Nine Republicans and 26 Democrats rejected Anchorage attorney Wayne Anthony Ross in a 35-23 vote by a joint session of the House and Senate. Ross had been criticized for, among other things, refusing to disavow his past characterization of gays as “immoral” and “degenerate.”

“The governor honored me by choosing me and I would have done a good job, and I would have enjoyed representing the people of the state of Alaska,” Ross said following the vote. Ross, a current director of the National Rifle Association, said he planned to return to private practice.

Palin was traveling and was not present for the vote. She was the headliner at a Thursday fundraising dinner in Indiana for an anti-abortion group.

“I believed I knew what Alaskans wanted when I selected an individual who is a strong backer of Second Amendment rights, a staunch supporter of the state Constitution and a defender of life,” Palin said in a statement.

“I’m surprised that legislators in this case really did not seem to represent their constituents and allowed themselves to be swayed by side issues,” she said.

Ross, a former two-time candidate for governor, served as an honorary co-chairman of Palin’s successful 2006 gubernatorial bid.

He ran into trouble with some lawmakers when he waded into the ongoing fray between Palin and Senate Democrats over filling Juneau’s vacant state Senate seat. She must choose a Democrat to replace the incumbent, but she refused to pick the choice of local party leaders and Senate Democrats have rejected her first two selections.

Ross said Democrats should fill the seat without arguing about whether the process was legal or illegal, drawing criticism that he was advising legislators to ignore the law.

Ross refused to say at his confirmation hearings whether his earlier opinions about gays and lesbians have changed.

“My job is to represent all Alaskans. My personal opinions have no place,” he said to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Many Alaska Native groups also opposed him because he opposes the federal law granting a rural preference for subsistence hunting and fishing.

Palin was once praised for her ability to work with Alaska Democrats to push through major initiatives, but since the bruising presidential campaign she has clashed with legislative Democrats and some Republicans over issues including her stance on accepting federal stimulus funds. Polls show she remains popular among Alaska voters.

Holder also is the only African-American currently in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet. He had strong bipartisan support in Monday’s vote, plus he has the approval of major LGBT groups.

Holder previously served in the Clinton administration. In 1997, Clinton appointed Holder to Deputy Attorney General.

In a 1999 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder called for LGBT inclusion in federal hate crime law, noting that currently the law “provides no coverage whatsoever for violent hate crimes committed because of bias based on the victim’s sexual orientation, gender or disability, and these crimes pose a serious problem for our nation.”

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act was named for the 21-year-old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. It would add sexual orientation to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.

The bill will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress and President-elect Obama has said that if it passes he will sign it.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, called Tuesday night’s confirmation vote “historic.” He noted that Holder’s confirmation hearing was held while American was celebrating the 80th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

Leahy said the confirmation would take the nation up the path that King wanted, where people are judged by the content of their character.

A small group of Republicans said they opposed Holder. They argued he was hostile to gun control and not fully supportive of the war on terrorism.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 17-2 to favorably recommend Holder for the post.

The only senators who voted against Holder in committee were Republicans John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

Holder previously served in the Clinton administration. In 1997 Clinton appointed Holder to Deputy Attorney General.

He has a strong LGBT rights record.

In a 1999 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder called for LGBT inclusion in federal hate crime law, noting that currently the law “provides no coverage whatsoever for violent hate crimes committed because of bias based on the victim’s sexual orientation, gender or disability, and these crimes pose a serious problem for our nation.”

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act was named for the 21 year old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. It would add sexuality to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.

The bill passed the House in 2007 and the White House threatened to veto it. In an effort to get around a veto, the Senate version was tied to the 2008 it was stripped out.

The bill will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress and President Obama has said that if it passes he will sign it.

Before Wednesday’s committee vote, Holder’s supporters said he wouldn’t be afraid to tell President Barack Obama he was wrong. They praised him for declaring that waterboarding as an interrogation technique is torture. And they said he would be tough on crime.

