cannabisnews.com: Ashcroft - Out of Sight on The Right Ashcroft - Out of Sight on The Right Posted by FoM on January 09, 2001 at 11:16:44 PT By Anthony Lewis Source: Daily Camera The district attorney of Kings County (Brooklyn), N.Y., Charles J. Hynes, has for 10 years run a program that diverts nonviolent drug offenders from prison to treatment: a tough residential regimen of up to two years. It has been a great success. Those who complete the program get into renewed trouble with the law at half the rate of other drug offenders. Congress came close last month to authorizing federal grants for drug treatment alternatives on that model. A bill sponsored by two Republicans, Orrin Hatch and Strom Thurmond, and a Democrat, Charles Schumer, passed the Senate; another passed the House with the support of such conservatives as Bob Barr of Georgia. But the two versions were not reconciled before Congress adjourned.Given that support for drug treatment alternatives, Hynes was troubled when he learned that John Ashcroft, George W. Bush's choice for attorney general, had spoken against the idea. Ashcroft told a conservative think tank in 1997:"A government which takes the resources that we would devote toward the interdiction of drugs and converts them to treatment resources, and instead of saying 'Just say no' says 'Just say maybe' or 'Just don't inhale' ... is a government that accommodates us at our lowest and least."Ashcroft thus scorned a policy that has the support of men as conservative as Strom Thurmond and Bob Barr. His position, on this as on so many issues, was out of sight on the far right of our politics.How would he as attorney general carry out a law, if Congress now passes it, to aid drug treatment alternatives as more effective and more economical than prison? Hynes told me, "I would hope he would rethink his position."The same question arises on other issues. How would he enforce the law against disruption of clinics that provide abortion, when he has said that more than anything else he would like to forbid all abortions except to save the mother's life? How committed would he be to the civil rights laws, given his acceptance of an honorary degree from Bob Jones University and his statement that it was wrong to describe the Confederate cause — the preservation of slavery — as "perverted"?Ashcroft was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on constitutional rights. He held hearings not on discrimination or freedom of speech or the like. His subjects included the right to gun ownership, punishment for burning the flag and reversing the Miranda decision.The Senate should be a place of diverse opinions, no matter how extreme. But the role of the attorney general is different. That is the point of the controversy about the choice of John Ashcroft. The question is whether the country can have confidence in someone so extreme to enforce the law impartially and with respect for our legal tradition.If he were not a former senator, the idea of a person with Ashcroft's views being attorney general would be regarded as grotesque. He would have no chance to be confirmed by the Senate. But because he was a member of the club, everyone is predicting his confirmation.The Christian right, which made the attorney general's job its No. 1 demand, is all-out in its support. No one can expect detached appraisals from Republican senators. Sen. Arlen Specter, a so-called moderate, wrote an Op-Ed piece for The New York Times calling for moderates in the cabinet — and hastened to add that Ashcroft was "an excellent nominee."As for Democratic senators, not one has had the courage so far to say that he will oppose the Ashcroft nomination. If Al Gore had been elected and had chosen someone far out on the left for the job, would conservative senators have been so deferential? Not bloody likely.The political turmoil of recent years has often swirled around the attorney general. We need a reassuring figure, one who can bring us back to confidence in the law. George W. Bush's failure to understand that is the worst aspect of this episode.After the turmoil of Watergate, President Gerald Ford made a non-political choice: Edward Levi, president of the University of Chicago, who restored the Justice Department's luster. Writing about Ford during the Republican Convention last August, I asked whether George W. Bush, in choosing an attorney general, would follow Gerald Ford and put politics second to respect for law. We know the answer now. Source: Daily Camera (CO)Author: Anthony LewisPublished: January 9, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Daily CameraAddress: Open Forum, Daily CameraP.O. Box 591, Boulder, CO 80306Fax: 303-449-9358Contact: openforum thedailycamera.comWebsite: http://www.bouldernews.com/Feedback: http://www.bouldernews.com/opinion/index.htmlRelated Articles:Can John Ashcroft Overcome His Ideology?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8247.shtmlIt's Bad News for Justice http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8214.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by freedom fighter on January 11, 2001 at 11:50:45 PT Poll on asscroft http://www.worldnetdaily.com/poll.aspVote this jackass out! Right now, People are saying asscroft is better than Reno. I personally rather keep Reno! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by cya on January 11, 2001 at 09:28:53 PT wackos on the way... Maybe he will be the straw. http://www.norml.org/laws/positions/mo.ashcroft.shtml click [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on January 09, 2001 at 23:33:14 PT I am really scared of this asscroft. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by dddd on January 09, 2001 at 15:24:44 PT scary Frightening stuff Ethan.I'm afraid that Ashcroft will end up as AG though.It will happen the same way that Bush ended up as prezident. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on January 09, 2001 at 14:33:59 PT: Some Choice Comments Excerpts from Richard Miller's Drug Warriors and Their Prey:pp. 81-82: "Missouri's Governor John Ashcroft went further in the omnibus drug conrtol measure he sought from the legislature in 1992. Under that legislation, if a teen were caught with a marijuana cigarette in a shopping mall, the teen's entire family would be evicted from public housing."pp. 84-85: "Missouri Governor John Ashcroft demanded that driver's licenses be revoked if a person was simply arrested on suspicion of using marijuana. He said no trial should be necessary; accusation by police officer should be sufficient grounds for punishment."p. 145: "Missouri Governor John Ashcroft in 1992 would have converted a third misdemeanor marijuana possession offense into a felony."Other citations of abrogation of civil liberties in Missouri were too numerous to mention here. Miller's whole premise is that the deterioration in rights of drug users in the USA is following a pattern reminiscent of the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. Sound far-fetched? Read the book and you will not think so:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275950425/qid%3D979080047/107-7927188-1223723Meanwhile, I do not believe that life in a "free society" is compatible with Ashcroft as Attorney General. He cannot claim "youthful indiscretion" here, but rather, these were contrived, premeditated actions of an adult in a position of authority. 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