WASHINGTON — Each of Arkansas’ four House members voted Thursday to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, escalating a rift between the Republican-held House and the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama.
Rep. Mike Ross of Prescott was one of 17 Democrats to join Republicans in the vote, which marked the first time a sitting Cabinet official has been held in contempt of the House.
Ross said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Fast and Furious” program was a failure that led to the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
Under the program, U.S. agents purposefully sold marked guns to Mexican drug cartel members who, the agency hoped, would pass the weapons to top criminal leaders in Mexico - helping the agency to uncover the ringleaders by tracing the guns after they crossed the border.
Backing Holder’s request, Obama has invoked executive privilege, and he maintains that documents related to the operation do not need to be handed over to the House.
Ross, who is not running for re-election, said the administration is not being “transparent” about the events surrounding Terry’s death.
“We deserve answers,” Ross said.
Many Democrats complained that by making the Holder vote one of the votes it tracks when grading lawmakers, the National Rifle Association, which supported the contempt resolution, had caused division within their party.
Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, a non-voting delegate to Congress from Washington, D.C., said the NRA had applied “blowtorch” pressure on Democrats who want to maintain their 100-percent approval rating from the gun rights group.
“Unfortunately, this is a political vote for a lot of people,” Ross said. “I’m not running for anything so its not a political vote for me.”
Arkansas’ Republican House members said Holder should be more forthcoming with documents related to the investigation of Terry’s death.
“There’s been a lot of stonewalling on the part of the attorney general,” said Rep. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro. “I hope there hasn’t been a cover-up.”
Crawford said Congress must assert itself in the constitutional tug of war over the matter.
“I understand the president can invoke executive privilege,” he said. “This body has a constitutional duty as well.”
In a June 19 letter to Obama, Holder requested that the president invoke executive privilege in response to a subpoena issued by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Among other things, Holder said turning over the documents would “inhibit the candor” of future executive branch deliberations and that the subpoena fell outside the committee’s legislative responsibilities.
“That’s complete and utter nonsense,” said Rep. Tim Griffin of Little Rock.
Griffin, who served as counsel on the oversight committee in 1998 when the panel voted to hold then-Attorney General Janet Reno in contempt, said Congress’ oversight function applies to all aspects of the executive branch.
On the House floor Thursday, Democrats characterized the vote as a political stunt.
“This is a witch hunt, pure and simple,” said Rep. James McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat.
Griffin said the contempt vote did not distract the House from other issues.
“There are hundreds of members of Congress. There are thousands of staff,” he said. “There are plenty of resources to keep our focus on job creation which is where it is and at the same time fulfill our responsibilities on oversight. This is Washington. There’s always politics somewhere in the mix.” Rep. Steve Womack, a Rogers Republican, agreed.
“You can claim it’s a political stunt all you want, but it is clearly about getting to the truth, about what did they know, and when did they know it.”
Front Section, Pages 8 on 06/29/2012