“When asked whether this country at is at war he said yes,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “He indicated the enemy have declared war on this country long before we realized it. He sees the battlefield as the entire globe.”

Graham said he supports Holder’s view that the country needs to interrogate terrorism suspects in accordance with American values.

“I am confident this new attorney general will have a balanced approach and I look forward to working with him. I know he’s made mistakes and so have I,” Graham said.

Several senators praised Holder for his willingness to admit his mistake, when he told the White House he was leaning in favor of Bill Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich – whose wife was a major Democratic contributor.

Holder goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee Jan. 15. For conservative Republicans, he is the liberal face of nominees to come as Obama remakes the federal judiciary, and possibly the Supreme Court.

Republicans also want to show they still have some clout in the Senate – enough votes to stop a nomination with a filibuster.

Holder is expected to eventually win the AG job, but not without a fight.

The Human Rights Campaign and other human and civil rights groups have begun a campaign to ensure Holder gets through the nomination process. HRC President Joe Solmonese joined leaders from the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Women’s Law Center on Capitol Hill to show their support for Holder.

Holder has a strong LGBT rights record.

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the Department of Justice’s Attorney General’s Honors Program. 

In 1988, he was nominated for and confirmed as Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  In 1993, President Clinton nominated Holder for United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and he was confirmed later that year.  

In this role, he worked vigorously to reduce crime and increase neighborhood safety.  Notably, he emphasized hate crimes enforcement to ensure that bias-motivated crimes would receive adequate resources, attention, and punishment. Hate crimes continued to be a priority for Holder after his 1997 appointment by President Clinton to Deputy Attorney General.  

In a 1999 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder called for LGBT inclusion in federal hate crime law, noting that currently the law “provides no coverage whatsoever for violent hate crimes committed because of bias based on the victim’s sexual orientation, gender or disability, and these crimes pose a serious problem for our nation.”

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act was named for the 21-year-old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. It would add sexual orientation to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.

The bill will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress and President-elect Obama has said that if it passes, he will sign it.

Meanwhile, a grassroots movement has begun to have Fred P. Hochberg nominated to be the next Secretary of Commerce. The openly gay Hochberg is dean of the New School for Management in New York.

The Obama transition team is scrambling to find a replacement for Bill Richardson who withdrew his name from the nomination.

“Hochberg is the most qualified candidate for the job,” the Boston-based Equal Rep said in a statement. Equal Rep works to get LGBT candidates placed in office.

From 1998 through 2000, Hochberg served as deputy, then acting administrator, of the Small Business Administration, an agency elevated to cabinet rank by President Bill Clinton, with more than 4,000 employees and 100 offices across the country. 

At the SBA, he directed the delivery of a comprehensive set of financial and business development programs for entrepreneurs, with particular outreach to women and minorities. He also served on President Clinton’s Management Council.

From 1994 to 1998, Hochberg worked as founder and president of Heyday Company, a private investment firm managing real estate, stock market investments, and venture capital projects. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small family mail order company into a publicly traded direct marketing corporation, one of the great success stories of American entrepreneurship.

“It was devastating to learn that gay Americans wouldn’t have a seat at the table within Barack Obama’s Cabinet administration. They are the only minority group to have never been appointed in the history of the United States.” said Paul Sousa, Equal Rep founder. “Hochberg is supremely qualified and this opening is the perfect opportunity for our President-elect to show gay Americans they have not been forgotten and he is truly committed to equal representation.”

Latino groups want the Obama transition team to pick another Hispanic to replace Richardson – who had been the new administration’s most prominent Latino official.Women’s groups have said they want another female in the Cabinet.

The Human Rights Campaign said that Holder, the former deputy attorney general in the Clinton Administration, has proved himself to be a strong advocate for fairness and basic rights and an unswerving proponent of fully-inclusive federal hate crimes legislation.

