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7/29/05
Republicans question Roberts doc drop
A decision by the White House to provide some, but not all, documents relating to Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts's days as a White House and government adviser is being hit as too liberal by some Senate Republicans. Hopeful of striking a middle ground between Democrats who want every shred of paper and insiders who want the papers kept secret due to attorney-client rules, the administration has turned over some papers from Roberts's days in the Reagan administration but is keeping some others under wraps, especially those from when he worked in the Justice Department under former President George H.W. Bush.
However, some lawmakers and their aides who take a conservative position on the issue said the White House should have kept all of the papers secret if they plan to use the attorney-client secrecy rule. Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, said, "I think the attorney-client privilege matters." He added that turning over the documents could have a "chilling effect" on what future administration lawyers write or advise. However, he did back the administration's decision to withhold the judge's tax returns, suggesting that a broader financial disclosure form like the one senators fill out is a better choice. And despite the White House efforts, Democrats remain equally disturbed with the lack of documents about Roberts provided to senators.
7/13/05
Big labor eyes early 2008 endorsement
Big labor thinks it might have screwed up in the last presidential election which saw favorite son former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt get clobbered by Sen. John Kerry. So as 2008 slowly approaches, it's thinking about an earlier endorsement. "Sure, the earlier the endorsement the better," says AFL-CIO boss John Sweeney. Discussing his fight to keep the federation from splitting, Sweeney this week also chatted about the politics of labor unions and suggested that while many union presidents wanted to back Gephardt early in in 2003, there was enough opposition that there wasn't agreement by all the members to back him. Only a few unions broke ranks to endorse Gephardt early. Sweeney added that union politics isn't only about presidential candidates. He said that unions are being urged to get their members involved on issues earlier, especially on the local level. That, he added, would feed into earlier presidential campaign involvement. "Focus on an issue . . . and mobilize every day," he said.
Meet John Sweeney: www.aflcio.org
7/8/05
Forget Roots: Search your political past
Searching your roots? Forget all that graveyard stuff. We just heard of a new search that focuses on everyone who was ever a delegate in Republican and Democratic conventions. Due out next week: Two new books and a website to aid the search. 100 Years of Democratic National Conventions comes with a foreword by John Montford, former pro tem of the Texas State Senate and a lifelong Democrat, and 100 Years of Republican National Conventions leads off with a foreword by former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts. The publisher tells us that a team of researchers spent thousands of hours tracking down photos and past convention delegates from sources across the country. Besides the books, searches can be conducted for a cost at www.conventionbook.com, which claims to have the most complete listing of conventioneers ever compiled.
7/7/05
Court Scenario: First Gonzales, then Scalia
While nobody inside the White House is talking names yet, those close to the efforts to line up nominees for the Supreme Court are suggesting with greater confidence that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tops the list to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and that Justice Antonin Scalia will take over for ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
That would leave a second court opening should Scalia take over as chief, as most expect, making it possible for President Bush to shift the court considerably more conservative, say insiders. (Bush could, for example, nominate Gonzales, a moderate conservative, to placate centrists, and then select more of a hard-liner to please his conservative base.)
The second post would very likely go to a woman, some insiders say. Bush's choices could provide him a better conservative record than that of former President Ronald Reagan, whose picks of O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy turned out to be more moderate than anticipated. "It's his legacy," said one associate. Taking Bush's cue, officials have begun to defend Gonzales while they also talk up Scalia. And they are also moving to stomp out expectations that Bush will pick a more moderate nominee to replace O'Connor in a deal with Democrats to get the conservative Scalia in as chief justice. "What's a consensus candidate? There is no such thing in this environment," said one official.
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