WASHINGTON, May 10 -- Democrats on Thursday delayed the confirmation of Theodore B. Olson as solicitor general at the Justice Department because of concerns about his congressional testimony on the Arkansas Project, a conservative effort to investigate the Clinton scandals.
Democrats stalled the vote on Olson for at least another week, while they investigate whether Olson's ties to the Arkansas Project might have been closer than he indicated in his testimony.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Olson testified he was not involved in the "origin" or "management" of the project. David Brock, a former writer for the project's American Spectator magazine told Congress, however, that Olson took part in editorial discussions about Clinton scandal stories. The paper also said documents it uncovered appear to show that Olson worked for the project in a direct capacity.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, agreed to the delay and called Democrats' questions "legitimate."
"There have been some questions raised as a result of the article in The Washington Post with regard to Ted Olson," Hatch said. "We will have to hold him over for another week."
Olson's law partner, Douglas Cox, reiterated Thursday that Olson had nothing to do with the Arkansas Project.
Like anyone else, Olson knew the American Spectator was publishing anti-Clinton material, Cox said. But Cox said Olson didn't become aware of anything called the Arkansas Project until 1997. Brock, Cox said, was unfairly including all of the Spectator's activities under the project banner.
"If you define the Arkansas Project as everything the American Spectator did, then it (the term) becomes meaningless," Cox said. " The whole thing sort of collapses on itself, because" Brock's theory means "anyone who knew what the magazine was doing (in general), then they knew about the Arkansas Project."
Meanwhile, Democrats have also delayed for one week the conformations of Assistant Attorneys General Michael Chertoff and Viet D. Dinh. Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Democrats had not had ample time to review written responses to questions submitted to the pair.
And while the panel did pass the nomination of Charles A. James, Jr. to be an assistant attorney general in a 12-5 vote, Leahy said he would not allow James' nomination to go to the Senate floor right now for undisclosed reasons.
"There is a matter we have discussed privately that I will not bring up here," Leahy said.
Democrats and Republicans did agree, however, to pass the nominations of Daniel J. Bryant to be assistant attorney general and Larry D. Thompson to be deputy attorney general in unanimous votes.
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