In the midst of his hard-fought, unsuccessful Senate reelection campaign, Ashcroft sat down with Bugel at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport on September 22. Their meeting took place only weeks before Ashcroft's Democratic opponent, Governor Mel Carnahan, was killed along with his son and campaign manager in a plane crash. Bugel wanted to talk with the senator about the case of Dr. Charles "Tom" Sell, a local dentist under indictment for plotting to murder an FBI agent and a federal witness. Over the past two years Bugel and other leaders of the white supremacist group have been agitating for the release of Sell, a longtime CCC member who has advertised his dental services on [President Gordon] Baum's local radio program.
They have succeeded in getting Ashcroft, Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., and other legislators to write letters to the Justice Department seeking an investigation of the unusual circumstances under which Sell has been held in federal custody for most of the past three years without trial. . . .
He is also is said to have blocked the ascension of a well qualifed African-American judge, Ronnie White, to a federal judgeship.
Judge White was attacked by Senator Ashcroft because, in 59 capital cases before the Missouri court, he had voted 18 times to reverse the death sentence. In 10 of those 18 the court was unanimously for reversal. Senator Ashcroft hit at cases in which Judge White dissented.
For appraisal of Judge White's record in those cases I rely on Stuart Taylor Jr. of The National Journal, a conservative who is widely respected as a legal analyst. He wrote: "The two dissents most directly assailed by Ashcroft in fact exude moderation and care in dealing with the tension between crime-fighting and civil liberties."
One of the dissents was in a horrifying murder case — the murder, among others, of a sheriff. Mr. Taylor wrote that Judge White's "conclusion was plausible, debatable, highly unpopular (especially among police) and (for that reason) courageous. For John Ashcroft to call it `pro-criminal' was obscene."
Article comments
1 - Hal Pawluk
That same report, half of which was blacked out, was defended by the next #2 in the Justice Department, who was appointed to investigate the CIA leak.
Justice Dept Nominee Pledges Integrity In CIA Leak Probe
WASHINGTON (AP)--President George W. Bush's nominee for the No. 2 post at the Justice Department promised Wednesday the investigation into the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name would be handled with integrity.
"I don't care about politics. I don't care about expediency. I care about doing the right thing," [James B.] Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I would never be involved in something I believed to be fundamentally wrong."
Maybe he just didn't "believe it to be fundamentally wrong" to hide the truths in the report. Think we'll get justice here?
2 - Mac Diva
Thanks, Hal. That information really makes the picture clearer. If someone that high up is doing damage control, a message is sent about leadership alright.
3 - Hal Pawluk
That message has been out there for quite a while - few seem to be listening. I'm not sure what it will take to wake them up.