John Ashcroft

John Ashcroft, President Bushs nominee for the position of Attorney General, was born on the wonderful spring day of May 9th, 1949. He grew up in the town of Springfield Missouri in an extremely religious family. His father was a Pentecostal preacher and enforced strict house rules, including punishing his children for dancing. Ashcroft attended Yale University, graduated with honors, and went on to the University of Chicago law school. While there, he me his wife, Janet. John fathered three children, and has one grandchild. He has also fathered three books. Two of these were college textbooks co-authored by his wife, and the other one, entitled Lessons from a father to his son, is about the many lessons that Ashcroft learned from his father. Before entering into the political world, John Ashcroft taught business law at Southwest Missouri State University, a school in his hometown. He soon got totally enveloped in the political world, taking on positions such as the Governor of Missouri, Chairman of the National Governors Association, and Missouri Auditor (just to name a few). The one that probably caught the eye of the man he was appointed by was the position that he held as the Missouri Attorney General in 1977. Also, Ashcrofts excellent economics history may have influenced Bush a bit in nominating him for the position as Attorney General. Ashcroft balanced eight consecutive budgets as the Governor of Missouri. Also, during his term as Governor, Missouri had the 49th lowest tax burden in the nation. Ashcroft was credited by Financial World and City and State magazines with making Missouri one of the best financially managed states in the entire country. J. Ashcroft is also the only member of senate to have a ! perfect voting record against wasteful government spending. Two of Ashcrofts biggest focuses are on protecting social security and economic opportunity (or, in other words,...