An interview from Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/04/144235
AMY GOODMAN: We're joined now on the telephone by former Independent presidential candidate, Ralph Nader. Over the last few months he has been writing Harriet Miers a series of letters. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Ralph Nader.
RALPH NADER: Thank you, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: What have you been writing to Harriet Miers?
RALPH NADER: Well, we're trying to find out whether Karl Rove, during the 2004 election, obeyed federal law and properly allocated the time he spent in the White House on political activity, the resources he spent in the White House on political activity from his taxpayer funded role as special assistant to the President, performing duties that are well defined. And we can't get an answer. We wrote her -- Harriet Miers, that is -- in March, asking for an allocation to be made public, if there was an allocation, and there was no answer. We wrote her on the 18th of July, and there was no answer. And today, I'm writing President Bush, asking that that allocation be made public and if there is no allocation, what is his explanation under federal law?
The performance by Harriet Miers on this matter is not trivial. Karl Rove was the architect of President Bush's re-election campaign. Those were the words that President Bush used on the celebration after the election last November. And here we have the counsel to the President, Harriet Miers, a nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States, refusing to answer a simple letter that basically says, "Did Karl Rove obey federal law 5-USC-7321 and have an accounting, separating his duties in the White House, in terms of time and resources? And if so, make it public." No answer.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Ralph Nader, wrote Harriet Miers a series of letters, got no response, asking should Karl Rove resign? Did you raise the issue of the exposing of Valerie Plame?
RALPH NADER: No, I just focused completely on the federal law that requires certain officials in the federal government, cabinet secretaries, as well as White House special assistants, to separate his or her time in terms of times and resources spent on elections or political activity and the time spent in the public service.
You know, Amy, in the Congress, if a staff member of a senator or representative engages in political activity during election time, that person can be prosecuted. So that's why the staff members of Congress people take a leave of absence, they drop their public salary, and they go out and push for the re-election of their senator or representative. But unfortunately, a number of years ago the Democrats and the Republicans got together in the Congress and said, ‘We're going to make an exception from that law for the executive branch, for cabinet officials and for top White House officials.' But that exemption required that accounting be established, clearly delineating the time, for example, Karl Rove spent in the White House making calls to re-elect Bush or spending materials and resources to re-elect Bush and the time he spent on government business as special assistant to the President. He didn't do that. And so, Harriet Miers is, in effect, by not answering those letters, is covering up for Karl Rove.
And if the Democrats don't raise that issue in the confirmation hearings, they will continue their record, as a whole, with some luminous exceptions, as a whole, of being a party that is spineless, gutless, hapless, clueless and now leaderless. Imagine, within minutes of the nomination yesterday, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Senator Harry Reid from Nevada, in effect put his imprimatur of approval on Harriet Miers, and then he met with her and said even kinder things. Now, that means that Republicans have instantly split the Democrats and are on their way to another confirmation.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, in fact, last week during a conference call with bloggers, Reid reportedly announced he had asked President Bush to consider Harriet Miers for the job.
RALPH NADER: Yes, that further undermines the Democrats' position.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think it has to do with the Senate Minority Leader, the leading Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid, being anti-choice?
RALPH NADER: That could be a factor. But I think a larger factor is the game that the Republicans are playing with the Democrats. They threatened to appoint a Genghis Khan-type person. The Democrats are very relieved that a Genghis Khan-type person is not nominated to Supreme Court. The whole de-escalation of expectation levels keeps going down, and that's what you got yesterday. You've got statements of caution from Senator Kennedy, saying, ‘Let's wait and see,' and you have statements like that of Senator Reid. I mean, they are really in disarray.
On the Roberts nomination, for example, Senator Reid came out against Judge Roberts, and Senator Leahy, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "Senator Reid doesn't speak for the Democratic caucus; he just speaks for himself." And then Senator Leahy turns around and votes for Judge Roberts. But when Senator Reid said he was against Judge Roberts, he said it at the same time that half of the Democrats are going to vote for Judge Roberts. I mean, what kind of leadership is that? When you undermine your position that you have just taken against the Supreme Court nominee, by saying, ‘Well, half of my Democrats are going to be voting for Judge Roberts.'
So, the Democrats are really in total disarray, not just on this subject, but on the war in Iraq, on reviving national health insurance, universal health insurance, on getting a living wage, on standing up for the civil justice system of compensating wrongful injury, of going after the bloated military budget and going after the huge allocation of tax dollars for corporate subsidies, handouts and giveaways that take money away from the necessities of the American people and things like what happened that made the Southern states so vulnerable during the hurricane, the whole lack of adequate modern public works establishment.
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