he U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will soon slam New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's police department, reports today's Washington Times. Giuliani is the latest Republican to find himself on the commission's partisan hit list.

As we reported last week, the commission decided to join the Gore campaign when it rushed out a statement — officially released today — condemning Jeb Bush's "One Florida" plan, which is partly modeled on George W. Bush's efforts to revamp undergraduate admissions in Texas. The commission abandoned all of its normal procedures — including hearings announced 30 days beforehand in the Federal Register — to coordinate the timing of its statement with an administrative hearing on a lawsuit filed against "One Florida" by the NAACP and NOW.

When it's done aiding Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, perhaps the commission will focus on the controversy surrounding Pennsylvania state representative Terry Van Horne, the Democratic nominee to replace Ron Klink, who is running for Senate. It seems that six years ago, Van Horne used the N-word in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to describe a black colleague with whom he was frustrated.

Sure, investigating Van Horne would be a gross abuse of the commission's bipartisan mission. But then, tendentious partisan assaults are what the commission does best these days. It's time someone held hearings.

Empty Suit
The Washington Times' Donald Lambro reported yesterday that a number of advisers to George W. Bush are suggesting off the record that Bush would not have brought the Microsoft suit if he were president — and that he would drop the Microsoft suit if he takes office and it's still pending.

Good Guy Finishes First
This year's Pulitzer prize for commentary went to — gasp! — Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal. So great is Gigot's claim to this award that it is a real surprise to see him get it. The prize committee has tended to reward the overrated, the conventional, the liberal: q.v. last year's selection of Maureen Dowd. Gigot, an NR alum, is none of those things. His column regularly contains fresh reporting and fresh analysis from a perspective both soundly conservative and politically sophisticated. It is one of the few columns that can genuinely be described as must-reading in Washington. Our warmest congratulations to Gigot and the Journal.

Hockey Picks 2000
Longtime readers of Washington Bulletin will know that we have a 50 percent track record when it comes to picking the NHL's Stanley Cup winner right before the playoffs (we're one out of two).

Here are our first-round choices: In the Eastern Conference, top-seeded Philadelphia beats Buffalo after a scare, Washington defeats Pittsburgh, Toronto over Ottawa, and New Jersey squashes Florida. In the Western Conference, St. Louis overpowers San Jose, Dallas crushes Edmonton, Colorado whips Phoenix, and Detroit smashes Los Angeles.

Three rounds later, in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Detroit Red Wings will win for the third time in four years by beating the New Jersey Devils in a seven-game thriller.