John Fund’s disturbing information on Miers
Many of us who were once Democrats and became Republicans, or were once liberal and became conservative, can point to certain landmarks along the way. John Fund says that his research on Miers shows a woman who has left almost no footprints in the sand — indeed, she seems to be obsessive about this. Our view is that it is almost a duty to one’s self and one’s family not to be this way; hence, we now find some real reasons to be skeptical of the Miers pick. Fund’s other information is even worse:
Ms. Miers’s record is one of initially supporting a conservative position and then abandoning it. She started out backing a plan to redistrict the City Council that had received the endorsement of two-thirds of Dallas voters in a 1989 referendum. When it appeared that plan would lose a court case on account of its alleged effect on minority representation, she backed a plan for single-member districts supported by liberals. “I formally debated her on the issue,” recalls Tom Pauken, a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party. “She was a liberal then. I don’t know about today, but in the last week all the liberals who’ve been on the council have been singing her praises.”
Similarly, Ms. Miers was originally part of a council majority that urged Congress to repeal the Wright Amendment, a law that restricts flights from Dallas Love Field. Southwest Airlines and free-market advocates had long attacked the restriction as favoritism toward American Airlines, which has a hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International. Ms. Miers reversed her position after 10 months and sponsored a resolution in favor of the Wright Amendment. She called her move “a triumph of reason over rhetoric” and cited two studies that claimed flying more planes out of Love would lead to traffic congestion. Most aviation experts dispute that conclusion.
Finally, a 1990 budget crunch forced the Dallas City Council to consider a property tax increase–its third in four years. Ms. Miers initially resisted the tax increase, then came around to the view that a property tax hike would be the fairest. The key vote came when the council voted 6-5 to add $900,000 to the budget proposed by the city manager as part of a 7% increase in the tax rate. Ms. Miers cast the deciding vote. Mr. Bartos, who had proposed an alternate plan for 5% across-the-board spending cuts on all departments except the police, was bitter that almost all of the proposed $900,000 budget increase was slated for library and arts funding rather than public safety.
Meanwhile, the Washington Times reports that 27 Republican senators “have publicly expressed specific doubts about Miss Miers or said they must withhold any support whatsoever for her nomination until after the hearings.” We are decidedly less comfortable with this situation than we were a week ago.
October 10th, 2005 at 7:52 am
Bush needed brain surgery and chose an intern to do the job.
Apparently Bush didn’t check with these 27 Senators while he was asking Reid and company how they felt. I am against the Clinton process of leading by focus groups or polls, but surely he had to know what this vote would do to his party and now his legacy. All presidents are made or broken by one (read my lips), often unanticipated, decision. This party split, is big time, with hostility and invectives being thrown amongst ourselves.
Regardless what qualities Miers may have, or how well she fares in answering questions, Bush has split his base with a completely avoidable choice. This is not the time to exhibit his famed myopic stubborness. Save that for the terrorists. This is a time to heal and the bloodletting needs to be stopped quickly. She needs to step down for the good of the party. Any weakness that encourages the pit-bull RINOs and liberal Senators was, and is the fault of Bush’s political incompetency on this issue. Many of these Senators have a real dilemma on their hands -particularlly the red-state Republicans. A third party is a real possibility- that will be more deadly to this party than a solid fight over a candidate who everyone knows represents conservative values, such as a Janice Rogers Brown.