As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, the U.S. Attorney General has vast authority that can reach deep into the lives of every citizen. So it is especially important that the President's choice for this position be perceived not only as committed to fairness and to the law, but as appreciative of what ordinary Americans confront every day - on the job, trying to earn a living for their families.
The record of John Ashcroft, President George W. Bush's nominee, makes clear that he lacks such understanding. He has consistently opposed laws to guarantee the rights and health and livelihoods of the nation's workers. His indifference to the concerns of working Americans, along with his well-known opposition to civil rights protections, leave no doubt about where he stands.
What Ashcroft would bring to the position of attorney general is an ideological extremism and divisiveness that America doesn't need - and didn't vote for in November. While voters rejected conservative positions on working family issues, they did support then-candidate George W. Bush's commitment to seek bipartisan solutions to our nation's major problems and be 'a uniter, not a divider.' Ironically, Ashcroft represents just the opposite of what voters supported.
As governor of Missouri, Ashcroft rejected even the most basic worker protections. He vetoed two bills establishing a state minimum wage and signed a third only when it became clear that the legislature would override another veto.
He vetoed a state maternity leave law, which would have provided women eight weeks of unpaid leave after the birth of a child or adoption of a baby. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that 'the veto of this bill pitted the welfare of business against the welfare of the family - and the family lost.'
Ashcroft vetoed a workers' compensation bill, developed with support from the state Chamber of Commerce, that would have raised the minimum benefit for workers with temporary disabilities from $40 to $100 weekly.
When he went to the U.S. Senate, Ashcroft: