Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001 | 11:29 a.m.
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has joined the majority of his Democratic colleagues in voicing opposition to Attorney General-nominee John Ashcroft.
Reid spoke out against the former Republican senator from Missouri on the floor of the Senate late Wednesday.
"For the women of Nevada, the people of Nevada, I cannot vote to confirm John Ashcroft as attorney general of the United States," Reid said.
His opposition means the Nevada delegation is split on the controversial Ashcroft nomination.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has announced he will vote for Ashcroft, a religious conservative who once called gambling a "cancer on the soul of our nation."
All 50 Republican senators reportedly have pledged to back Ashcroft, along with a handful of Democrats, which means his confirmation was likely as early as today.
Reid said this morning that correspondence coming into his office was running 60-40 against Ashcroft.
"The people of Nevada are not happy with this," he said.
The senior Nevada senator added that he expected Democrats would show enough opposition to Ashcroft to send a strong message to President Bush.
"I think the message has to be that if a Supreme Court nomination comes up, we're not going to take another John Ashcroft," Reid said.
Reid did not mention Ashcroft's strong anti-gambling views in his speech on the Senate floor.
Nevada's congressional delegation is hoping Ashcroft will become an ally in its sports betting fight with the NCAA.
The NCAA is pushing legislation banning legal betting in Nevada on college sports.
But in a counter-move, Nevada's delegation plans to introduce its own bill calling upon the Justice Department to investigate illegal sports betting in America before it focuses on legal wagering in the Silver State.
If confirmed, Ashcroft will head the Justice Department.
Reid acknowledged that his opposition to Ashcroft won't help efforts to enlist Ashcroft's backing in the NCAA fight.
"I had to do what I had to do," he said.
Ensign now is likely to be pressed further into wooing Ashcroft.
Reid told his colleagues Wednesday that he found Ashcroft unfit to become attorney general after looking at all of the evidence presented during Ashcroft's confirmation hearings before the Judiciary Committee.
"The evidence has convinced me that Mr. Ashcroft has demonstrated real and substantial biases against women, people of color, gays, lesbians and anyone else who does not meet his personal definition of what constitutes a true American," Reid said.
The Democratic whip added that Ashcroft's nomination shows that President Bush is unwilling to "put unity above partisan appeal to the most extreme elements in the Republican Party.
"To President Bush, I say this," Reid said. "Please remember that it was the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who quoted from the bible these words, 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.' You campaigned on a platform of unification of this nation Mr. President. I will support your every effort to do so if unification does not mean that we abandon our commitment to fairness, impartiality and essentially decency in government.
"To John Ashcroft, I say that ... I cannot vote to confirm a man who allows his bias against another's personal lifestyle choices to affect his decision on whether that individual is fit to enter public service.
"I cannot confirm a man who prevents women from options to which they are entitled. I cannot confirm as attorney general anyone who will not confer upon that office the impartiality it demands and deserves."
Other prominent Democratic senators opposed to Ashcroft include, Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Diane Feinstein of California.
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