Specter Watch: He'll Cook Any Chickens that Hatch     11/17/2004

Washington, D.C. - Concerned Women for America (CWA) says Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) may be wise enough "not to count his chickens before they're hatched," but Republican senators shouldn't put Specter in charge of the hen house.

After emerging from a meeting of all Republican senators on Wednesday, reporters asked Specter if he had the senators' votes. "I never count any chickens before they hatch," he said.

Apparently, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has hatched. After that meeting, the first between Specter and the senators, Hatch said: "Sen. Specter handled himself very well. I expect him to be the next chairman. I think it will be resolved satisfactorily."

"It's sounding like the Republicans are cutting a deal with Specter to allow him to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee despite his insult to the president, his 24-year liberal record, his double-speak and his core beliefs about judges and the Constitution, which conflict with the president's," said Jan LaRue, CWA's chief counsel. "Do they think the people who are inundating them with calls and emails will be satisfied with that?"

Specter is fighting hard to gain what would have been a shoe-in had it not been for his November 3 statement, which has been widely perceived as a warning to President Bush against sending any pro-life judicial nominees to the Judiciary Committee.

While seniority is generally the rule for naming chairmen of Senate committees, the Republican Conference rules state that chairmen don't necessarily have to be members with the most seniority.

"Some senators are saying 'Specter is a man of his word.' He gave his word to senators, staff and pro-family organizations just before the Pennsylvania primary that he would not weaken the bill banning partial-birth abortion by adding a health exception. Days later, he voted for the amendment that would have done just that," LaRue added.

"When Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions or John Cornyn would make a great chairman, why in the world would Republicans take the great risk of trusting Specter? This is too important to prefer the tradition of seniority above getting it right," LaRue concluded.

Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.

For Information Contact:
Valerie Mosher
(202) 488-7000
media.cwfa.org

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