Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jan 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
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Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Frank Ahrens

AT THE ASHCROFT HEARING, AN OPINION SIDESHOW

Of all the advocacy groups and all the activists and all the talking heads
clashing over Sen. John Ashcroft -- and there are many -- the people who
broke up the first day of his confirmation hearings yesterday had little to
do with the issues that have thus far dogged Ashcroft's candidacy for
attorney general.

People in favor of abortion rights, people opposed to abortion rights,
libertarians, the Feminist Majority, the religious right -- they were all
outside, circling in front of the Hart Senate Office Building, holding signs
and chanting, or working Hill sidewalks elsewhere.

The needle exchange folks, they got inside.

Well over two hours into the hearing -- moments after Ashcroft finished the
last sentence of his 12-page statement, holding up his right hand in an oath
before God -- four men stood at the back of the hearing room and began
shouting:"Ashcroft kills!" Then an unintelligible sentence. Then: "Ashcroft
kills!" Then an unintelligible sentence.They were well into their sixth or
seventh "Ashcroft kills!" when U.S. Capitol Police shouldered past frozen
spectators toward the men, who continued shouting. One fell and took out a
couple rows of chairs. He kept shouting as he was dragged from the room. His
three colleagues were escorted out peacefully, quietly asserting, "Ashcroft
kills."

The four were from New York's Housing Works, an advocacy group for homeless
people living with AIDS and HIV, said their press release. Housing Works
says Ashcroft opposes needle exchange programs that provide addicts with
clean needles to help slow the spread of infectious diseases.

The loudest instigator was Keith Cylar, co-executive director of the group.
He and Zonell Wright, Earl Ellis and Nelson Trinidad were charged with
disruption of Congress, a misdemeanor, and were being held overnight.

In the hours before the hearing began, various groups were outside making
their case for and against Ashcroft, largely for the benefit of the media
and some high school kids who happened by for a lesson in
yelling.Conservative and religious groups rallied on the Capitol lawn and
passed out "Confirm Ashcroft" signs to scores of high school students in
town for a week with the nonpartisan Close Up program, which brings
politically keen kids to Washington for a week. This is a pretty good week.

Four Catholic high school girls from St. Louis carried the pro-Ashcroft
signs as they got back on their buses. The quartet supports Ashcroft because
he opposes abortion."He's pro-life," said Laura Breihan, 17. "We like that."

Headed to another bus was Close Up student Rebecca Rudicell, 17, of
Pensacola, Fla., who called Ashcroft a "religious fanatic." Her friend
Nathan Sobo, 17, of San Diego, focused on Ashcroft's appearance at Bob Jones
University in South Carolina: "It's wrong for a public figure to accept a
degree from a school that doesn't believe in mixing the races."

Inside Hart, 200 hopefuls lined up outside the meeting room to get inside
for part of the hearing.

A half-hour before things got underway, Lindsay Glenn, 22, an Arizona State
law student, anchored the back of the line.Yesterday was her first day as an
intern in the office of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). She hadn't formed an
opinion about Ashcroft and had come to learn.Just in front of her were Jill
Teehan, 22, a Brown University student, and Stacey Schesser, 22, a campus
organizer for the Feminist Majority. Unsolicited, Teehan listed her
arguments against Ashcroft: He's anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-affirmative
action, anti-environment.Anti-environment?

"Feel free to jump in here," Teehan said to Schesser.

"I think he's been linked to some groups that are anti-environment,"
Schesser tentatively offered.

"That's not the point," Teehan countered, determined to stay on message.
"He's an extremist. It's questionable he can put aside his ideologies and
enforce the laws."

Glenn -- the McCain intern -- piped up."I'm for him now. After hearing her,"
she said, pointing to Teehan, "I agree with Ashcroft."

"This is just more Democratic demonization of your opponent," interjected
Richard Gantt, 30, a Georgetown law student.

Everyone called each other an "extremist" for a while until Ashcroft himself
heeled around a nearby corner, led by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and trailed
by several police officers. Everyone in line quieted down as he walked by,
offering an occasional "hello." After he passed, there was a collective
exhale.

Teehan and Schesser finally made it inside the hearing room during the
break, an opportunity the press used to pounce on Ashcroft's family, seated
behind him.There was his wife, Janet, who teaches law at Howard University.
Behind Janet was a woman who looked exactly like her and turned out to be
her twin sister, Anne Giddings, the family baby by 12 minutes. Giddings has
the sort of sunny disposition that makes you feel really bad for being an
arch, wiseacre East Coast cynic.She reports that Ashcroft is an ice cream
addict, and had a Dairy Queen ice cream machine stashed in the basement of
the Missouri governor's mansion. Then she worried that she was telling too
much on her brother-in-law. She laughingly wondered if aides would soon gag
her with "duct tape."

Seated next to Giddings was family friend Joy Collins. Her eyes were moist
with tears. Opened on her lap was a Bible -- the Bible that belonged to
Ashcroft's father, an Assemblies of God minister. Worn soft and floppy, it
was covered with notations in pen.Was she reading a particular
passage?"Yes," she said, handing over the Bible. "Psalm 140. Read it for
yourself."

It begins:"Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the
violent man; which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they
gathered for war."
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MAP posted-by: Don Beck