John Ashcroft

John Ashcroft

Attorney General John Ashcroft
Order	79th Attorney General
Term of Office	January 20, 2001 - February 3,2005
Predecessor	Janet Reno
Successor	Alberto Gonzales
Date of Birth	May 9, 1942
Place of Birth	Chicago, Illinois
Political Party	Republican

John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) was the 79th Attorney General of the United States. He served in the first administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 until 2005. Ashcroft was previously a U.S. Senator from Missouri (1995–2001) and the Governor of Missouri (1985–1993).

Early Career: Lawyer, Governor

Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois to James Robert Ashcroft and Grace P. Larsen (whose parents were born in Norway). He was educated in Springfield, Missouri, and at Yale University, where he graduated in 1964. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1967, and briefly taught business law at Southwest Missouri State University.

He began his career in Missouri government in 1973 when appointed by Gov. Christopher Bond as state auditor. In 1976 he was elected state attorney general and re-elected to that same office in 1980. He was elected Governor of Missouri in 1984 and again in 1988.

U.S. Senator

In 1994 Ashcroft was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri, where he became a leading opponent of the Clinton Administration's Clipper encryption restrictions. He briefly considered running for president, but on Jan. 5, 1999, he announced that he would not seek the presidency and would instead defend his Senate seat in his 2000 reelection. [1]

In his bid for reelection to the Senate, Ashcroft faced a challenge from then-Governor Mel Carnahan. Carahan died in an airplane crash two weeks prior to the election, but his name remained on the ballot due to Missouri state election laws. Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson became Governor upon Carnahan's death. Wilson announced that should Carnahan be elected he would appoint his widow, Jean Carnahan, to serve in her husband's place; Mrs. Carnahan agreed to this arrangement.

Ascroft chose not to campaign during the two weeks following the plane crash. Voters elected Mel Carnahan, although dead, by a narrow margin. Ashcroft also chose not to contest the election results, although the the legality of a dead person being elected could have been litigated.

U.S. Attorney General

Following his Senatorial defeat, Ashcroft was nominated as U.S. Attorney General by president-elect George W. Bush in December 2000. Ashcroft was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 58-42, with most of the Democratic Senators voting against him, citing his previous opposition of desegregation and abortion rights.

Ashcroft is a member of the Assembly of God church. He is considered a leading member of the Christian right wing of the Republican Party and was one of the highest-ranked representatives of that group in the Bush Administration. Ashcroft's religious beliefs have led opponents, including Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), to question his ability to effectively enforce certain laws, especially those pertaining to abortion. Ashcroft maintained that he would enforce laws whether or not he agreed with them.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks Ashcroft was a key supporter of passage of the USA Patriot Act. It is believed that Ashcroft requested that certain provisions be re-written to provide stricter enforcement of anti-terrorism laws. One of these provisions was the controversial Section 215, which allows for warrantless seizures of patron records from libraries and seizure of bookstore customer records. Ashcroft referred to American Library Association opposition to Section 215 as "hysteria" in two separate speeches given in September, 2003 [2][3]. During his tenure at Justice, Ashcroft consistently denied that the FBI or any other law enforcement agency had used the Patriot Act to obtain library circulation records or those of retail sales.

In January 2002, the partially nude female statue of the "Spirit of Justice", which stands in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, where Ashcroft held press conferences, was covered with blue curtains, along with its male counterpart, the "Majesty of Law". It was speculated this change was made because Ashcroft felt that reporters were photographing him with the female statue in the background to make fun of his church's opposition to pornography. A Justice Department spokeswoman said that Ashcroft knew nothing of the decision to spend $8,000 for the curtains; a spokesman said the decision for permenant curtains was intended to save on the $2,000 per use rental costs of temporary curtains used for formal events. [4] In late June 2005, Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, approved the removal of the curtains.

In July 2002, Ashcroft proposed the creation of Operation TIPS, a domestic program in which workers and government employees would inform law enforcement agencies about suspicious behavior they encounter while performing their duties. The program was widely criticized in the media as an encroachment upon the First and Fourth Amendments, and the United States Postal Service balked at the program, refusing outright to participate. Ashcroft defended the program as a necessary component of the ongoing War on Terrorism, but the proposal was eventually abandoned.

Ashcroft's positions on privacy and civil liberties measures made him an extremely disliked figure among libertarian, left-wing and liberal groups, and groups opposed to the Bush administration often mentioned him as epitomizing all the reasons for their opposition. Some of his most prominent critics were organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and pro-choice groups. Many liberal commentators claimed that Ashcroft used the threat of terrorism to further political goals; one prominent example was a news conference held in May of 2004, which critics claimed was an attempt to distract attention from a drop in the approval ratings of President Bush, who at the time was campaigning for re-election. [1]

Ashcroft's opponents allege that he used the threat of terrorism as a justification for unnecessarily restricting civil liberties. Some of those opponents have pejoratively labeled his polices as "Ashcroftism." Publications such as workers.org refer to him as "Grand Inquisitor" Ashcroft[5]. Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 also known as The Patriot Act II, is draft legislation written by John Ashcroft's Department of Justice to fight terrorism. It was leaked to the internet in its original raw form. People were outraged over its proposed infringements on civil liberties.

