[CTRL] Did Ashcroft Take the Low Road on the Highroad?

[William Shannon]

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=corn20010115

Did Ashcroft Take the Low Road on the Highroad?

by DAVID CORN & DAN MOLDEA

When George W. Bush introduced the soon-to-be-ex-Senator John Ashcroft as his
choice for Attorney General, he noted that the first trait he desired in an
AG was "unquestionable integrity," and he proclaimed Ashcroft "a man of
enormous integrity." As Ashcroft, a favorite of the religious right, is
assailed for defending the leaders of the South's slavocracy, for proclaiming
that in America "we have no king but Jesus," for his pure-as-it-gets
opposition to abortion and even some forms of contraception, and for much
more his advocates use Ashcroft's supposed integrity as a firewall.
Responding to Ashcroft critics, Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican,
called his close friend "a person of absolute integrity.... [he] will have
integrity to do what's right." The pro-Ashcroft line is: You may disagree
with him on the issues--his defenders have to concede that--but you can't
question the man's integrity. But when Ashcroft was governor in Missouri he
rendered a decision that reaped a campaign contributor millions of
dollars--and the probity of the deal was indeed questioned by a prominent
newspaper and citizens in his state.
In 1992, the city of Branson--a tourism mecca visited annually by millions
who attend the country-music halls there--was burdened by traffic congestion.
Thirty thousand cars a day were jamming the town's Country Music Boulevard in
peak season. Ashcroft declared the situation in the Ozarks an "economic
emergency" in order to build a road. This was the first time this
gubernatorial power had been used to facilitate construction of a highway,
according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ashcroft's declaration opened the
way for the quick approval of a $140 million, eighteen-mile bypass promoted
as the solution to Branson's traffic mess--a claim challenged by some locals,
who blasted the Ozark Mountain Highroad as an "Ashcroft pork-barrel" project.
But there is no question that the new highway was beneficial to several key
political contributors to Ashcroft, most notably Peter Herschend, an owner of
the Silver Dollar City amusement center. The road--US Highway 465--would
skirt Branson and swing by Herschend's Silver Dollar City, making it easier
for tourists to reach the site of shops, variety shows and rides. A
Post-Dispatch analysis of land records found that the Herschend family stood
to gain the most from the project. The proposed road would cross three
stretches of Herschend-owned property, and in 1993 the family sold one of
them to the state for $2.2 million. Locals called the road "Pete's Pike."
"They were trying to steal our market," Jim Thomas, who runs two music-houses
in Branson and who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic senatorial
nomination in 1994, told The Nation. "Declaring Branson an economic emergency
was an oxymoron. There was traffic, but we were at our peak for business."
One did not have to be a partisan Democrat to wonder if Ashcroft's support
for the project was enhanced by his relationship with Herschend. In October
1994, as Ashcroft was campaigning for the Senate, the Post-Dispatch reported
that Herschend, his wife and business had donated $12,000 to Ashcroft
campaigns in the previous ten years and that Herschend had hosted fundraisers
for Ashcroft. According to subsequent federal elections records, Herschend
and his family contributed $18,000 to Ashcroft's 1994 Senate effort and
$7,000 to the Republican Party that campaign cycle. (Herschend's son, Chris,
worked on Ashcroft's campaign staff in 1994.)
According to Herschend, the road grew out of conversations he held with
Ashcroft and highway officials in 1991 and 1992. And when Ashcroft declared
the "economic emergency" at a public meeting in Branson in June 1992--just
months before he was to leave office--he was introduced by Herschend. At that
time, Ashcroft said the highway would be finished by 1998 and reduce traffic
congestion in downtown Branson. (The road is still under construction and
years away from completion; two years after the announcement, studies showed
the road would draw off only a small amount of Branson's traffic.) Some local
businesses favored the highway, environmentalists opposed it (the road would
run through the habitat of endangered birds), and other opponents maintained
that a costly project of unproven effectiveness was being rushed over their
objections. But the US Department of Transportation approved it in February
1993. When the Post-Dispatch asked Herschend about the project a
year-and-a-half later--the last time this story received any serious
attention--the businessman said that when he was lobbying Ashcroft for the
road he didn't know the bypass was going to run through his property. But the
newspaper discovered two maps drawn up before the official announcement that
showed the proposed road passing through or near Herschend's land. The 117
acres the state purchased from Herschend for $2.2 million was to be used for
building an interchange that would handle traffic to Herschend's Silver
Dollar City.
Ashcroft told the paper that he backed the road to assist Missourians not the
Herschends. Nevertheless, the Herschends appeared appreciative. After 1994,
Herschend, his family, and his business donated $33,000 to Ashcroft and about
$40,000 to other Republicans.
Perhaps Ashcroft resorted to unusual means to push this road because he truly
believed it was in the public interest. But the deep involvement of an
Ashcroft donor/fundraiser in the project caused the Post-Dispatch to question
Ashcroft's integrity. In an editorial the newspaper asked, "Did the Ozark
Mountain Highroad--US Highway 465--get special priority and favorable
treatment because at least two of the landowners along the proposed right of
way were campaign contributors of then-Gov. John Ashcroft?" The newspaper
noted that Ashcroft's designation of the highway as an "economic emergency"
had "no meaning under law" and "raises serious questions of public policy."
It added that the "apparent connections between contributions to politicians
and the priority given this highway at least raises doubts about safeguarding
the public interest." This was all good This was all the more reason, the
paper said, for campaign finance reform.
In general, politicians of unquestionable integrity do not behave in a manner
that provides ammunition to advocates of campaign finance reform. But here
was one instance when Ashcroft acted in a fashion that led observers to
suspect he is not as honest as he is pious. It's unlikely Ashcroft's
nomination will be scuttled because of a Missouri highway deal. (Such
shady-looking arrangements happen frequently in state government; Republicans
and Democrats on Capitol Hill know that.) But his defenders should hope no
other episodes like this emerge. Ashcroft's road to confirmation is paved
with claims of his integrity. If other potholes appear on this street, the
Ashcroft Express, already riding on weak axles, may not reach its
destination.