Week of August 18, 2005
Barbara Boxer turns up heat on Bush nominee
In a hard-hitting speech at San Francisco's Golden Gate University, Sen. Barbara Boxer vowed to "use all the parliamentary tools I've been given as a U.S. senator" if Bush's Supreme Court nominee John Roberts fails to answer questions about his views on privacy rights at his confirmation hearings, set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 6.
"I need to know exactly where he will stand, and I need to know if he will fight to protect and defend the rights and freedoms of the American people," Boxer told the San Francisco Chronicle August 10. Boxer cited a 1981 memo by Roberts that referred to a "so-called right of privacy," a troubling statement that Roberts must clarify, she said.
Before the full Senate can vote on Roberts' nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings and take its own vote. California's senior senator, Dianne Feinstein (the only woman on the Judiciary Committee), has vowed to press Roberts on reproductive rights. "I feel very, very comfortable that if anyone can get at the views of this nominee on Roe, and on choice and on privacy, she can do it," Boxer said of Feinstein.
Roberts is an old hand at artfully dodging questions. In 1981, he coached Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, then a nominee, on how to avoid expressing specific views on choice during her Senate hearings. Although Roberts has over the years expressed opposition to the right to privacy that serves as the basis for protecting reproductive and gay rights, he has, according to one American Bar Association member, "covered his tracks well" (AP, 8/6/05).
The public overwhelmingly supports a full airing of Roberts' views. A July/August poll conducted by CBS News shows that 65 percent of Americans believe it's important for the Senate to learn his views on abortion; the same poll shows that 60 percent of Americans view the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision as "a good thing."
White House opposes health exception in New Hampshire choice law
The Bush administration issued an amicus brief August 8 supporting a New Hampshire law restricting abortion rights. A federal appeals court struck down the law because it lacked an explicit exception to protect a young woman's health. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in its next session.
Under the New Hampshire law, minors seeking abortions must wait 48 hours for the physician to notify their parents or guardians before performing the procedure. The law makes an exception only for the minor's imminent death.
The ruling on the New Hampshire case will have profound implications for the future of abortion rights in this country, and the composition of the Court will determine its outcome.
Birds of a feather fundraise together
Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Penn.) is getting heavy-hitting fundraising help from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to help raise money to fend off another challenge from attorney Lois Murphy, who came within 7000 votes of defeating the GOP incumbent in 2004 and is gearing up for another run in 2006.
Rove, mired in a legal probe over the disclosure of a covert CIA operative, was the guest of honor at a Gerlach fundraiser in Washington, D.C., July 19. For $2,500, Gerlach supporters got to break bread with the man dubbed "Bush's Brain"; $1,000 bought guests the privilege of rubbing elbows with Rove at a reception.
Rove might help Gerlach fill his campaign coffers, but associating with Rove probably won't help Gerlach in this swing district, which is becoming more and more Democratic. Anti-Rove demonstrators protested outside the event. Murphy noted that Gerlach "is cozying up to Washington insiders rather than taking seriously the concerns people here in the district have about Karl Rove" and called on Gerlach to cancel his fundraiser.
Gerlach won this seat in 2002 by campaigning as an "independent voice"; since then, he's become a devoted acolyte of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) -- voting with DeLay over 90 percent of the time, accepting funds from DeLay's PAC, and contributing to DeLay's legal defense fund. DeLay, grateful for Gerlach's unwavering support, has made Gerlach one of 10 endangered Republicans on the GOP ROMP (Retain Our Majority Program) list.
Paulin seeks compromise over emergency contraception after governor's veto
N.Y. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who was supported by EMILY's List's Political Opportunity Program (POP), is urging GOP Gov. George Pataki to reconsider his veto of her emergency contraception (EC) legislation. Paulin is the primary sponsor of the Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Act to increase access to EC, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support 112-33 in the Assembly and 34-27 in the Senate. But Pataki, until recently a supporter of reproductive rights, vetoed the measure Aug. 4 because, he said, the measure as written has "no protections for minors."
Emergency contraception, widely available in several states, is credited with drastically reducing the number of abortions. Taking Pataki to task, Paulin stated that Pataki's veto meant the state was losing out on an opportunity to cut the number of abortions per year in New York in half.
Some political analysts see Pataki's veto as a symptom of his presidential ambitions. An editorial in the Journal-News, a daily paper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, noted Pataki's claims that he vetoed Paulin's bill "so that teen girls could be better protected. But," say the editors, "in reality it was so he could be."
POP is helping elect state legislators like Paulin around the country by contributing to their campaigns and providing technical support and political training to hone their campaign skills.
Kathy Castor fights for sex education funding
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kathy Castor, who is running for the open congressional seat in Florida's 11th district, proved her pro-choice mettle when she vigorously defended a Planned Parenthood program targeted for elimination by an anti-choice commissioner.
The highly regarded program provides pregnancy and disease prevention education through peer-to-peer counseling. Noting Hillsborough County's high teen pregnancy and HIV infection rates, Castor questioned the wisdom of cutting one of the most successful programs for preventing teen pregnancy and the spread of HIV. "We should be doing everything in our power to prevent teen pregnancy," Castor told the Tampa Tribune.