Many object to Bush nomination for U.S. Attorney General

CABINET: DIVERSITY BY THE NUMBERS Total
appointees – 24

• White males – 13
• Women – 6
• Latinos – 2
• African Americans – 3
• Asians – 2
• Californians – 3
• Democrats – 1

First choice for labor Secretary was Linda Chavez, a Latina. She
withdrew Tuesday and was replaced by Asian American Elaine Chao.
SOURCE: www.cnn.com Original by MAGGIE WOO/ Daily Bruin Web
adaptation by MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

By David Drucker
Daily Bruin Reporter

President-elect George W. Bush set to work appointing an
historic and, in some cases, unprecedented Cabinet immediately upon
his belated and controversial election victory in mid-December.

But with this week’s sudden withdrawal of Labor
Secretary-designate Linda Chavez and the mounting attacks on
Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft, the bipartisanship called
for by both Democrats and Republicans following the divisive
post-election period may be over.

“Bush doesn’t have the kind of standing that a
stronger elected president would have,” said political
science professor and congressional expert Barbara Sinclair.

“By nominating someone on the extreme like Ashcroft, Bush
may run into trouble having him confirmed,” she added.

Liberal activist groups, such as the NAACP and the National
Organization for Women oppose Ashcroft’s appointment because
of his staunch pro-life and anti-affirmative action positions.

In an open letter to the President-Elect, Senator Barbara Boxer,
D-CA, became the first member of the Senate, which is charged by
the Constitution with voting on proposed cabinet members, to come
out against Ashcroft’s appointment.

“Should you not reconsider this nomination, I feel it is
only fair to tell you that I will oppose it,” Boxer said in a
letter to the Bush-Cheney transition team her office made public.
“I believe there are solid reasons to expect that the people
of this country will not be protected and served as they exercise
their civil rights.”

Boxer’s press office declined a request for an interview,
but Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, is taking a wait-and-see
approach.

“Senator Feinstein said she’s going to wait until
the hearing to ask some questions,” Feinstein Spokesman Jim
Hock said. “She doesn’t plan to comment publicly until
then.”

While Chavez voluntarily bowed out because of inconsistencies
regarding her past ties to an illegal immigrant, former Missouri
Sen. Ashcroft’s nomination to head the Justice Department
could elicit a battle-royal.

“He’ll have influence in appointing federal judges,
and we don’t want to see the court go any further right than
it already has,” said People for the American Way Spokesman
Jeremy Leaming. “I think Ashcroft would make a fine president
of the Christian Coalition or the National Rifle Association, but
he’s too extremist for Attorney General.”

PFAW, a leading left-of-center organization, was instrumental in
rallying the publicity that shot down Robert Bork’s
nomination to the Supreme Court under former President Bush, and
conservative groups see the opposition to Ashcroft as simply
partisan politics.

But on the issue of racial diversity, Bush is faring much better
with his opposition.

“With the level of criticism being directed at Ashcroft,
imagine how much more damaging it could potentially be to
Bush’s administration if his cabinet was composed entirely of
old white men,” said political science professor David O.
Sears, who studies the political consequences of racial issues.

“Bush will still get a lot of criticism from ethnic groups
on the ideology of his cabinet members,” Sears added.
“But what he’s done is taken the charge of
“˜racism’ off the table, which is what the Republican
party has tried to do since the 1960s.”

Taking a page from outgoing President Bill Clinton’s
famous 1992 pledge to put together a government that “looks
like America,” Bush’s first two Cabinet designates
included retired General Colin L. Powell for Secretary of State and
Condoleezza Rice for National Security Advisor.

They are the first ever African Americans to be named to their
respective posts.

“I think this kind of descriptive representation is of
importance to various groups,” Sinclair said. “If kids
don’t see people that look like them in positions when
they’re growing up, then they might not realize they can do
those things.”

Even PFAW complimented Bush on the level of diversity of his
cabinet.

“As an organization, we’re pleased that he’s
made efforts to be inclusive,” Leaming said.