In March 2004, Ashcroft entered the George Washington Medical Center with gallstone pancreatitis; surgeons removed his gallbladder (cholecystectomy) within a week.

On November 9, 2004, Ashcroft announced his resignation from his post as Attorney General, which took effect on February 3, 2005 with the Senate confirmation of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General. Some believe his health was a factor in his decision. His hand-written resignation letter, dated November 2, stated: "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."

Lobbyist

A more weathered John Ashcroft enters the private sector

In October 2005, Ashcroft registered with the federal government as a lobbyist. In 2005 year-end filings, Ashcroft's firm, The Ashcroft Group LLC, reported collecting $269,000, including $220,000 from Oracle Corporation, which won Department of Justice approval of a multibillion-dollar acquisition less than a month after hiring Ashcroft. The totals that Ashcroft has reported so far represent in some cases only initial payments.

Oracle is one of three clients of Ashcroft's lobbying firm which want his help in selling data or software with homeland security applications, according to government filings. The fourth reported client, Israel Aircraft Industries International, is competing with Chicago's Boeing Company to sell the government of South Korea a billion-dollar airborne radar system. [6]

Karl Rove conflict of interest allegation

Main article: CIA leak grand jury investigation

When long-term client Karl Rove was being questioned by the FBI over the unauthorized disclosure of a CIA officer's identity, Ashcroft was personally briefed about the investigation. U.S. Representative John Conyers described this at the time as a "stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation."[7]

Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has sent a letter asking for a formal investigation of the time between the start of Rove's investigation and John Ashcroft's recusal[8]:

There has long been the appearance of impropriety in Ashcroft's handling of this investigation. The former attorney general had well documented conflicts of interest in this matter, particularly with regard to his personal relationship with Karl Rove. Among other things, Rove was employed by Ashcroft throughout his political career, and Rove reportedly had fiercely advocated for Ashcroft's appointment as attorney general. Pursuant to standard rules of legal ethics, and explicit rules on conflict of interest, those facts alone should have dictated his immediate recusal.

The new information, that Ashcroft had not only refused to recuse himself over a period of months, but also was insisting on being personally briefed about a matter implicating his friend, Karl Rove, represents a stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation by the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General.[9][10]

War on Drugs

Ashcroft is an enthusiastic advocate of the War on Drugs. In 2003, he and the acting DEA Administrator, John B. Brown, announced a series of indictments resulting from two nationwide investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dream and Operation Headhunter. The investigations targeted businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly marijuana pipes and bongs, under a little-used statute (Title 21, Section 863(a) of the U.S. Code [11]). Counterculture icon Tommy Chong was one of those charged, for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris. Most of the 55 individuals charged as a result of the operations were sentenced to fines and home detentions; Chong, however, was sentenced to 9 months in a federal prison, forfeiture of $103,000, and a year of probation. While the DOJ denied that Chong was treated any differently from the other defendants, many felt that he was made an example of by the government.

Ashcroft's tough-on-marijuana stance dates back to his tenure as a Senator, when he successfully pushed for stricter federal mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenses. He continued this stance as the Governor of Missouri, favoring a drug control policy that focused law enforcement efforts on casual drug users.

The former senator famously once boasted of his conservatism, saying that there are two things you find in the middle of the road: "a moderate and a dead skunk", adding that he did not wish to be either.

Singer-songwriter

Ashcroft composed a paean called "Let the Eagle Soar" which he sang at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in February 2002. The rendition was satirically featured in Michael Moore's 2004 movie Fahrenheit 9/11. The song was also sung at Bush's 2005 inauguration by Guy Hovis, former cast member of The Lawrence Welk Show. Ashcroft has penned and sung a number of other songs and created compilation tapes, including In the Spirit of Life and Liberty and Gospel (Music) According to John.

With fellow Senators Trent Lott, Larry Craig, and James Jeffords, he formed a barbershop quartet called The Singing Senators.

Sometime in the 1970s, Ashcroft recorded a gospel record entitled TRUTH: Volume One, Edition One with Max Bacon.[12]

Academia

On March 18, 2005, Regent University, a primarily graduate university founded by Pat Robertson with its main campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia, announced that Ashcroft would join the school's faculty on July 1. He now serves jointly in Regent's law and government schools. [13]

References

Mintz, John and Allen, Mike. "To Suspicious Candidates, the Threat of Attack Is No Longer Above the Fray." The Washington Post, June 27, 2004.

External links

• BBC News' John Ashcroft profile
• The Guardian article about Ashcroft
• CNN video of John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar"
• Excerpts from an album Ashcroft recorded in the 1970s
• Text and facsimile of resignation letter, Nov '04