Bush's nominee for AG faces further allegation

A question about a job applicant's sexual orientation asked by President Bush's nominee for attorney general in 1985 has given new ammunition to Senate opponents of the controversial Mr John Ashcroft.

The deeply conservative Mr Ashcroft is reported by the Washington Post, as attorney general of Missouri, to have asked a healthcare expert who was being interviewed to head the state's social services "do you have the same sexual preference as most men?" Mr Ashcroft says he has no recollection of the question and "cannot imagine" asking it.

Mr Ashcroft, whose confirmation process has been extended for another week, had already been under fire over his opposition as a senator to the nomination of Mr James Hormel as America's first openly gay ambassador.

He denied to the Senate hearings last week that his reason had been Mr Hormel's sexual orientation, claiming then he had been concerned with "the totality of his record", although he had previously been quoted as saying that he had opposed Mr Hormel because he was gay.

Mr Hormel, ambassador to Luxembourg, wrote to the Senate Judiciary committee last week opposing Mr Ashcroft's confirmation and accusing him of blatantly misrepresenting his motives in denying that sexual orientation played a part in his stance.

The claim by Mr Paul Offner that Mr Ashcroft had questioned him on his sexual preference, with the clear implication that if he had been gay he would not have got the job, seriously undermines Mr Ashcroft's claim to the hearing that "sexual orientation has never been something that I've used in hiring in any of the offices I've held".

Mr Offner, who had denied being gay, did not get the job in question.

The Post admits that he is a Democrat but quotes witnesses who testify that Mr Offner had told them at the time of what he had regarded as a shocking question. The question was not illegal in Missouri.

Senate Democrats, demanding more answers and extracting a measure of revenge, delayed on Wednesday the vote on approval of Mr Ashcroft.

But their leaders have already indicated to President Bush that the nomination will go through. Two Democratic senators, Mr Robert Byrd (West Virginia) and Mr Zell Miller (Georgia), have already indicated that they will vote in favour.

Overall, more than 400 written questions were submitted to Mr Ashcroft since the end of his four-day confirmation hearing on Friday, many challenging his record on civil rights.