Walters
Confirmed
as
Drug
Czar,
Coalition
Challenged
But
Couldn't
Block
Crusty
Nominee
12/7/01
On an unrecorded voice vote Wednesday night, the Senate voted to approve the long-delayed nomination of John Walters to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Walters, an old-school drug warrior and acolyte of former drug czar William Bennett, survived a stiff challenge from a broad-based national coalition that viewed his positions on key policy issues as Neanderthal. The coalition, which included the ACLU, NAACP, and a range of public health and civil rights groups, issued a scathing critique of his drug policy positions in September. Civil rights groups called Walters "unfit for a position that requires sensitivity to racial fairness," while the National Education Association and other groups deplored that "Mr. Walters has advocated for policies that would result in the locking up of more African American youth." In published writings, Walters had derided government-funded drug treatment as an example of liberal do-goodism and called the notion that the drug war was filling the nation's prisons with drug users "a myth." Walters backed away from some of his earlier hard-line positions during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on his nomination. Under fire from committee chair Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and drugs and crime subcommittee chair Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), Walters told the committee he would push for higher levels of drug treatment funding and would support a congressional review of mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. Even so, senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) joined Biden and Leahy in voting against sending his nomination to the Senate floor. Response to the confirmation among drug policy reformers was mixed. The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation looked for the silver lining, while other reformers expressed greater skepticism. "Although Walters' record remains far outside the mainstream on civil rights, public health and drug policy, he does seem to have moved considerably from some of his hard-line views, at least in his rhetoric," said Lindesmith-DPF director Ethan Nadelmann in a press release responding to the vote. "There's a new consensus in Washington. After this confirmation process, even John Walters realizes that it's time for America to change our failing drug strategy to one that emphasizes public health and ends racial disparities in our criminal justice system." Lindesmith-DPF's associate director for national affairs, Bill Piper, told DRCNet that despite being unable to block the nomination, "we had three big accomplishments. First, we boxed Walters into supporting more money for drug treatment and a review of mandatory minimums," said Piper. "We also got five powerful senators to vote against him in the Judiciary Committee, including committee chair Leahy and subcommittee chair Biden. These are important folks. Third, and perhaps most important, we have put together a really good coalition and were able to show Congress that it can't take drug reform for granted anymore in Washington," said Piper. "If not for us, he would have sailed through," Piper added. "Now he's on notice. He'll still be bad, but better than he would have been." Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (http://www.ips-dc.org) is not so sure. "I think he had a confirmation conversion," said Tree, referring to the well-known Washington phenomenon where controversial nominees suddenly alter long-held positions in order to win confirmation votes. "His entire track record runs counter to those concessions he made," Tree scoffed. "I'll believe it when I see it."
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