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.

Early Career: Lawyer, Governor

Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois. 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 as state auditor, he then served 2 terms as state attorney general. He was Governor of Missouri from 1985 to 1993.

Election to the U.S. Senate

In 1994 he 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 January 5, 1999, Ashcroft announced that he would not seek the presidency and would instead defend his Senate seat in his 2000 reelection. [1]

Ashcroft ran for reelection in 2000 against then-Governor Mel Carnahan, who died in an airplane crash about two weeks before the election. Due to Missouri state election laws, Carnahan's name could not be removed from the ballot. 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 serve and won the election with her late husband's name still on the ballot. Following his defeat, Ashcroft was nominated as U.S. Attorney General by president-elect George W. Bush in December 2000. Despite some contention from Democrats, Ashcroft was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 58-42.

Ashcroft worships in the Assembly of God church. Whenever he was sworn in to any political office, he had himself anointed (using cooking oil when no holy oil was available).

U.S. Attorney General

Ashcroft is noted by his detractors for allegedly ordering that the partially nude statues of Liberty and Justice -- which stand in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, where he held press conferences -- be covered with blue curtains. Ashcroft denied these allegations. It has also been said that this action was taken because he felt that reporters were photographing him alongside the statues to make fun of his church's opposition to pornography. In late June 2005, Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, approved the removal of the drapery from the statues.

Ashcroft 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 he agreed with them or not.

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[2]. 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."

Karl Rove Conflict Of Interest Allegation

See CIA leak grand jury investigation

When long-term client Karl Rove was being questioned over the leak by the FBI, John Ashcroft was being personally briefed about the investigation. U.S. Representative Conyers described this at the time as a "stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation."[3]

U.S. Representative John 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[4]:

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.[5][6]

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 [7]). 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, though not by Ashcroft but 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.[8]

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 will serve jointly in Regent's law and government schools. [9]

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