Here the NYTwits weigh in...Again, I do not hope for
aggressive investigative reporting (if they did, or
had over the last two years, there would be huge mobs
outside the White House), but I hope at least the
NYTwits and the WASHPs will report the *real* news (as
they conciously chose not to do re: Fraudida) during
the next few critical weeks. For today, at least, they
have...I cannot remember a day in which both LNS
postings were from WASHPs/NYTwits. But as the poet
said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way
"Deep political ties between top White House aides and Attorney General John Ashcroft have put him into a delicate position as the Justice Department begins a full investigation into whether administration officials illegally disclosed the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer."
the wind blows."
Attorney General Is Closely Linked to Inquiry Figures
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: October 2, 2003
ASHINGTON, Oct. 1 Deep political ties between top
White House aides and Attorney General John Ashcroft
have put him into a delicate position as the Justice
Department begins a full investigation into whether
administration officials illegally disclosed the name
of an undercover C.I.A. officer.
Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser,
whose possible role in the case has raised questions,
was a paid consultant to three of Mr. Ashcroft's
campaigns in Missouri, twice for governor and for
United States senator, in the 1980's and 1990's, an
associate of Mr. Rove said on Wednesday.
Jack Oliver, the deputy finance chairman of Mr. Bush's
2004 re-election campaign, was the director of Mr.
Ashcroft's 1994 Senate campaign, and later worked as
Mr. Ashcroft's deputy chief of staff.
Those connections led Democrats on Wednesday to assert
that Mr. Rove's connections to Mr. Ashcroft amounted
to a clear conflict of interest and undermined the
integrity of the investigation. The disclosures have
also emboldened Democrats who have called for the
appointment of an outside counsel.
On Wednesday the administration worked to ensure that
no Republicans in Congress broke ranks and called for
an independent inquiry, and it sought to portray the
former diplomat at the center of the case as a
partisan Democrat.
Mr. Ashcroft's predicament over whether to bring in a
special counsel is reminiscent of the exchanges
between President Bill Clinton and his attorney
general, Janet Reno. Ms. Reno's appointments of
numerous independent counsels to investigate ethics
accusations against the Clinton administration fueled
tensions between her and the president, and by the end
of his second term, associates said, the two were said
to be barely on speaking terms.
In contrast, the president has voiced strong public
support for Mr. Ashcroft in recent months, the two
meet almost daily, and the ties between their
political aides go back a decade or more.
At the very least, the relationships have given new
grist to the Democrats. "This is not like, `Oh, yeah,
they're both Republicans, they've been in the same
room together,' " said Roy Temple, the former
executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party
and the former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Mel
Carnahan of Missouri. "Karl Rove was once part of John
Ashcroft's political strategic team. You have both the
actual conflict, and the appearance of conflict. It
doesn't matter what's in the deep, dark recesses of
their hearts. It stinks."
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House
Democratic leader, said she was particularly concerned
about the past campaign work that Mr. Rove did for Mr.
Ashcroft. "Given allegations about the involvement of
senior White House officials and the past close
association between the attorney general and those
officials, the investigation should be headed by a
person independent of the administration," Ms. Pelosi
said.
On Wednesday, Justice Department officials would not
rule out the possibility of Mr. Ashcroft's appointing
a special counsel, or recusing himself from the
inquiry.
"We're leaving all legal options open," said Mark
Corallo, a department spokesman.
And the associate of Mr. Rove said of the attorney
general, "He's going to have to recuse himself, don't
you think?"
Mr. Bush himself salvaged Mr. Ashcroft's political
career by selecting him as attorney general after Mr.
Ashcroft lost his Senate race in 2000 to Mr. Carnahan,
who was killed in a plane crash just before the
election.
In 2001, Mr. Ashcroft recused himself from an
investigation into accusations against Senator Robert
G. Torricelli of New Jersey because Mr. Torricelli had
campaigned against him in Missouri. Mr. Torricelli
withdrew from his re-election race.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Ashcroft say that the Justice
Department will be fair and thorough, and Justice
officials say that the investigation will be handled
independently by attorneys in the criminal division's
counterespionage section. "Career professionals with
decades of experience in these kinds of cases are
fully capable of conducting a thorough and complete
investigation," said a senior Justice Department
official.