Ashcroft reportedly will resign
By Frank James
Washington Bureau
Published November 5, 2004
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Thursday that there will be changes in the Cabinet in his second term as reports surfaced that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft is likely to leave the administration soon.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is another high-profile Cabinet official who, observers have speculated, may leave after years of reports that he has been marginalized by others in the administration.
Asked at a news conference what changes he has in store for his Cabinet, Bush said: "There will be some changes. I don't know who they will be. It's inevitable. . . . It happens in every administration.
"It's a great Washington sport to be talking about who's going to leave and who the replacements may be, and handicapping, you know, my way of thinking. . . . " he continued. "But let me just help you out with the speculation right now. I haven't thought about it. I'm going to start thinking about it."
It appears however that some Cabinet members may have beaten Bush to it.
Senior Justice Department aides said Thursday that Ashcroft, whose tenure has been controversial at times, will probably leave before Bush's second inauguration, The Associated Press and CNN reported.
Ashcroft, 62, has been at the center of the war on terrorism where he also has been a lightning rod for criticism that his policies have encroached on civil liberties, particularly those of detained or accused Muslim immigrants.
His aides said Ashcroft has been worn down by the job. Earlier this year he was hospitalized, and his gallbladder was removed.
If Ashcroft does leave, observers believe former Deputy Atty. Gen. Larry Thompson could be in line to succeed him. If Bush chose Thompson, who left the administration in 2003, he would become the first African-American attorney general.
Another name that has been floated is that of Alberto Gonzales, White House counsel. If Bush chose Gonzales, he would become the first Latino in that post.
Racicot a possibility
Marc Racicot, Bush's campaign chairman and a former Montana governor, is also considered a possible candidate for the post.
Experts say the likeliest way Bush would reshape his Cabinet would be to reshuffle the players in his administration.
"In many ways it's safer to do it from within because there's no new on-the-job training," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus of the Brookings Institution, a moderate think tank. Hess served in the administrations of Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
"People presumably would hit the ground running. The person who was deputy secretary of something who you choose to make secretary is being rewarded for their contribution, their skills and their loyalty," he said.
It was less likely, Hess said, that the president would recruit people from outside the administration to fill Cabinet positions. A new administration has a "luster" that makes successful people willing to accept the loss of privacy and pay cuts that come with it, he said.
"For the second term, when the policies are basically already set, it's much more difficult [to recruit people]."
While there has been speculation about Powell leaving the administration after years of butting heads with Vice President Dick Cheney's office, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials, Powell has been mum on his future.
At Thursday's daily State Department briefing, when he was asked whether Powell discussed his future with the president, spokesman Richard Boucher was opaque.
"It's not a matter that's going to be known to anybody outside of the president and the secretary," Boucher said. "And when they have something to tell people, I'm sure they will."
Powell has battled with Defense Department officials, but he has many supporters inside the administration and beyond. Influential members of Congress have asked him to stay on as the administration works on repairing relations with traditional allies France and Germany and others such as China that were ruptured by the Iraq war.
The congenial Powell is also well-liked by the U.S. diplomatic corps as well as the State Department's career professionals because he has lobbied, often successfully, to get more resources for them.
"There is tremendous support for the achievements of the last several years that the secretary has helped bring to this department, " Boucher said.
Danforth mentioned
If Powell were to leave, observers have said a likely choice to replace him would be John Danforth, ambassador to the UN and a former Republican senator from Missouri.
Speculation also has focused on Rumsfeld's future, especially because many of the administration's critics blame him for problems in Iraq.
But Cheney and Rumsfeld have personal and professional ties that lead observers to believe that Rumsfeld is free to stay as long as he likes.
If Rumsfeld, 72, a Chicago native, decides to exit, observers speculate that Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, could become the first woman and African-American to be defense secretary.
Rice, who turns 50 this month and is perhaps Bush's closest adviser on foreign affairs and security matters, has sometimes been controversial.
Some critics have blamed her for not paying enough attention to Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Rice is thought by observers to really want the Defense Department post and if she doesn't get it, there has been speculation that she might leave the administration and return to California to perhaps run for political office.
Another high-profile Cabinet member whose departure has been rumored is Tom Ridge, head of the Homeland Security Department, which came into being last year.
Ridge, 60, is a former Pennsylvania governor who has reportedly told friends he needs to earn more money than he can in the Cabinet to pay for his children's college education.
Brian Roehrkasse, the department's press secretary, said Ridge "is focused on his job of securing the homeland, especially as the nation approaches the holidays."
A department official who asked not to be identified said Ridge has not made up his mind.
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