Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994 TAG: 9401280096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
And a special assistant to Reno, Lula Rodriguez, who is under Justice Department investigation over Miami-area vote fraud allegations, also resigned, spreading turmoil to a third key Cabinet department.
Defense Department Secretary Les Aspin has re- Heymann signed; proposed replacement Bobby Inman withdrew. The State Department's No. 2 official left last year.
There has been speculation that Reno herself has fallen from favor in the White House. President Clinton denied that as recently as last week. A special counsel has been named to investigate financial dealings in Arkansas, including some by the department's No. 3 official, Webster Hubbell, when he was a law partner of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Reno, a former state prosecutor, is the first attorney general in recent memory to work without a chief of staff. Instead, she relies heavily on Heymann, who served at the Justice Department in the Johnson administration, worked for the Watergate special prosecutor and ran Justice's criminal division during the Carter administration.
Most of the hottest problems and Reno's priority programs were sent to Heymann's office for handling, including a review of mandatory minimum criminal sentences; a report on the FBI's bloody siege of the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas; and the department investigation of Rodriguez.
Heymann's departure brought an instant Republican attack on Reno. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., told reporters, "The Justice Department . . . is being run by someone who could qualify for the `Original Amateur Hour' and who has been less than what this nation should be demanding as an attorney general."
White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers denied the administration was embarrassed: "Certainly not. I think Phil Heymann served well for a year. I think he made clear what his reasons were for leaving."
Reno, sitting side-by-side with Heymann at her weekly news conference, said, "I think the American people understand . . . how one goes through the process of building a team in which people are compatible, in which their styles are the same." Heyman insisted that "we don't have any great policy differences. There is no precipitating case or event. The fact of the matter is our chemistry isn't good. We don't work as well together as we should, and that's the conclusion we've both come to."
With praise for Heymann's work "to bring great people on board and to move this department forward," Reno agreed that "it's a very mutual decision."
Heymann said he would stay until a successor was chosen or until he became an ineffective "lame duck."
The first word of Rodriguez's resignation was Reno's confirmation of a question. She said Rodriguez left to pursue "other career opportunities."
Rodriguez, who worked on liaison with Hispanics and on Reno's schedule, has denied any wrongdoing.
Law enforcement sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said she witnessed contested absentee ballots in a mayoral election narrowly won by her brother-in-law in Hialeah, Fla. Florida officials this week subpoenaed voters whose ballots she witnessed.
A department official said her departure would end Justice's internal investigation. The official said a preliminary review by Heymann's office had concluded that she broke no federal law.
by CNB