Democrats Seek Gonzales Vote
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WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Democrats said today they will seek a no-confidence vote for Attorney General Gonzales over accusations that he carried out President Bush’s political agenda at the expense of his government duties.
The White House shrugged off the idea as merely symbolic. However, another Republican senator — the fifth — called for Mr. Gonzales to resign.
Senators Schumer of New York and Feinstein of California, who have led the investigation into the conduct of White House officials and Mr. Gonzales, said the attorney general has become too weakened to run the department.
“It seems the only person who has confidence in the attorney general is President Bush,” Mr. Schumer told reporters. “The president long ago should have asked the attorney general to step down.”
“I think the time has come for the Senate to express its will,” Ms. Feinstein said. “We lack confidence in the attorney general.”
The White House dismissed their comments.
“A ‘no confidence’ vote is nothing more than a meaningless political act, not that that’s stopped them before,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
In more bad news for Mr. Gonzales, Senator Coleman of Minnesota urged him to resign.
“I would hope that the attorney general understands that the department is suffering right now, and he does the right thing, and that is allows the president to provide new leadership,” Mr. Coleman told reporters on a conference call.
Mr. Bush continued to stand by Mr. Gonzales, his longtime adviser.
“The attorney general has the full confidence of the president,” Mr. Fratto said.
Democrats predicted that a no-confidence resolution, which could come to the floor next week, would put more pressure on Mr. Bush to scuttle Mr. Gonzales, or inspire the attorney general to step down on his own.
For his part, Mr. Gonzales will be in Europe next week, visiting his counterparts in Hungary and Switzerland before joining the G-8 conference Thursday in Munich. He will be back in Washington on Friday — the night before the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.
