Hoist on Her Own Petard

Bush Choice for Labor Post Withdraws and Cites Furor of Illegal Immigrant Issue Law enforcement officials said that the F.B.I. had interviewed Ms. Chavez three times and was about to meet with her for a fourth time when she withdrew. In addition, these officials said that in Ms. Chavez's initial interview, she did not disclose that Ms. Mercado had lived in her house. The officials said the F.B.I. thought that her accounts were becoming muddier, rather than clearer, about whether she knew that Ms. Mercado was in the United States illegally and whether she employed her as a housekeeper. Ms. Chavez portrayed herself today as a victim, accusing her critics of engaging in the politics of personal destruction. On the other side, her critics noted that she often criticized President Clinton in her newspaper columns and was fiercely critical of his first nominee for attorney general, Zo� Baird. Ms. Baird's appointment was sidetracked following disclosures that she employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny and had failed to pay Social Security taxes. Appearing on PBS's "MacNeil- Lehrer NewsHour" in December 1993, Ms. Chavez said: "I think most of the American people were upset during the Zo� Baird nomination that she had hired an illegal alien. That was what upset them more than the fact that she did not pay Social Security taxes." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/10/politics/10CHAV.html?pagewanted=all

It's not Bush's but the U. S.'s Atty General

Far, Far From the Center We are about to embark on a rough ride into the distant past. John Ashcroft, Mr. Bush's choice for attorney general, believes, for example, that if a 13-year-old girl were raped by her father and made pregnant, she should be required to carry that pregnancy to term. Most Americans do not feel that way. Mr. Bush gave the impression during the campaign that he would preside over a reasonably moderate administration. Mr. Ashcroft's politics are somewhat different. He once said that the two things you find in the "middle of the road" are "a moderate and a dead skunk." Linda Chavez is Mr. Bush's selection to head the Labor Department. The secretary of labor is supposed to serve the interests of working men and women. If Ms. Chavez's career to date is any guide, America's working men and women should run for cover. We have been enjoying the greatest period of prosperity in the nation's history, but Ms. Chavez has steadfastly opposed even a modest hike in the minimum wage. A few years ago she derided a proposed minimum wage increase as Marxist, saying, "The folks at the Clinton Labor Department seem to think wage policy should follow Karl Marx's dictum, `From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."' http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/08/opinion/08HERB.html

Religious Right Made Big Push to Put Ashcroft in Justice Dept. Within days of Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri's narrow re-election defeat by a candidate who died three weeks before Election Day, religious and conservative leaders began promoting him for a major position in a Bush administration. If confirmed by the Senate in hearings expected to begin this month, Mr. Ashcroft would reach the highest office ever attained by a leading figure of the Christian right. The appointment would place him at the head of the Justice Department, a sprawling government legal agency that is often at the front lines of the pitched battles over emotion-laden social issues like abortion, the death penalty, crime, civil rights and the selection of federal judges. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/07/politics/07ASHC.html?pagewanted=all