“In Eric Holder, President-Elect Obama has chosen an attorney general who has demonstrated his dedication to civil rights, protecting communities from hate violence, and the fair and equal application of our laws,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

“Eric Holder has recognized the deleterious effect that hate and bias crimes have not just on victims, but on entire communities. President-Elect Obama’s appointment continues to prove his commitment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”

Holder’s appointment is the latest in a series of moves by President-elect Obama that illustrate his commitment to fairness and LGBT equality, said Solmonese.

Obama’s Transition Project has  instituted a fully inclusive nondiscrimination policy for those applying for positions within the new administration. In addition, a number of openly gay people have been selected to contribute their considerable expertise to the transition.

Two weeks ago, the Obama Transition Project published an extensive agenda for the next four years, including a section on key policies for LGBT people and families, on its website. The Obama-Biden plan reiterates strong support for inclusive hate-crimes and employment discrimination protections, repeal of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act and “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and a stronger and more strategic response to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic.

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the Department of Justice’s Attorney General’s Honors Program.

In 1988 he was nominated for and confirmed as Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  In 1993 President Clinton nominated Holder for United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and he was confirmed later that year. 

In this role he worked vigorously to reduce crime and increase neighborhood safety.  Notably, he emphasized hate crimes enforcement to ensure that bias-motivated crimes would receive adequate resources, attention, and punishment.  Hate crimes continued to be a priority for Holder after his 1997 appointment by President Clinton to Deputy Attorney General. 

In a 1999 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee Holder called for LGBT inclusion in federal hate crime law, noting that currently the law “provides no coverage whatsoever for violent hate crimes committed because of bias based on the victim’s sexual orientation, gender or disability, and these crimes pose a serious problem for our nation.”

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act was named for the 21-year-old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. It would add sexual orientation to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.

The bill passed the House in 2007 and the White House threatened to veto it. In an effort to get around a veto the Senate version was tied to the 2008 defense authorization bill.  It passed but then went to conference where it was stripped out.

The bill will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress and President-elect Obama has said that if it passes he will sign it.

Monday’s report singles out the department’s former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, for violating federal law and Justice Department policy by discriminating against job applicants who weren’t Republican or conservative loyalists.

“Goodling improperly subjected candidates for certain career positions to the same politically-based evaluation she used on candidates for political positions,” the report concludes.

In one instance, Justice investigators found that Goodling objected to hiring an assistant prosecutor in Washington because “judging from his resume, he appeared to be a liberal Democrat.”

In another, she rejected an experienced terror prosecutor to work on counter-terror issues at a Justice Department headquarters office “because of his wife’s political affiliations,” the report found.

Goodling’s lawyer John Dowd did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday and other attempts to reach Goodling were unsuccessful.

The federal government makes a distinction between so-called “career” appointees and “political” appointees, and the long-accepted custom has been that career workers are not hired on the basis of political affiliation or allegiance.

The 140-page report does not indicate whether Goodling or former Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson could face charges. None of those involved in the discriminatory hiring still work at Justice, meaning they will avoid any department penalties.

However, Justice investigators said that Goodling may lose her license to practice law as a result of the findings.

Gonzales was largely unaware of the hiring decisions by two of his most trusted aides. The report said his aides’ decisions weeded out Democrats and that Goodling also rejected at least one lesbian job applicant.

The report marks the culmination of a yearlong investigation by Justice’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility into whether Republican politics were driving hiring polices at the country’s premier law enforcement agency.

The investigation is one of several that examine accusations of White House political meddling within the Justice Department. Those accusations were initially driven by the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in late 2006 and culminated with Gonzales’ resignation under fire as attorney general last September.

The man who replaced Gonzales, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, said he is “of course disturbed” by the findings.

“I have said many times, both to members of the public and to department employees, it is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees,” Mukasey said in a statement shortly after the report was released Monday morning. “And I have acted, and will continue to act, to ensure that my words are translated into reality so that the conduct described in this report does not occur again at the department.”