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Oppose Bolton's nomination at http://www.usalone.com/bolton.htm ----------- http://snipurl.com/dw26 Bolton faces stiff fight over UN nomination Democrats on panel might all vote against By Paul Richter, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times. Tribune news services contributed to this report March 31, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Democrats are likely to vote unanimously against John Bolton when his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations comes before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week, according to Democratic and Republican lawmakers and aides. It would mark the first time committee Democrats unanimously opposed a Bush diplomatic nominee and would put the nomination in peril if Republicans defected to vote against him. But Republicans say they believe the outspoken conservative will win solid GOP backing in the committee, including from moderate Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), who has voiced reservations about Bolton's nomination to be UN ambassador. The split on the panel is one of several signs that the proceedings, set for April 7, will be acrimonious. Advocates have organized letter-writing and ad campaigns for and against Bolton. For example, former Sen. James Sasser and two other retired American diplomats added their names to an anti-Bolton letter distributed Tuesday to Foreign Relations Committee members. Sasser is a Democrat who was former President Bill Clinton's ambassador to China. The two other former diplomats who signed the letter, raising the total to 62, were Patricia Byrne, deputy U.S. ambassador to the UN under former President Ronald Reagan, and John Hirsch, ambassador to Sierra Leone in the Clinton administration. Under a microscope Democrats said they intend to probe Bolton's comments on a variety of issues, an exercise Republicans say could stretch the hearing into a second day. Republicans said they also are concerned that Democrats may try to filibuster the nomination if it reaches the Senate floor. Bolton, now undersecretary of state for arms control, is controversial because of his open criticism of the United Nations and other international institutions and agreements. "He's been contemptuous of the UN," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Disarmament groups such as the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the Citizens for Global Solutions have been trying to persuade moderate Republicans, such as Chafee, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), to vote against Bolton. Citizens for Global Solutions is beginning an advertising campaign Thursday in Rhode Island to try to influence Chafee, said Harpinder Athwal, a spokeswoman for the organization. On the other side is a Sacramento-based group called Move America Forward. "We like the idea that he'll represent U.S. interests to the UN, rather than act as a UN spokesman to this country," said Howard Kaloogian, chairman of Move America Forward. "We like the idea that he'll speak truth to power." Lugar, Hagel and Chafee reacted without enthusiasm to the administration's announcement of Bolton as its choice, but Lugar and Hagel have given more positive indications since then. An aide to Chafee said the senator remains undecided. "We're getting more and more calls about it, but ... he's still watching it, and we'll have to see where he'll come down." Chafee is one of the Senate's most moderate Republicans. But opposing the Bolton nomination--perhaps sinking it-- would be a major step for a lawmaker who has never voted against a top Bush or Clinton nominee, aides acknowledged. Likely supporter If any Democrat were to break ranks, it probably would be Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). Feingold has held the view that presidents should be able to choose their associates, except in extreme cases. He expressed that view when he voted to confirm Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January and said the same thing in 2001, when he was the only committee Democrat to vote for Bolton's nomination to be undersecretary of state. Bolton's nomination that year passed the Senate 57-43. Feingold "is going to be reserving judgment until he hears from the nominee at the hearing," an aide said. But other Democrats said Feingold is reconsidering his past position. There are 10 Republicans and eight Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee. If Chafee switched, creating a 9-9 tie in the committee, it would probably kill the nomination, said two Republican Senate aides. Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a specialist on congressional procedures, said the committee's rules appear to allow the chairman to move the question to the floor if he can get a majority vote in favor of such an action. _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will be deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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