KNAPPSTER George Knapp is a longtime reporter and anchor for KLAS Channel 8.

Thursday, March 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Knappster: GOP faces losing battle over Estrada nomination

By George Knapp

Republicans are carrying on about judicial nominee Miguel Estrada as if he is this generation's Cesar Chavez, carrying the banner for downtrodden Hispanics everywhere, upholding the honor of grape pickers and hotel maids and kitchen laborers as he stands up to the racist Democrats who want to deny him a seat on the federal bench. Pardon me while I retch on my Steinbeck collection.

It's hardly a surprise that Nevada Hispanics are less than enthused about a GOP effort to stir up a hornet's nest over Estrada's stalled nomination. Republicans have tried to make this a racial issue, implying that evil Democrats oppose Estrada because he's brown-skinned. Their shortlived media campaign didn't exactly generate mass demonstrations in the streets. Perhaps that's because Estrada has about as much in common with the average Hispanic as Justice Clarence Thomas has with the average African-American. Estrada is a rich Washington lawyer who has curried friendships within conservative GOP circles and has been tabbed as an eventual stealth nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, where, it is hoped, he would tip the balance within that body even further to the right.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid is one of the Democrats who's been bashed repeatedly for blocking Estrada's nomination. Reid and his colleagues are willing to take the heat, though, because they see this fight as far bigger than whether Miguel Estrada is qualified or not. Estrada, as readers know, has refused to answer basic questions about his legal philsophy or previous decisions. He was instructed to, in essence, take the Fifth, by his White House handlers, who figured the Senate wouldn't dare block a Hispanic nominee without specific legal ammo.

One Washington politico put it this way. He said this isn't about this nominee. It's about the broader issue of secrecy by this administration. It's the same crap it pulled by refusing to provide any info about its Energy Task Force, made up largely of corporate fat cats and contributors. It's the same strategy it is using with our allies concerning Iraq, expecting other nations to simply fall in line and take our word for it that Saddam has hidden stashes of dangerous stuff. It expects the Senate to roll over and shut up about Estrada and to quit asking pesky questions about his judicial beliefs and decisions.

I seem to remember something about "advise and consent" being in the Constitution. If the Senate were supposed to simply rubber stamp all presidential nominees, there shouldn't be an advise-and-consent clause in the Constitution to begin with. The president could merely appoint whomever he chooses and tell everyone else to stuff it. If the Democrats seem to have drawn a line in the sand concerning Estrada, perhaps it's because of how their Hispanic constituents see things.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with Estrada and became convinced he would do far more harm than good to Latino causes. The Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund and Puerto Rican Defense Fund came to the same conclusion. Colleagues of Estrada say he is even more conservative than Justice Scalia, which is saying a lot. Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers Union with the late Cesar Chavez, thinks a Supreme Court with Estrada on it (eventually, that is) would roll back 40 years of progress made on civil rights, workers' rights and women's rights, and THAT is the reason Hispanics aren't marching in the streets in Estrada's defense.

Spare me any tears about the dastardly Democrats bottling up judicial nominees. The Republicans did the same thing during the Clinton years, and will do it again whenever the Dems get back into the White House. Maybe both parties need to select nominees who are a little closer to the country's center rather than try to ram through judicial candidates selected from the extreme edges.

Miscellany

Law enforcement types are said to be taking a look at the role of cab and limo drivers in the local sex trade. After all, if drivers knowingly act as go-betweens for customers who want to illegally buy sex, either through one of the illicit sex clubs or through outcall entertainers, aren't those drivers acting, in essence, as panderers? Busting cabbies may be an extreme measure, but a few such arrests could make a heck of an impact on the local prostitution industry. ... The big NASCAR weekend wasn't only good for Las Vegas. Nye County brothels reported brisk business during the big racing events of last week. ... Say, whatever happened to the Ted Binion murder case? It's been nine months now since the Nevada Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the appeals of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish. The justices could have given birth in less time. What gives?. ... Library district employees have been telling Knappster some disturbing stories about techniques being used by administrators to make the libraries look even more besieged than they are in hopes of influencing voters in the upcoming bond election. Are games being played with circulation numbers? We'll find out soon enough. ... Lawyers for the Crazy Horse Too have opened a new front in their fight with the feds. They've filed motions to find out if Kirk Henry, the Kansas City tourist who claims to have been beaten up by Horse bouncers, is related to any Justice Department officials. Attorneys for Rick Rizzolo are convinced their client is under intense law enforcement scrutiny because of the lawsuit filed by Henry and have been told that Mr. Henry has friends and/or relatives in high places. ... Flushed by the success of their hit show X, producers Bobby Boling and Angela Sampras say they have visions of taking their act on the road. Their X-Girls have become celebrities in Las Vegas, appearing in ads and at other entertainment events, and causing quite a stir among male admirers wherever they alight. Boling and Sampras think they will eventually have X franchises in other cities, with X-Girl lineups (the equivalent of, say the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders) in places like Miami, London and Tokyo.

Question of the week

We've all read the stories about local doctors bailing out of their practices. In particular, Las Vegas docs say they've been hardest hit by insurance companies for the practice of delivering babies, which is why many have stopped doing so. Tell me is--is there some connection between baby deliveries and high malpractice rates? Have there been any huge jury awards because of botched deliveries, or something else that might explain why the insurance rates for this particular speciality have skyrocketed? Because without such a link, it almost seems as if insurance companies have jacked up the costs of their own accord. How then, does capping malpractice awards resolve this issue? Just a question.