A day after James Dobson revealed what the White House told him about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Senate Democrats said Wednesday that it was wrong for the evangelical Christian leader to get a sneak peek at her qualifications, while Republicans from Colorado’s congressional delegation came to his defense.
Dobson, the founder of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, ended a week of speculation Tuesday by making public his private conversation with White House strategist Karl Rove two days before Miers’ nomination.
According to Dobson, Rove described Miers’ evangelical Christian background and history of opposition to legal abortion but did not discuss how she might rule on abortion.
Earlier, Dobson raised eyebrows by suggesting he was privy to information he couldn’t talk about.
In a statement Wednesday, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., who has clashed with Dobson before, said: “This episode where the White House consulted with powerful interests in the Republican Party but not sufficiently with the Senate is troubling and disappointing.”
Tom Minnery, a Focus on the Family vice president, responded: “May I remind the senator that the people Dr. Dobson speaks for are Christian believers who are taxpayers, citizens and voters. We are disappointed that the senator seems to disdain them.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that committee staffers needed to finish a preliminary review of what occurred in the Dobson situation before the committee decides whether to call Dobson to testify.
“No political faction should be given a monopoly of relevant knowledge about a nomination, just as no faction should be permitted to hound a nominee to withdraw, before the hearing process has even begun,” Leahy said. “What we have seen so far is more of a commentary on the litmus tests and narrow motivations of vocal factions on the Republican right than it is a commentary on the qualifications of Harriet Miers.”
Paul Hetrick, a Focus on the Family spokesman, said Dobson made it clear he is willing to come to the Senate hearings if asked. During a radio program broadcast Wednesday, Dobson dared senators to call him to testify.
“Leahy and his liberal cohorts need to stop talking about it and just do it,” Hetrick said. “Veiled or implied threats from them, via the media, are impotent.”
Colorado’s congressional delegation split along party lines.
“Why on earth is James Dobson the person who gets an advance heads-up from this administration about a Supreme Court nomination?” said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat. “All Americans, including religious Americans, should be furious that they have been shut out from a nomination process that appears to be sanctioned only by a small portion of the extreme Christian right.”
Republican Rep. Bob Beauprez of Arvada rejected the idea of an inquiry into Dobson’s conversation with Rove and said the criticisms amounted to religious bashing.
“It’s absurd that Dr. Dobson is being called upon to testify about a private conversation he had,” he said. “Unfortunately, those who don’t agree with Dr. Dobson are using this opportunity to give a backhanded slap to the faith community while ostensibly pursuing information that has already been disclosed.”
Republican Rep. Joel Hefley of Colorado Springs also said the conversation was private. A spokeswoman said Hefley believes the conversation between Dobson and Rove is “nobody’s business. He thinks there’s been a lot of fuss made out of nothing. The congressman thinks this has just taken a turn for the ridiculous.”
Democratic Rep. Mark Udall said the public should have any information on Miers’ judicial philosophy that the White House gave to Dobson.
“If they won’t explain what Mr. Dobson was referring to, the Senate Judiciary Committee should compel him to testify as to what he knows,” said Udall, of Eldorado Springs. “Whispering confidences to selected allies is no way to pick a Supreme Court justice, and it certainly doesn’t help her chances at being confirmed.”
Neither Republican Sen. Wayne Allard nor Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan could be reached for comment.
Staff writer Eric Gorski can be reached at 303-820-1698 or egorski@denverpost.com.
