ASA HUTCHINSON'S GREAT CRUSADE

Sometimes a virtue can become a weakness. Patience evolves into
indifference. Courage grows into aggression. Frugality becomes miserliness.
Persistence may launch into obsession.

With that in mind, let us consider Asa Hutchinson, the former 3rd District
congressman who has just been confirmed as director of the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration. He has a fine reputation for honesty and sincerity.

The brother of U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson walks the walk of moral conviction.
Asa has been scolded for attending Bob Jones University, which had observed
a seemingly antiquated policy under which interracial dating was not
allowed within the student body. There has never been a trace of evidence
that Asa left that fundamentalist fortress with personal prejudice.

Asa was appointed by President Reagan as U.S. attorney for the Western
District of Arkansas at age 31 and served during much of the 1980s. Talk
about earnest! Asa was right there and personally negotiating when a small,
well-armed band of oddballs known as the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the
Lord were besieged and subdued by government agents. It went nothing like
Waco or Ruby Ridge.

His actions, or lack of them, in connection with alleged drug smuggling at
the Mena airport are less clear. Did Asa have a special relationship with
reported international drug trader Barry Seal? There are questions about
this hazy chapter in the Hutchinson saga, but you may be assured that, as
always, he has a clear conscience.

Asa paid the price for his elevation into the administration of President
Bush by, among other sacrifices, offering himself up against the
unstoppable U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, who easily won re-election in 1986. A
decade later, after several political misfires, Asa was elected to succeed
his brother Tim in the U.S. House.

When President Clinton faced an impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate,
Asa was among the so-called "House managers" who presented evidence in the
historic proceedings. That bit of nastiness could hardly be called a trial,
which typically includes witnesses. Republicans had no stomach for bringing
down a popular president, but what transpired on national television must
have surprised the former prosecutor.

Asa's organization of facts and articulate presentation on the opening day
of the Senate process almost caused one to wonder whether the president
might be in serious trouble. The whiny, petulant arguments of such
non-luminaries as Bob Barr and Henry Hyde set Asa apart because of his
professional detachment and lack of animus. If there was a winner in the
impeachment battle, it was Asa Hutchinson.

As a congressman, Asa tended to vote mostly with the Christian Coalition
and against the ACLU positions. He has supported campaign finance reform,
which, while representing a constitutionally suspect restraint of free
speech, does show a healthy tendency toward independent thinking. He has
been a proponent of a national commission on privacy.

Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District now has an open seat and a special
election will be called sometime this fall. Why is Asa doing this? Not for
the money. There is a $12,000 annual cut in salary to head the DEA, which
wastes $1.55 billion each year. Perks include the media spotlight.

Reacting to news of his confirmation, Asa declared, "It is difficult to
leave Congress, but I am excited to have the opportunity to serve Arkansas
and the country by beginning our great national crusade against illegal drugs."

You heard it. He said "beginning." Incredible.

Asa knows well the price that has been paid by Americans both in dollars
and in personal liberties since what is often called the war on drugs began
around 20 years ago. When he talks about a "great national crusade," he
might be serious, and we should be very afraid.

Federal prisons and local cemeteries are nearly filled with the victims of
an ill-conceived drug policy that serves only an ever-expanding law
enforcement community, armies of prosecutors, greedy drug test vultures and
a spreading, coerced treatment industry. The result of more policing and
harsher penalties has been higher prices for illicit drugs and bigger
profits for the professional criminal wholesalers.

Asa, in the fashion of another internationally famous Arkansan, always
knows how to say the right thing for the moment, such as in his
confirmation hearing. He gave all the proper reassurances to an adoring
U.S. Senate committee. He is compassionate, hates racial profiling, and
claims to support counseling and treatment for addicts.

The man from Fort Smith is very sincere and most convincing.

If you think the incoming DEA head is a compassionate conservative, you are
dead wrong. Asa is against the medical use of marijuana, a humane policy
recently adopted by the Canadian government for suffering citizens.

John Walters, the Bush pick to lead the Office of National Drug Policy, is
worse than Asa, so proponents of limited government may be in for hard
times. Walters embraces harsh sentences, more vigorous law enforcement and
a general intensification of two decades of failed drug policies.

It is conceivable that Asa will assume the "good cop" persona of moderation
and responsibility, but you should not count on it. Much depends on whether
the sincere and honest Hutchinson believes that his country is well served
by more government intrusions on individual dignity and building larger
federal prisons.

Asa Hutchinson's "great national crusade," left unchecked, might easily
unfold into a grand inquisition.

Pat Lynch has been a radio commentator and talk show host in Central
Arkansas for 17 years.