In response to Jared Cram's letter on Tuesday, I must dispel the misconceptions of John Ashcroft being a right wing extremist or a white supremacist.

These allegations are simply designed to destroy Ashcroft because he is a law-and-order type of guy who will likely try to find out what sort of corruption has been going on under the negligent watch of Janet Reno.

The truth is that while in the Senate, Ashcroft voted for most of the African-American judicial nominees that Clinton put forward.

In two terms as Missouri governor, Ashcroft appointed eight African Americans to state judicial positions.

In Missouri, the governor is limited to three possible choices for each judicial office.

If none of the three candidates is African American, the governor can't make such an appointment. Ashcroft almost always chose the African American candidate.

On only one occasion did he select someone white over an African American, and in that case, he named the candidates who were not selected to fill later judicial openings.

I challenge anyone to produce any real evidence of John Ashcroft being racist. As for the allegations of him being a right-wing Bible thumper, I don't see any evidence of this.

They say this because he likes to sing church hymns while jogging. Speaking as someone who is not religious, I do not find this behavior offensive or questionable.

Another argument for this is his strong anti-abortion activism record.

I can understand the point of view from the left because of Ashcroft's activist tendencies on the issue, but at the same time, I personally do not blame Ashcroft for getting overly emotional when it comes to the subject of unnecessary human slaughter.