Gee, wouldn't THAT be a shock...meanwhile we have to depend on ASHROFT for independence??????????
Where the HELL is Kenny Boy STAR when you need him?
Attorney General Is Closely Linked to Inquiry Figures
october 2, 2003
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, 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.
On Monday, the White House dismissed as "ridiculous" the
suggestion that Mr. Rove had illegally disclosed the
identity of the Central Intelligence Agency officer to
journalists to intimidate the officer's husband, Joseph C.
Wilson IV, a former diplomat who has been critical of the
administration's use of intelligence to justify the war in
Iraq. Mr. Wilson initially charged that Mr. Rove was behind
the leak, but he has since backtracked, saying that he only
suspects Mr. Rove is the source.
Justice Department officials said that it was too early to
say which administration officials would be subjects of
their investigation, but they are likely to seek
information from many senior advisers at the White House,
including Mr. Rove.
An associate said Mr. Rove had been hired by Mr. Ashcroft
in 1984, in Mr. Ashcroft's first successful race for
governor of Missouri, to handle the campaign's mail
solicitations for political contributions. The associate
said Mr. Rove also handled Mr. Ashcroft's direct-mail
solicitations for his 1988 re-election campaign and his
1994 Senate campaign, both of them successful.
By 1998, Mr. Rove had sold his direct-mail operation, Karl
Rove and Company of Austin, Tex., at the request of Mr.
Bush, who was considering a run for president and wanted
his political aide unencumbered. In 2000, Mr. Rove worked
for Mr. Bush and played no official role in Mr. Ashcroft's
losing Senate race.
On Wednesday, Mr. Rove referred calls about his work for
Mr. Ashcroft to Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman.
Ms. Buchan said Mr. Rove recalled handling direct mail
solicitations for two of Mr. Ashcroft's campaigns, not
three.
"That was his recollection," Ms. Buchan said. "He wasn't
sure on the dates. He said yes on '94 and maybe another
race as well."
Even some Republicans, while united in their belief that
there is no need for an outside counsel, say Mr. Ashcroft
will be hit hard by his political detractors if the
investigation drags on.
"All of these so-called scandals can snowball and every new
crumb of information turns into a front-page story above
the fold," a Senate Republican aide said. "The Democrats
are going to make of this what they will, but the reality
is you could have the pope do the investigation and they'd
still be screaming bias."
The furor over the case finds Republicans and Democrats
reversing their roles from the final years of the Clinton
administration. Then, Attorney General Reno was dogged by
calls from Republicans to appoint an outside counsel to
investigate accusations of campaign finance abuses by Mr.
Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
nytimes.com
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