hands last year, the White House political director enlisted the nation's drug czar to attend events with vulnerable GOP incumbents, documents made public on Tuesday disclosed.
John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, attended 20 programs -- round-table discussions, tours, a town hall meeting and other antidrug events -- with Republican candidates from New Jersey to California.
The White House says the meetings were official events, not partisan ones, but they took place largely in districts and states where Republicans were in tough election battles. Nearly half of the candidates with whom he appeared lost their elections.
The documents suggest a coordinated effort to employ a senior official who is barred by law from political activities to help boost the fortunes of Republican candidates.
They indicate that the former White House political director, Sara M. Taylor, suggested Walters attend the events, and that Karl Rove, Bush's chief political advisor, thanked Walters for his attention to the candidates.
The release of the documents by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, follows disclosure of other efforts by Taylor and Rove to deploy senior executive branch officials to boost the GOP's political fortunes.
Walters' office denied any wrongdoing and said he also took part during the year in events with Democratic politicians intended to highlight successes in the effort to curb illegal drug use. Deputy White House Press Secretary Scott Stanzel said Waxman offered no evidence that the antidrug chief "was used to urge the election of any political candidate."
Taylor's lawyer, W. Neil Eggleston, said in a brief statement: "Ms. Taylor believes she managed the office of political affairs in a manner consistent with previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat."
Eggleston said he was considering whether to comply with Waxman's request that Taylor testify before his committee at the end of the month. Taylor appeared last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating whether the Bush administration fired eight U.S. attorneys for political reasons.
In a letter to Taylor, Waxman wrote: "Documents recently provided to the Oversight Committee suggest that White House efforts to politicize the activities of federal agencies may be more widespread than previously known."
