John Ashcroft
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John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) was the 79th Attorney General of the United States. He served during the first term 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 and worked as an administrator at Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State University).As a political neophyte, Ashcroft made a strong bid in the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Southwest Missouri in 1972, narrowly losing to Gene Taylor, who went on to hold the seat for 16 years. Following this impressive showing, Gov. Christopher Bond appointed Ashcroft to the position of state auditor in 1972, which office Bond had recently vacated to assume the governorship. In 1974 Ashcroft was defeated for re-election by a scant 73,291 votes by Jackson County Executive George P. Lehr, who argued that Ashcroft, who was not an accountant, was qualified to serve as state auditor. Jack Danforth, who was then in his second term as state attorney general, hired Ashcroft as an assistant Missouri attorney general in 1976. Danforth was elected to his first of three terms in the US Senate in 1976, and Ashcroft succeeded him as attorney general. Ashcroft was re-elected in 1980, and was elected to consecutive terms as Missouri governor in 1984 and 1988. During his second term, Ashcroft served as Chairman of the National Governors Association from 1991-1992.
U.S. Senator
In 1994 Ashcroft was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri. As Senator:
- He became a leading opponent of the Clinton Administration's Clipper encryption restrictions.
- In 1999, as chair of the Senate's subcommittee on patents, he played a pivotal role in extending patents for several drugs, most significantly Schering-Plough's allergy medication Claritin. If Claritin had become available in a generic form earlier, consumers would have saved an estimated $10 billion. [link]
In his bid for reelection to the Senate, Ashcroft faced a challenge from then-Governor Mel Carnahan. Carnahan 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.
Voters elected Mel Carnahan, although dead, by a narrow margin.
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, alleging previous opposition to desegregation and abortion rights.Ashcroft is a member of 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 [link]). 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 led opponents, including Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), to question his ability to effectively enforce certain laws, especially those pertaining to abortion. Ashcroft said that he would enforce laws whether or not he agreed with them.
After 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 [link][link]. 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 permanent curtains was intended to save on the $2,000 per use rental costs of temporary curtains used for formal events. [link] In late June 2005, Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, approved the removal of the curtains.
In February 2002, Ashcroft told the Los Angeles Times of his view that "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you", further troubling Muslims in America in the aftermath of 9/11. [link]
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. Opponents claimed that Ashcroft used the threat of terrorism to further political goals. Examples cited include:
- 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 was responsible for draft legislation - the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, which proposed to greatly expand the powers of the U.S. government, while simultaneously eliminating or curtailing judicial review of these powers. The bill was leaked and posted to the Internet on February 7, 2003.
- On May 26, 2004, Ashroft held a news conference at which he said that intelligence from multiple sources indicated that al Qaeda intended to attack the United States in the coming months. [link] Critics said this was an attempt to distract attention from a drop in the approval ratings of President Bush, who was campaigning for re-election.
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."
Consultant
In May 2005, Ashcroft laid the groundwork for a strategic consulting firm which bears his name. The Ashcroft Group, LLC [link] officially opened its doors in the Fall of 2005 and as of March 2006 had lined up 21 clients, turning down two for every one accepted [link].
In 2005 year-end filings, Ashcroft's firm 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 income totals that Ashcroft has reported so far represent in some cases only initial payments.
According to government filings, Oracle is one of the Ashcroft Group’s five clients which seek his help in selling data or software with homeland security applications. Another 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. [9] The Ashcroft Group is also registered to represent Choicepoint, eBay, Exegy, Alanco Technologies, LTU Technologies and Trafficland, Inc. [link]
The New York Times highlighted Ashcroft’s new firm on the front page of its Business Day section in March, 2006, citing his integrity and deeming him an “anti-Abramoff” in a time when an increasing number of scandals involving lobbyists and government officials are coming to light around the nation[link]. Based on conversations with members of Congress, key aides and lobbyists, The Hill magazine noted Ashcroft as one of the best “hired guns” that K Street had to offer in May of 2006 [link].
CIA leak conflict of interest allegation
When Karl Rove was being questioned by the FBI over the leak of a covert CIA agent's identity in the press, 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."[link] Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter asking for a formal investigation of the time between the start of Rove's investigation and John Ashcroft's recusal[link]:
War on Drugs
Ashcroft is an enthusiastic advocate of the War on Drugs. His 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.In 2003, Ashcroft 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 [link]). 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. Of the 55 individuals charged as a result of the operations, only Chong was given a prison sentence (nine months in a federal jail, plus forfeiting $103,000 and a year of probation). The other 54 individuals were given fines and home detentions. 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.
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.
In 1992, while Ashcroft was Governor of Missouri, his nephews Alex and Adam Ashcroft and Alex's housemate Kevin Sheeley were arrested and charged with production and possession of marijuana. A raid uncovered 60 marijuana plants, with lighting, irrigation, and security systems, in a basement crawlspace. While the production of more than 50 plants usually results in a federal charge and mandatory jail time, 25-year-old Alex Ashcroft was prosecuted on a state charge and received 3 years of probation and 100 hours of community service. Kevin Sheeley was not convicted, and his record was sealed; Adam Ashcroft, who did not live in the house, was never prosecuted. Though Alex Ashcroft tested positive for marijuana in his first probation-mandated drug test, no further actions were taken against him. The parents of Alex and Adam have denied that the young men received a lenient treatment as a result of their connection to the governor.
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 Missouri legislator Max Bacon, a Democrat.[link]
He is also an amateur sculptor.
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. [link]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]
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