Dear Senator Allen:

Congratulations, first of all, for becoming Virginia's second senator!

I write to express my dismay with President-Elect Bush's nomination of John Ashcroft to become Attorney General. This man is an ideologue from over the horizon to the right, and I cannot conceive of his being a federal judicial executor with the views he has, especially of women's rights to unfettered medical counsel regarding reproduction. He is out of step with both a majority of the electorate as well as with a majority of the people in this country. We do not want to turn back the dock on women's rights.

I am also worried about his views of minorities, but I don't have the facts on that Judge White appointment in Missouri that Ashcroft opposed. I gather that he misrepresented White's positions regarding many criminal cases: that Judge White is not at all "soft on crime, " as Ashcroft is said to have said.

But I do know that Ashcroft is a terrible idea, and you would do most of us a favor if you would oppose him at the hearings. This man is quite out of harmony with many of us. Oddly, he is quite at variance with most of Bush's other nominees, many of whom I actually admire--though with whom I do not always agree.

With best wishes to you for a successful term in the Senate, I am

Very sincerely,

Ramsey Martin (facsimile, January 3, 2001).