Posted on 08/12/2003 7:10:20 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
By MARC HUMBERT
AP Political Writer
August 11, 2003, 3:07 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York's Conservative Party chairman, who has strong ties to Gov. George Pataki, charged Monday that Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer has an "anti-Catholic bias" when it comes to federal judicial nominees.
Schumer spokesman Phil Singer said Michael Long's charge was "a lie" and a former Republican congressional colleague of Schumer, Guy Molinari of Staten Island, said that "to suggest directly or indirectly that Chuck Schumer has a bias against anybody Catholic is on its face outrageous and wrong."
"As a Roman Catholic myself, I'm outraged by what my friend Mike Long had to say about Chuck Schumer ... There is no place in the real political world for this kind of stuff," said Molinari, who served in both the state Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives with Schumer.
There was no comment from Pataki.
Long said his comments were part of an effort to recruit a strong challenger to Schumer's re-election bid next year. That is something Republican Pataki, and Long, have thus far been unable to find.
Long said any nominees appearing before Schumer, a key Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are in for trouble if they support Roman Catholic positions against abortion and homosexuality.
"I believe the sign is in front of the committee door saying you need not apply here," Long said.
"He has an anti-Catholic bias when it comes to the principles, traditions and beliefs of the Catholic Church," Long added. "I'm not saying Chuck Schumer doesn't like Catholics, but I am saying that if a Catholic possesses those views, Chuck Schumer is going to make sure you can't advance in the judicial system."
"This is a lie," Singer said, arguing that "these sleazy tactics are signs of desperation by Chuck's opponents and have no place in New York politics."
"Everyone knows Chuck has voted to confirm more than 90 percent of President Bush's nominees, including dozens of both Catholic and pro-life nominees such as New Yorkers Richard Wesley and Reena Raggi," the Schumer aide said. "However, Schumer will continue to oppose judges who are way out of the mainstream, either on the far left or the far right, regardless of their religion, gender, or race."
The charges of anti-Catholic bias against Schumer and his fellow Senate Democrats aren't new.
In late July, Senate Republicans began attacking Democrats on the Judiciary Committee for what the GOP claimed was religious bias in dealing with court nominees from President Bush. At issue was the stalled nominations of, among others, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor and New York-raised lawyer Miguel Estrada. Democrats denied any such motivation.
Long's comments came after the New York Post reported Monday that he had commissioned a poll in which voters were told Schumer had a "strong anti-Catholic bias."
Long told Albany's WROW-AM radio on Monday that once voters were told that, "his numbers collapse."
In a subsequent interview with The Associated Press, Long insisted he was "not looking for religious warfare."
"What we're trying to do is hopefully encourage someone to get into this race, by pointing out to them that by raising these issues one can give what everyone thinks is the unbeatable Chuck Schumer" a real race, Long said. "He has a glass jaw when it comes to these issues."
Thus far, several prominent Republicans, including former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, have said they won't run against Schumer. The Democrat is armed with a $16 million campaign war chest, more than any other senator.
Long said his complaints about Schumer having an anti-Catholic bias should also be of concern to Orthodox Jews and conservative Episcopalians who may also opposed abortion and homosexuality.
But in New York, it is the Catholic vote that can be crucial. Roman Catholics make up about 45 percent of the state's electorate, the largest such religious bloc.
Long is a Roman Catholic while Schumer is Jewish.
His voting record, or should I say his rejection record, supports Long's allegations. Consider the following comments from the Chicago Sun Times ...
On the evening of July 30, the usually circumspect senators engaged in a rare confrontation over religion. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, third-ranking in the Republican leadership and a daily Catholic communicant, accused colleagues of establishing a prohibition for the federal judiciary of anybody with ''deep faith in Catholicism, having to subscribe to the church's teaching on abortion.'' Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, assistant Democratic floor leader and a pro-choice Catholic, responded passionately that Santorum and other Republicans ''have crossed a line they never should have crossed'' in charging anti-Catholic bias.
On May 1 in a Senate Judiciary Committee session, Schumer raised religious questions in connection with the nomination of lawyer J. Leon Holmes as district judge from Arkansas. Holmes has the support of his state's two Democratic senators, but not Chuck Schumer. The New Yorker argued that the conservative religious views of Holmes, a devout Catholic, disqualified him because of disagreements interpreting the separation of church and state.
That was preparation for Schumer's opposition to Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor for the appellate bench. In the Judiciary Committee on June 11, Schumer said Pryor's beliefs ''are so well known, so deeply held that it's very hard to believe that they're not going to influence'' him on the bench. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, another Judiciary member, also has cited the ''deeply held beliefs'' standard.
Senator Feinstein, as most of us already know, is a card carrying Socialist. Religion is an obstacle to the progress of socialism.
Nope, I expect him to once try doing something he refuses to do.......the right thing.
Me too.
The religious vote is so important that even the venal, corrupt Clintons had to resort to carrying Bibles and going to Sunday services even though it must have nearly killed the evil duo.
The Dims sub-rosa anti-religionism has been brought into sharp relief by the homo marriage issue. Most people oppose homo marriage and it is very significant that nearly all the Dim prez candidates were forced to come out against it even though they genuflect at the altar of the homo agenda.
One way to stick it to the religio-phobic Dummycrats is to stay on the anti-homo marriage message. Bush will put the Dims heretofore hidden anti-religionism under a glaring spotlight.
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