After Sen. Teddy Kennedy made such a fuss over Judge Alito’s allegedly inadequate answers to questions regarding his affiliation with the Concerned Alumni of Princeton and recusal issues with the Vanguard case, I asked him about his own ethical standards.
While leaving his press conference with Senators Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy, I caught him walking with aides back to his office.
I said, “The ABA reviewed the Vanguard and Princeton issues extensively. Do you have a higher ethical standard than the ABA?”
He cut me off a few times, reiterating he had said all he was going to say at the press conference and in the hearings.
He told me one of his aides would answer my questions. The woman, who refused to provide her name, stepped in between the senator and me. I pressed her, asking her to explain why Kennedy has higher ethical standards than the ABA.
She stammered that the ABA did not analyze all of CAP’s records that are held in the Library of Congress. Kennedy had sent a letter on December 22 to the committee, right before Christmas and long after Alito was nominated, demanding those records be released.
Her answers were not convincing.
When I asked her name so I could quote her, she refused. I pressed her again. “You mean you are his [Kennedy’s] press person and you won’t be quoted?”
She said, “No.”
I asked if I could quote her as an “aide” and she conceded.
Before stepping away she said, “Who are you with?” and I replied “Human Events.”
“That’s what I thought” she said.
