Capital Briefs

Additional Capital Briefs are now available throughout the day on HumanEventsOnline.com.

* WITH 'EM, AGAINST 'EM: Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, while running for the Dallas City Council in 1989, told the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas that she supported full civil rights for gays and lesbians and supported funding for AIDS education and support services, according to a questionnaire she filled out at the time. But Miers also told the group she didn't support the repeal of section 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code, which was the statute in question in the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas ruling that permitted homosexual sodomy. She also rejected the idea that repeal be part of the council's legislative agenda. On the issue of hiring homosexuals, Miers said: "I believe that employers should be able to pick the best qualified person for any position to be filled considering all relevant factors."

* 'NOT COMFORTABLE': Sen. Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) continued to show his independence from the White House last week, telling MSNBC: "I don't just automatically salute or take a deep bow anytime a nominee is sent up. I have to find out who these people are, and right now, I'm not satisfied with what I know. I'm not comfortable with the nomination, so we'll just have to work through the process in due time." And, said Lott, contrary to President Bush's assertion that Miers was most qualified nominee for the job, he begs to differ. Lott's comments weren't too different from what other Republican senators told HUMAN EVENTS, even if they weren't as direct. Sen. John Thune (R.-S.D.) said, "I'm not contemplating how I'm going to vote at this point. But I think in fairness, because we don't know and there's some angst among conservatives out there and obviously among liberals, too, both sides don't really know exactly what we're getting at this point." For more reaction, visit HumanEventsOnline.com.

* DOBSON'S DOUBTS: Focus on the Family President James Dobson was questioning his early endorsement of Miers, reported the Rocky Mountain News last Thursday. After spending hours on the phone with White House adviser Karl Rove, who had to convince Dobson to support Miers, Dobson apparently began having doubts when so many conservatives and Christians protested Bush's selection. "Lord, you know I don't have the wisdom to make this decision," Dobson said on his radio program. "You know that what I feel now and what I think is right may be dead wrong." Dobson also came under fire last week from his home-state Sen. Ken Salazar (D.-Colo.), who demanded Dobson reveal the information Rove shared with him during their conversation about Miers. Salazar wants the White House to brief senators on the same information.

* CHAMBER'S PICK: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a close ally of the White House, immediately endorsed Miers just hours after her nomination was announced. (In contrast, it took the chamber 36 days after John Roberts' nomination before it officially endorsed him August 24.) Miers represented Microsoft and the Walt Disney Co. and handled other cases for large corporations during her time as a private litigator. She was also living in Texas in the 1990s when the state passed tort-reform legislation that favored businesses. On the other hand, she voted on the Dallas City Council to endorse a 7% increase in property taxes, which apparently didn't bother the chamber.

* EARLE JURY SHOPS: One of Rep. Tom Delay's (R.-Tex.) attorneys said prosecutors were conducting unethical "grand jury shopping" against the congressman. It took Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle two tries to find a grand jury to grant the money laundering indictment Earle sought, after getting a separate grand jury to indict DeLay for violating state election codes. Now, DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin is questioning Earle's fairness. "The district attorney is supposed to be an officer of the court and is supposed to be bound by ethical rules.... It just doesn't smell right," DeGuerin said.

* NO HELP FOR BIG oil: Gas processors and oil drillers are on their own to rebuild offshore platforms and drillings rigs and will not receive federal funding as they work to restore production following the onslaught of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said Interior Secretary Gale Norton last week at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Norton announced that damage estimates per company are in the billions of dollars. The latest figures released by the Minerals Management Service, part of the Interior Department, show that 90% of Gulf Coast oil production remains out of service, with 72% of the Gulf Coast's natural gas production remaining shut down. Since the hurricanes, the nation has lost a cumulative production of some 46 million barrels of oil and 220 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

* GIZZI vs. RUSHDIE: One of the world's most famous novelists made it clear he has not changed his favorable opinion of the former Marxist regime in Nicaragua. Questioned by John Gizzi in a Washington Post "Bookworld" chatroom about his 1987 novel, The Jaguar Smile, which characterized the Sandanista regime in glowing terms, Salmon Rushdie replied: "I haven't changed my mind about the Sandanistas of those days, the mid-1980's, and my mind was rather more critical than you suggest."