Probe sought of Ashcroft’s Patriot Act promotions

WASHINGTON – A leading House Democrat asked the Justice Department’s watchdog Tuesday to investigate Attorney General John Ashcroft’s trips last year to promote the anti-terror Patriot Act.

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, contends a pair of speaking tours Ashcroft took broke laws barring publicity campaigns and grassroots lobbying by executive branch officials unless authorized by Congress.

Conyers requested the investigation in a letter to Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department’s inspector general. A spokesman for Fine said no decision has been made on the request.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said the trips were fully vetted for legal issues by agency lawyers and were meant to correct what he said were false impressions given to the public by Patriot Act opponents.

“It wasn’t just misleading the public. It was having a negative law enforcement impact because it was hurting morale,” Corallo said.

Conyers also released a review by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, estimating the cost of Ashcroft’s Patriot Act trips at more than $208,000, not counting expenditures by U.S. attorney’s offices around the country in connection with the initiative.

In addition, 80 of the 93 U.S. attorneys said they conducted related activities – ranging from speeches to newspaper editorials – after receiving a directive from headquarters.