For the Record.(political happenings in the US)(Brief Article)

Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, in New York Times: "If Bush gets his $1.6 trillion [tax cut], two things happen-his stature and power in town is greatly enhanced and it makes the rest of his agenda more likely to pass." . . . Helen Thomas of Hearst Newspapers, at President Bush's first press conference: "Why do you refuse to respect the wall between the church and state? And you know that the mixing of religion and government for centuries has led to slaughter. I mean, the very fact that our country has stood in good stead by having a separation-why do you break it down?"

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, on picking judges, in National Journal: "Now, the No. 1 consideration is your character and competence. By competence [Bush] means, what is your judicial philosophy? That will always be the No. 1 criterion. But all things being equal, diversity has been and will be a factor in making a decision about who should be sitting on the federal bench." . . . Chief Justice William Rehnquist: "I consider the need to increase judicial salaries to be the most pressing issue facing the judiciary today." Federal trial judges make $145,000, appellate judges $153,900, associate Supreme Court justices $178,300, and the chief justice $186,300. . . . Yale law professor Stephen Carter may win $4 million contract for two novels, "one of which is a thriller about a conservative black judge whose bid for a seat on the Supreme Court is undermined when secrets from his past are discovered," according to Chronicle of Higher Education. . . . Justice Clarence Thomas, in address at American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner: "The insistence on civility in the form of our debates has the perverse effect of cannibalizing our principles, the very essence of a civil society. That is why civility cannot be the governing principle of citizenship or leadership."

NAACP chairman Julian Bond tells Baltimore Sun that Bush administration "selected nominees from the Taliban wing of American politics, appeased the wretched appetites of the extreme right wing, and chose cabinet officials whose devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection." . . . House majority leader Dick Armey, in letter to NAACP's Kweisi Mfume: "I believe there is a phenomenon in American politics today that could justly be called 'racial McCarthyism' or 'reverse race-baiting.' . . . [I]f left un- challenged, this practice will . . . do untold harm in the lives of real people who are unjustly accused of conspiracy against the civil rights of African Americans."

Gore campaign chief Bill Daley on pardon of Marc Rich, in New York Times: "It's terrible, devastating, and it's rather appalling." . . . Bill Clinton ...