Moderates, do your duty

Maine can be proud of its two senators. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have carried forward their state’s tradition of strong independent-mindedness. They have brought credit to Maine in the spirit of Margaret Chase Smith, Edmund S. Muskie and George J. Mitchell.

Sens. Snowe and Collins have staked out reputations as moderate Republicans. They are leaders among the 16 Republicans and 16 Democrats who have organized a centrist group in the Senate. They are key figures in an effort to avoid extremist action, whether to the right or to the left.

Their moderation faces a crucial test this week in the Senate vote on confirmation of John Ashcroft for attorney general. They endorsed the nomination before the Judiciary Committee conducted its hearing, heard witnesses pro and con, and questioned the nominee in person. They may have acted partly out of party loyalty, collegial respect for the former senator and the principle that a president generally has the right to choose his own Cabinet. Now that a fuller record is before them, however, they may regret their premature endorsements. It is not too late for them to reconsider their decisions on the basis of new evidence.

Despite his deeply religious background and straight-arrow morality, Mr. Ashcroft demonstrated a slippery quality as he tried to explain his personal attack against the nomination of Justice Ronnie White of the Missouri Supreme Court to be a federal judge. And on his opposition to the nomination of James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg, Mr. Ashcroft tried to have it both ways. He denied that he fought the nomination because Mr. Hormel is gay. Yet he said Mr. Hormel “has been a leader in promoting a lifestyle” and was “likely to be offensive in Luxembourg.”

Aside from other issues, Mr. Ashcroft’s extreme opposition to abortion should disqualify him from further consideration as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. He was already known to have co-sponsored a harsh constitutional amendment that would have outlawed abortion even in cases of rape or incest. While he gave the committee a general assurance that he would en-force present laws and would not seek to overturn Roe vs. Wade, he left himself leeway to chip away at reproductive rights.

The nomination comes to the Senate floor just as President George W. Bush, who said little about abortion throughout his campaign, announced as one of his first acts that he would withdraw federal assistance from family planning groups overseas that used their own funds to offer abortion services or advocate abortion rights. A later step could be to extend this gag rule to doctors receiving federal funds in the United States.

By all logic, keeping the government out of the bedroom and out of the doctor’s office should be a conservative, not a liberal tenet. Yet an administration that came into office with the slogan of “compassionate conservatism” seems headed toward a campaign to overthrow Roe vs. Wade and repeal the laws that protect the operation of family planning establishments and public access to them.

A near-unanimous vote to confirm the Ashcroft nomination will encourage the Bush administration to go ahead with an anti-abortion campaign. It could even encourage President Bush to send Mr. Ashcroft to the Supreme Court when a vacancy occurs.

A substantial vote against the nomination will reflect the predominant view in Maine and in the country as a whole that reproductive rights are private matters. Mr. Ashcroft’s nomination is expected to be supported by a majority of senators, but it should do so without the support of Sens. Snowe and Collins, who have campaigned against so many of the positions this nomination represents.