Ashcroft supporters combat accusations of discrimination

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nomination of John Ashcroft to lead the Bush administration's Justice Department may have hit some snags in the last day, but new accusations of anti-gay sentiment on his part will be disproved and he will be confirmed, his supporters insisted Friday.

Ashcroft is being accused of discrimination, stemming in part from a 1985 job interview in which a candidate was asked about his sexual preference

Two men who have had previous dealings with Ashcroft have accused the former Missouri senator and governor of guarding against hiring gays to prominent government positions.

Paul Offner, who interviewed with Ashcroft in 1985 for a health care oversight position in Missouri, went public with his accusations of discrimation Thursday, saying Ashcroft pressed him on his sexual orientation during a brief interview for the Missouri job.

Ashcroft was then the governor of Missouri, and was seeking to fill a state Cabinet-level position when he called Offner in from Wisconsin, where Offner was a prominent Democrat who had served in the state senate.

In a CNN interview Friday morning, Offner said Ashcroft asked him two questions during the interview.

"Without any pause or any small talk, the governor said, 'Mr. Offner, my first question (is), do you have the same sexual preference as most men?'" Offner said.

"I said that I did, and the his second question was 'Have you ever used an illegal, controlled substance?' Those were basically the two questions," Offner explained.

Offner said he felt a need to come forward because he watched Ashcroft's contentious confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, and remembered an experience in his short exchange with Ashcroft that conflicted sharply with Ashcroft's self-characterization.

"The only reason I brought it up now was because last week, there he was on national television saying he had never raised this issue in his previous dealings. I knew, at least in my case, that this was not true," he said.

But Duncan Kincheloe, a onetime aide to Ashcroft who says he was present at Offner's interview, disputed Offner's version of events, saying he was mystified about what would have prompted Offner to make the accusations in the first place, save, perhaps, for his Democratic political affinities.

"I have no idea why he is making those comments. I just couldn't speculate," Kincheloe said.

Offner's version of events has "no credibility whatsoever," Kincheloe said. "I sat through dozens of interviews with Ashcroft, and never did he ask a question like that."

Also on Thursday, James Hormel, a former ambassador, appeared at separate news conferences arranged by liberal groups opposing Ashcroft, from the AFL-CIO to civil liberties, women's rights, human rights, Hispanic and Asian American organizations.

Hormel said Ashcroft, as a senator, opposed his nomination as the Clinton administration's ambassador to Luxembourg because Hormel is gay. He said he thought Offner's accusations hit the mark.

"It's consistent with what I know about John Ashcroft," Hormel said.

A number of supporters rallied to Ashcroft's defense Thursday and Friday.

"We will not allow one false allegation to go unanswered," David Israelite, political director for the Republican National Committee, said.

Liberal groups and some Democrats in Congress are "in a throw-it-up-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks mode," said Mindy Tucker, a spokeswoman for President Bush.

"They tried to destroy his reputation by misrepresenting his record, and he went before the committee and presented the facts and made clear what his positions are and how he would conduct himself as attorney general," Tucker said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president has nonetheless received assurances from the Senate that Ashcroft will be confirmed. Among those offering promises, Fleischer said, was Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

Daschle has insisted to Bush that all of his nominees would be confirmed, Fleischer said. But Daschle said he was misunderstood.

"I stand by what I said," Fleischer told reporters at the White House.

Fleischer quoted Daschle as telling the president, shortly after their meeting on Wednesday, "You will not be denied your choice of nominees."

Daschle said what he actually told Bush was that his Senate Democratic caucus would not try to mount a filibuster against any of the nominees.

"I will hold to that commitment," Daschle said. But "that in no way would imply that I have some personal knowledge about how each of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, are going to vote. I don't."

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.