by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

The incoming Bush Administration and their Republican allies in Congress face their first big test of power and resolve over the Senate confirmation of former Sen. John Ashcroft to be the US attorney general.

Ashcroft, also a former governor and attorney general in Missouri, is the most controversial cabinet nominee put forward by President-elect George W. Bush, who was scheduled to be sworn-in himself on Jan. 20. Almost every liberal group in the country has vowed to fight Ashcroft’s confirmation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee opened at least three days of hearings on Jan. 16, with the battle lines clearly drawn in the opening hours, as key Democrats and Republicans faced off.

In the remaining days of the committee hearings, Democrats on the evenly divided committee plan to bring in witnesses to bolster their case against the nominee, primarily on their accusations that Ashcroft is hostile to gun control, abortion, and civil rights.

So contentious are these confirmation hearings that some have already compared them to the proceedings when Bush’s father successfully nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court a decade ago.

Although most Democratic senators have refrained from saying how they would vote on their colleague of the last six years, who was presented at the hearings by Sen. Jean Carnahan, the Democrat who has been appointed to fill his former seat from Missouri, senators like Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) made it plain that they were leading the opposition.

On the first day of the hearing, however, Sen. Bob Smith (R-VT) extolled Ashcroft’s virtues and claimed that regardless of his voting record, Ashcroft would defend the law of the land.

During an exchange with the Kennedy-Leahy-Schumer axis, Smith reminded his Democratic colleagues that President Clinton’s nominee for AG, Janet Reno, had been confirmed in a bi-partisan 98-0 vote.

“If I can vote for Janet Reno,’ Smith told the Democrats, “you can certainly vote for John Ashcroft.”

The nomination process, which usually is marked by considerable deference to the wishes of an incoming president as well as collegiality for nominees who have served in the Senate, involves a vote by the committee and the approval of the full Senate. After Vice President-elect Dick Cheney is sworn in, the GOP will have narrow control of the Senate—51-50—which would indicate that on party lines alone, Ashcroft should be confirmed in a clear test of Republican resolve.

The Judiciary Committee hearings are being chaired by Leahy, since Democrats control the Senate until Bush and Cheney are sworn-in. But even after Republicans take over the chamber, Ashcroft opponents, including Handgun Control Inc. and the Violence Policy Center, see hope they they’ll find some GOP votes to oppose the nominee.

As the hearings proceed, Democrats were expected to question Ashcroft about his opposition to confirmation of a black Missouri judge, Ronnie White, to the federal bench; and his opposition to a voluntary school desegregation plan in St. Louis. White was expected to testify at the hearing on Jan. 18.

He also faced questions about his vetoes, as Missouri governor, of bills that would have allowed independent organizations such as the League of Women Voters to register residents of St. Louis.

But in spite of the rantings of people like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, many black civil rights leaders have informed the committee that allegations of racism against Ashcroft “are not supported by facts.”

Meanwhile, national police organizations, such as the FOP and LEAA, and all major national pro-gun groups have spoken out in support of Ashcroft’s nomination.