Sam Brownback linksReuters Politics Summary: Leading Republican and Democratic senators said on Sunday they do not expect President George W. Bush to withdraw Harriet Miers’ U.S. Supreme Court nomination despite fierce criticism of her by conservatives and liberals. “I haven’t seen anything coming from the White House that says that they’re going to pull this nomination,” said Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on “Fox News Sunday.”(LA Times) Lawmakers:Miers’s fate hinges on documents, hearings: Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican who is ordinarily a Bush ally but is also a social conservative expected to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, warned that the Senate “is not a rubber stamp.””If we’re to give advice and consent, we’ve got to have a full picture,” Brownback said on Fox News Sunday. … “I do think we’re going to have to see more information – not attorney-client privilege-type information, but more information of the work product that she was involved in, in the White House, that’s not of a legal nature but that’s of a policy nature,” Brownback said.(AP) Allen: appropriate for any Bush aide to step aside if indicted: U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said Sunday that it would be appropriate for any White House aide to step aside if indicted in the CIA leak investigation. … Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also mentioned the damage that charges would bring and said Republicans must “continue to move forward a solid agenda.” Brownback said “these other issues – they’re going to take on a life of their own. And they need to be followed through the legal system.”(USA Today) Frist probe raises questions on blind trusts: Among the U.S. Senate’s 40 or so millionaires, nearly half have stowed assets in blind trusts to eliminate conflicts of interest. … The Republicans with trusts include Ted Stevens of Alaska, Sam Brownback of Kansas, MikeEnzi of Wyoming and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.Pat Roberts links(UPI Commentary) Walker’s World: Bush at bay: The CIA leak inquiry that threatens senior White House aides has now widened to include the forgery of documents on African uranium that started the investigation, according to NAT0 intelligence sources. … Then there is a separate Senate Select Intelligence Committee inquiry under way, and while the Republican chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas seems to be dragging his feet, the ranking Democrat, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, is now under growing Democratic Party pressure to pursue this question of falsifying the case for war.(New Republic commentary) INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT For instance, Laura Rozen reported in The American Prospect that Roberts consulted closely with Dick Cheney over the scope of his investigation into the politicization of prewar Iraq intelligence–even though Cheney’s office ought to be a focus of that investigation. He has called hearings to determine how well the CIA protects its undercover agents, but he has been oddly quiet about the possible White House role in outing one of those agents–Valerie Plame. And, despite proclaiming it his priority this year to oversee intelligence reforms, the CIA is still, as The Washington Post put it this week, “in turmoil,” as veteran spymasters quit in disgust with Director Porter Goss.Jim Ryun links(WorldNetDaily commentary) Why I Oppose Harriet Miers: How else has the nominee’s faith been evident in her practice? Well, there is now the well-known situation regarding President Bush’s Christmas address. Ned Ryun, the son of Rep. Jim Ryun, drafted President Bush’s Christmas address in 2001. In preparing the speech, he researched the Christmas messages of prior presidents, including George H.W. Bush, Clinton and others. He ran the completed speech by Ken Mehlman, who himself is Jewish. Mehlman approved the speech and found nothing in the Christmas message that was offensive. The speech then went on to Harriet Miers for final review, but she wanted the message toned down because she found it might offend people. She asked Ryan (sic) to revise the speech, but he refused. She insisted that the speech be revised and toned down, and she proceeded to do so. Interestingly, Ryan (sic) now says that some of President Clinton’s past speeches were much more religious than the speech he prepared for President Bush prior to it being revised by Miers. This indicates that Miers appears to want to avoid controversy, even when there is no outside pressure.How to contactAs always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here.