Supremely loyal
WASHINGTON – In an administration filled with ideological warriors, Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has been a quiet foot soldier whose mission is service to the president.
Bush and Miers have been working together for more than a decade. During that time, she’s been one of Bush’s most zealous defenders and a dedicated guardian of his interests.
“She was a loyal assistant,” said former White House speechwriter David Frum. “She’s not an initiator. She was never a force for anything. … She reflects the president’s philosophy.”
Miers’ confirmation would cap a relationship that started more than a decade ago, when Bush was laying the groundwork for his 1994 campaign for Texas governor. Acting on the advice of Dallas businessman Jim Francis, a family friend, Bush hired Miers to serve as the campaign’s legal adviser.
At the time, Miers was a prominent Dallas lawyer and a pioneer in her profession. She had cracked an entrenched good-old-boy network to become president of the Dallas Bar Association, then went on to head the Texas Bar Association.
Miers’ Republican credentials weren’t nearly as solid as her legal reputation. She had served a single term on the nonpartisan Dallas City Council and had donated to candidates from both parties, including a $1,000 contribution to Al Gore’s failed 1988 presidential bid.
Even so, the up-and-coming lawyer and the up-and-coming politician hit it off and quickly developed a mutually beneficial relationship. Bush got a trusted adviser; Miers got an influential benefactor and access to the center of power, first in Texas, then in Washington.
Miers was always there when needed. She continued to serve as Bush’s personal lawyer while he was governor.
In 1995, Bush appointed Miers to the Texas Lottery Commission, an assignment that put the press-shy lawyer at the center of a tumultuous, high-profile agency. Some Democrats accuse her of serving as Bush’s hatchet woman by ousting two of the commission’s executive directors.
Austin, Texas, lawyer Buck Wood, who represented fired director Nora Linares, said Miers ruthlessly dragged his client through the mud of rumor and innuendo to get rid of her.
“I’m not saying she’s not smart,” Wood added, “but she’s very difficult to deal with. She’ll be John Roberts’ worst nightmare. I literally can’t stand her.”
Others praised Miers’ work with the commission. Fellow Commissioner John Hill, a former Texas attorney general and one of the state’s most prominent Democrats in the 1970s and early 1980s, said Miers never played off her ties to Bush. “Those were stormy times,” Hill said. “She always wanted to get all the facts – get to the truth – before she made up her mind.”