Ashcroft Faces Judiciary Panel Today

Tuesday, January 16th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” President-elect Bush's choice for attorney general, John Ashcroft, spoke out against racial profiling as he prepared to face questioning about his civil rights record at a Senate confirmation hearing.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was to consider the former Missouri senator's nomination as the nation's top law enforcement officer Tuesday at hearings that could be the most contentious confirmation proceedings since Bush's father successfully nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court a decade ago.

Ashcroft, a conservative Republican, faces an avalanche of criticism from liberal organizations over civil rights, abortion and other issues, but most Democratic senators have refrained from saying how they would vote on their colleague of the last six years.

Bush has said Ashcroft's hearing doesn't have to be ugly ``if the senators will tone down their rhetoric.'' Other supporters have joined Bush in insisting that Ashcroft would enforce the law regardless of his personal views.

Ashcroft's hearing kicks off a busy week of Senate confirmation hearings for a number of Cabinet nominees, including Gale Norton, a former Colorado attorney general Bush has chosen to be interior secretary. She is opposed by environmentalists. Another controversial nominee, Linda Chavez, withdrew as Bush's labor secretary nominee last week.

On Monday, in a conversation with Bush officials in the presence of reporters, Ashcroft said he opposed racial profiling, a practice in which disproportionate numbers of minorities are stopped and questioned by police.

``I certainly would like to find a way to be absent that kind of practice,'' Ashcroft said. ``It's wrong, inappropriate. It shouldn't be done.'' He said Bush ``is sensitive to this problem.''

The Judiciary hearings will be chaired by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., since Democrats control the Senate until Bush is sworn in on Saturday. But even after Republicans take over the chamber, which is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats â€” Vice President Dick Cheney can break a tie â€” Ashcroft opponents see hope in the numbers as they try to find moderate Republicans to oppose the nominee.

Republicans, on the other hand, know that senators usually confirm one of their own. Ashcroft was defeated for re-election in November by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, who won despite his death in a plane crash. His widow, Jean, was named to fill the seat and agreed to introduce Ashcroft.

On the first day of hearings that could last the rest of the week, Democrats were expected to question Ashcroft about his opposition to confirmation of a black Missouri judge, Ronnie White, to the federal bench; and his opposition to a voluntary school desegregation plan in St. Louis. White was expected to testify at the hearing this week.

He also faced questions about his vetoes, as Missouri governor, of bills that would have allowed independent organizations such as the League of Women Voters to register residents of St. Louis.

Some of the loudest complaints about Ashcroft surround his opposition to abortion, even when a woman is raped or a victim of incest. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said recently that Ashcroft ``would make a woman a criminal, even if she was raped or the victim of incest.''

Ashcroft's wife, Janet Ashcroft, said Tuesday on ABC's ``Good Morning America'' that she was attacked by a rapist several years ago ``and John's response to me was absolutely perfect, which amazed me. ... His response to my situation was exactly the way any woman would want him to respond.''

As the hearings progress, Ashcroft also could be asked to discuss other explosive topics: his conservative view of a judge's role; selections of Supreme Court nominees; his comments praising Southern war heroes; and allegations that he improperly used state government employees in his 1984 campaign for governor of Missouri.

Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker, quoting Ashcroft, said any political work in the campaign was not done on government time.

On Monday, Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, sent letters of support for Ashcroft to members of the judiciary committee, saying allegations of racism against him ``are not supported by facts.''

Evers, a former mayor of Fayette, Miss., was a Mississippi delegate to the 2000 GOP convention.

Also on Monday, St. Louis attorney and Ashcroft friend Charles Polk defended the former senator in remarks to reporters, saying Ashcroft would make ``a fine attorney general'' for all Americans, regardless of their race.

Polk, who is black, dismissed critics' allegations that Ashcroft is a racist. ``That's a joke â€” it really is a joke and it upsets me,'' Polk said.

Other Bush nominees facing hearings this week include Colin Powell, the selection for secretary of state; Paul O'Neill, Treasury; Tommy Thompson, Health and Human Services; Spencer Abraham, Energy; Christie Whitman, Environmental Protection Agency; Ann Veneman, Agriculture; Mel Martinez, Housing and Urban Development; and Anthony Principi, Veterans Affairs.