Critics expressed concern today about a previously unexamined aspect of the record of attorney general nominee John Ashcroft — his successful efforts to block legislation designed to equalize access to voter registration in the St. Louis area. As governor, Ashcroft twice vetoed measures passed overwhelmingly by the Missouri legislature that sought to make it possible for volunteer deputy registrars from nonpartisan organizations to engage in voter registration in the city of St. Louis, which was about 50 percent black. “Mr. Ashcroft’s vetoes show a disturbing commitment to maintaining separate and unequal access to voter registration for African-Americans,” John Hickey, executive…

WASHINGTON — With Senate confirmation hearings on the nomination of John Ashcroft for attorney general scheduled to begin Tuesday, the Institute for Public Accuracy today raised pointed questions for Ashcroft on the subject of abortion rights: In 1998, you were one of three original Senate sponsors of the “Human Life Amendment” to the Constitution, and you submitted a written statement to the publication Human Events in which you said: “If I had the opportunity to pass but a single law, I would fully recognize the constitutional right of every unborn child, and ban every abortion except for those medically necessary…

This afternoon, the Institute for Public Accuracy released the following list of suggested questions for attorney general nominee John Ashcroft, who faces Senate confirmation hearings later this month: 1) Will you furnish the text or a tape recording of your 1999 commencement address to Bob Jones University? 2) You have said that you were unaware in 1999 of Bob Jones University’s racial and religious positions. Are you now willing to renounce your honorary degree from that university? 3) Please explain what you meant in your 1998 interview with Southern Partisan magazine when you said that the magazine “helps set the…

The Pacifica Foundation, which in the summer of 1999 locked out the staff of KPFA Radio in Berkeley, Calif., has recently begun a similar series of actions at WBAI Radio, its New York City station. Management changed locks over Christmas weekend and fired and banned several targeted workers from the station. There have been a series of protests in New York. The following people are available for interviews: BERNARD WHITE Longtime co-host of WBAI’s “Wakeup Call” and program director for the station, White was fired without explanation two days before Christmas. More Information SHARAN HARPER Producer for WBAI’s “Wakeup Call,”…

Two specialists on the political dynamics of neo-Confederate and white nationalist groups in the United States today commented on aspects of racial politics and John Ashcroft, the nominee for attorney general. DEVIN BURGHART Burghart is director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community. The initiative works to counter the white nationalist movement in a 10-state region across the Midwest. “Sen. John Ashcroft gave an interview and legitimacy to one of the leading white nationalist groups in the country,” Burghart said today. “The Senate Judiciary Committee should focus on Sen. Ashcroft’s endorsement of Southern Partisan.” Burghart added:…

John Ashcroft, whose nomination for attorney general will be considered by the Senate later this month, “has a history of reaching out to white supremacist groups,” a longtime researcher in his home state of Missouri said today. “An examination of Ashcroft’s recent record shows that he has actively cultivated ties to white supremacists and extreme hate groups,” said John Hickey, executive director of the Missouri Citizen Education Fund. In a 1998 interview with the quarterly Southern Partisan, Ashcroft praised that publication, saying: “Your magazine also helps set the record straight. You’ve got a heritage of doing that, of defending Southern…

WILLIAM HARTUNG Senior research fellow at the World Policy Institute and co-author of the recent report “Tangled Web: The Marketing of Missile Defense, 1994-2000,” Hartung said today: “Donald Rumsfeld has a reputation as a moderate, dating back to his days as secretary of defense in the Ford administration in the mid-1970s, but during the 1990s he has become a darling of right-wing Republicans and a member in good standing of the Star Wars lobby. As Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott’s handpicked chairman of a congressionally-mandated commission on Third World ballistic missiles that bore his name, Rumsfeld grossly exaggerated the ballistic…

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers faced criticism today for derogatory comments about a U.S. congressional commission’s call for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to use their resources to cancel 100 percent of their debt claims against poor countries. Speaking at the National Press Club on Thursday afternoon, Summers said that full implementation of recommendations made by the bipartisan Meltzer Commission — which urged cancellation of all the debts of the world’s poorest countries — “would do very serious damage to the economic and financial interests of the United States, and would in a meaningful and important…

ELLEN FRANK Professor of economics at Emmanuel College in Boston, Frank said today: “The rapid upsurge in business and consumer spending of the past few years has been heavily debt-financed. Consumer debt doubled over the last decade. Corporate indebtedness stands today at over $10 billion, while our $400 billion trade deficit requires unprecedented levels of international borrowing. In this context, even a slight downturn could set off mounting bankruptcies and snowball rapidly.” More Information MARK WEISBROT Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot said today: “The Federal Reserve’s decision to move from a bias towards raising interest…

MANNING MARABLE Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, Marable said today: “The election in Florida represented a gross abrogation of voting rights for African Americans. There were widespread examples of local police harassing African Americans going to the polls, of polling machinery that didn’t work in largely African-American precincts. Gore played to the right wing by avoiding putting forward the issues of racial disenfranchisement.” More Information ALEXANDER KEYSSAR Author of The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States and professor of history and public policy at Duke University, Keyssar…