Ashcroft is gone

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites), a fierce conservative who generated controversy with his tough tactics in the war on terror, and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, one of President Bush (news - web sites)\'s closest friends, resigned Tuesday, the first members of the Cabinet to quit before the start of a second term.

Ashcroft and Evans have served all four years of Bush\'s administration, which has been marked by little turnover. Ashcroft said he would remain until a successor is confirmed, which could take months. Evans said he would stay well into January.

In a five-page, handwritten letter, Ashcroft told Bush, \"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved. Yet I believe that the Department of Justice (news - web sites) would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration.\" Ashcroft, who suffered health problems earlier this year and had his gall bladder removed, dated his letter Nov. 2, Election Day.

Evans, a longtime friend from Texas, wrote Bush, \"While the promise of your second term shines bright, I have concluded with deep regret that it is time for me to return home.\"

Ashcroft\'s critics cheered his departure. \"We wish John Ashcroft good health and a good retirement. And we hope the president will choose a less polarizing attorney general as his successor,\" said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), said, \"Mr. Ashcroft\'s legacy has been an open hostility to protecting civil liberties and an outright disdain for those who dare to question his policies.\"

Speculation about Ashcroft\'s successor has centered on his former deputy, Larry Thompson, who recently took a job as general counsel at PepsiCo. If appointed, Thompson would be the nation\'s first black attorney general. Others prominently mentioned include Bush\'s 2004 campaign chairman, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, and White House general counsel Alberto Gonzales.

Bush issued statements of praise for Ashcroft, 62, and Evans, 58, and for the policies they advanced.

\"John Ashcroft has worked tirelessly to help make our country safer,\" the president said. \"John has served our nation with honor, distinction, and integrity.\"

Bush\'s farewell to Evans was more effusive and more personal, in fitting with their more than three decades of friendship dating to Midland, Texas, where they worked in the oil business, attended church together and met for a daily three-mile jog. Evans partied with Bush the night in 1986 when they celebrated their 40th birthdays and Bush swore off drinking.

\"Don Evans is one of my most trusted friends and advisers,\" Bush said. \"Don has worked to advance economic security and prosperity for all Americans. He has worked steadfastly to make sure America continues to be the best place in the world to do business.\"

A preacher\'s son, former Missouri governor and one-time U.S. senator, Ashcroft was a favorite of the religious conservatives who make up a key part of the Republican political base. At the same time, he has been a lightning rod for criticism of his handling of the U.S. end of the war against terror, especially the detention of terror suspects.

A former Ashcroft aide sought to dispel talk that health was a factor in the attorney general\'s departure, saying the decision to leave came only after discussions with the president.

\"He would have been pleased to consider staying in the Cabinet,\" said Juleanna Glover Weiss, who worked for Ashcroft in the Senate and is also a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites). White House officials said neither Ashcroft nor Evans was asked to leave.

Evans, 58, was instrumental in Bush\'s 2000 campaign and came with him to Washington. Evans has told aides he was ready for a change.

One name being mentioned for Evans\' job at Commerce is Mercer Reynolds, national finance chairman for the Bush campaign, who raised more than $260 million to get him re-elected.

Meanwhile, three high-ranking Bush administration officials said they would like to remain on the job. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) Administrator Michael Leavitt all said they want to continue.

Washington continued to buzz with speculation about the futures of Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Powell, en route to Mexico City, said late Monday he has an ambitious travel schedule in Europe in the weeks ahead in hopes of patching deep divisions stemming from the Iraq (news - web sites) war. He gave no hint about his own plans beyond the early December meetings, although he is widely expected to leave his job at the end of Bush\'s term or early in the second term.

Senior aides to Rumsfeld say he would like to remain in the job for at least part of Bush\'s second term. Rumsfeld told reporters at a news conference Tuesday that he had not discussed it with Bush since the election, and he did not say whether he wanted to remain. Rumsfeld ran through a list of Pentagon (news - web sites) accomplishments during his tenure, prompting some at the White House to suggest that his remarks had a valedictory tone. But Pentagon aides discouraged the idea he was hinting at any intention to leave.

Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), the president\'s national security adviser, is considered a possible successor for either Rumsfeld or Powell. She has let it be known that she does not want to remain in her current role in the second term, and officials say her path is up or out. Rice said a year ago she wasn\'t interested in getting enmeshed in the bureaucracy at the State Department, but aides don\'t rule that out now, particularly with prospects for change in the Middle East.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041110/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_cabinet

 

who do you think is going to take his place? Id like to see rudy get a position and run in for the republicans. I really want Zell Miller to convert, and run in 08 though.

 

Bush Names White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales As First Hispanic Attorney General

WASHINGTON -- President Bush nominated White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who helped shape the administration\'s controversial legal strategy in the war on terror, to be attorney general Wednesday. He would be the first Hispanic ever to serve as the nation\'s top law enforcement officer.

\"He is a calm and steady voice in times of crisis,\" Bush said, his eyes glistening with emotion as he stood next to Gonzales. \"He has an unwavering principle of respect for the law.\"

After complaints about civil rights abuses in the name of fighting terror, Gonzales said, \"There should be no question regarding the department\'s commitment to justice for every American. On this principle there can be no compromise.\"

A Harvard educated attorney whose parents were migrant workers, the soft-spoken Gonzales would succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, one of the most powerful and polarizing members of Bush\'s Cabinet.

\"`Just give me a chance to prove myself\' _ that is a common prayer for those in my community,\" said Gonzales. \"Mr. President, thank you for that chance.\"

Some of Ashcroft\'s harshest critics welcomed his selection, while others voiced doubts.

\"It\'s encouraging that the president has chosen someone less polarizing,\" said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. \"We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he\'s a better candidate than John Ashcroft.\" Another Democrat, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, said the Senate generally allows the president to choose his own team. \"I don\'t think that\'s going to change much,\" he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union reserved judgment on Gonzales, but its executive director, Anthony Romero, said, \"What we do know raises some significant doubts and trouble.\"

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, expressed confidence Gonzales would be promptly confirmed.

Gonzales drew criticism after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks when he wrote a memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position drew fire from human rights groups, who said it helped lead to the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Specifically, Gonzales\' memo said the Geneva Convention that had long governed the treatment of prisoners did not apply to al-Qaida or the war in Afghanistan. The memo called some of the Geneva Convention\'s provisions \"quaint.\"

Gonzales also defended the administration\'s policy _ essentially repudiated by the Supreme Court and now being fought out in lower courts _ of detaining certain terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to lawyers or courts.

Bush was unapologetic about Gonzales\' role.

\"His sharp intellect and sound judgment have helped shape our policies in the war on terror, policies designed to protect the security of all Americans while protecting the rights of all Americans,\" the president said.

\"My confidence in Al was high to begin with,\" Bush said. \"It has only grown with time.\"

Gonzales\' selection came just a day after the resignations of Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a close friend of Bush. With more changes expected, White House officials said Bush intends to try to have successors in place when resignations are announced.

Bush sidestepped whether Secretary of State Colin Powell would remain for a second term. \"I\'m proud of my secretary of state,\" he told reporters after meeting with Powell earlier in the day. \"He\'s done a heck of a good job.\"

Gonzales\' political career has flourished under Bush\'s patronage over the past decade, since Bush was governor of Texas. Recruited from a Houston law firm in 1995, he served as Bush\'s general counsel, secretary of state and then was named to the Texas Supreme Court before accompanying the president to Washington. \"I am grateful he keeps saying yes,\" Bush said.

But critics also raised their voices.

\"Alberto Gonzales\' role in the development of policies that ultimately led to the Abu Ghraib prison scandals in Iraq is deeply troubling,\" said Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People For the American Way. He said senators should question Gonzales closely on these matters.

Bush advisers said two people would be naturals to succeed Gonzales as White House counsel. One is White House staff secretary Brett Kavanaugh, a lawyer who has been waiting nearly 16 months for confirmation on the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Another candidate would be Harriet Miers, a deputy chief of staff who was once Bush\'s personal lawyer, a Bush adviser said.

http://middlegeorgia.cox.net/cci/ne...ew&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8699P0G0