LETTERS: ASHCROFT, NORTON PICKS BELIE CLAIM OF COMPROMISE

To the editor:

Both during the campaign and following the election we heard much of bipartisanship, of reconciliation and of compromise from George W. Bush and his entourage. His actions suggest we have been witnessing nothing but the charming words of a silver-tongued devil.

In the nominations of John Ashcroft to attorney general and Gale Norton as secretary of the interior, we see serious pandering to, and promotion of, the causes of right-wing extremism.

What should negate Ashcroft as the nation's chief law enforcement officer is his history, while holding public office, of using his authority to subvert the nation's laws and promote the causes of environmental destruction, pollution and polluters as urged by corporations and organizations from which he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. This record suggests that once in office Ashcroft would continue to serve those same special corporate interests rather than defend federal laws protecting the average citizen.

Meanwhile, the problem with the Norton nomination is that she has a long and proud history of promoting the cause of polluting industries. She has also strenuously and consistently opposed everything that the Interior Department has done to serve its charge of protecting and conserving the natural resources of the nation.

These nominations suggest this president has no interest in compromising with American voters who so roundly rejected his anti-environmental policies at the polls.

ALAN JOURNET

Cape Girardeau