Former Sen. Bryan troubled by Bush’s pick for attorney general

Scott Sonner

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001 | 9:50 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Ex-Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said he was surprised and troubled by President Bush's pick of John Ashcroft for attorney general because it runs contrary to Bush's message of conciliation.

Bryan, who announced he's joining Nevada's largest law firm but won't be doing any lobbying, also raised concerns Friday about the appointment of Gale Norton as interior secretary.

The former Nevada governor and state attorney general said Bush's "rhetoric has been conciliatory.

"He seems to be reaching out. But as with all of us, we need to be judged by our deeds and not our words," Bryan said.

"The appointments particularly of John Ashcroft and Gale Norton send a different message than the message that the president articulates when he speaks."

Bryan predicted both would be confirmed despite opposition to Ashcroft, especially among blacks and abortion rights activists, and opposition to Norton from environmentalists.

"Certainly, the president is entitled to select his own cabinet. But there are a lot of conservatives that could have been appointed to those two positions. I think those appointments send a very strong message," he said.

Bryan said he knows Ashcroft well. They served together as state attorneys generals, then as governors, then as members of the Senate Commerce Committee.

"I was surprised by the president's choice because he had emphasized the need to reconcile and the need to bring together. John Ashcroft is not that kind of figure," Bryan said.

"The African-American community voted overwhelmingly for Al Gore - gave him a higher percentage of their vote than they did for Bill Clinton. And it is clear there is a real concern about this appointment on their part," he said.

Bryan said he was "greatly troubled" by Ashcroft's past opposition to the confirmation of a black Missouri Supreme Court judge, Ronnie White.

Ashcroft insisted he was bothered by White's record, but opponents questioned whether race was a factor.

"The judge was reported out of the Judiciary Committee with no objection. And then on the Senate floor, I thought it was a terrible injustice that was done to the judge asserting that he was somehow opposed to capital punishment," Bryan said.

Bryan announced nearly two years ago that he intended to retire last year at the end of his second term.

He said he turned down "a number of very attractive financial offers from a number of Washington law firms" to go to work as a partner in Nevada with Lionel, Sawyer & Collins.

It's the largest firm in Nevada with 75 employees and offices in Las Vegas and Reno. Bryan's daughter Leslie is a member of the firm in Reno.

"You can take the boy out of Nevada but you can't take Nevada out of the boy. I wanted to come home," he said.

Bryan said he was close to former Gov. Grant Sawyer, who helped found the firm.

"I cast my first ballot for Grant Sawyer for governor in 1958 when I was a student at the University of Nevada, Reno," Bryan said.

He said he's especially looking forward to working with his daughter.

"My father was a lawyer and I was never able to practice law with him. He died when I was in my first semester of law school," he said.

Bryan and his wife, Bonnie, plan to continue living in Las Vegas but will spend "a considerable amount of time in Reno.

"Three of our four grandchildren are here. I love Reno. Now there will not only be a personal reason to visit but a business reason, too," he said.

Bryan served on the Senate Commerce and Banking and Finance committees. He said his legal work will include gambling and mining issues, also banking, telecommunications, airlines, railroads and the Internet.

"I'm not going to be a trial lawyer," Bryan said.

Nor a lobbyist.

"That will not be part of my job description. I don't think that is the niche I have in mind for myself."