JOHN ASHCROFT WILL PUT JUSTICE BACK INTO JUSTICE DEPT.

Last Wednesday I was handed a message that John Ashcroft had called and would like me to return the call to him in Washington. I began wondering whether he was asking me to do something to support him, such as get a resolution of support through the new Republican-majority state Senate, as several other states had done.

An immediate call back established he was unavailable. This was the day before the vote on his confirmation as attorney general in the U.S. Senate, and one can imagine the crushing workload bearing down on him, not to mention the appalling slime campaign against his nomination, one in which naked religious bigotry was on display from the Religious Left.

Indeed, in my view not enough commentators have made the crucial point that much of the anti-Ashcroft hate campaign displayed virulent hostility to Ashcroft precisely because he is a man of deep Christian faith, and the resultant strong convictions that go with it. Better biblical scholars than I can supply the references, wherein the Lord instructed his disciples that they would be persecuted for believing in him and for standing by him, and blessed were they to whom this fate befell.

Imagine my surprise, then, when we finally talked later that afternoon. I learned the purpose of his call: to congratulate us for winning the Senate GOP majority in Jan. 24 special elections for the first time since 1948. It was most gracious of the man who, within 24 hours, would win confirmation when all 50 Republicans were joined by eight Democrats who had served with John and knew the hate campaign against him to be a breathtaking pack of lies and slanders, unworthy of a great political party.

I inquired whether he had read the masterful column by Bill Safire of The New York Times. This was the one entitled "Unflappable Man," on the two days of Ashcroft-baiting he endured at the hands of moral exemplars such as Sen. Ted Kennedy. He said he had indeed read it and cherished it. I commended the soon-to-be attorney general especially for having exemplified, in the face of the most extraordinarily vicious provocation, the wisdom of Proverbs 1:15: "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words incite anger."

I commended John for the fact that he would be an incorruptible man at Justice, and how much this would mean to our country. He responded, with a sincerity tempered by humility, "We need incorruptible justice."

In a note later, I commended to the new attorney general a lesson he already exemplifies, from the 37th Psalm:

Fret not yourself because of the wicked, and be not envious of wrongdoers,

For they shall soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord and do good, so you will dwell in the land and enjoy security.

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act;

He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday.

Behold, a good man, a fine man, a humble Christian at the U.S. Department of Justice. The contrast with the preceding eight years couldn't be clearer. It will be, once again, the Department of Justice.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.