Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993 TAG: 9303100060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
RENO GAINS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
Janet Reno promised to blend tough enforcement with respect for people's rights Tuesday at a confirmation hearing that both Democrats and Republicans predicted would lead to her approval as America's first female attorney general.Miami's chief local prosecutor for 15 years, Reno described herself as a no-nonsense person who lived by the credo: "Don't pussyfoot, don't equivocate, don't talk out of both sides of your mouth."
For members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, an especially welcome quality seemed to be that she was non-controversial. "You have no idea how happy we are to see you here today," said chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del.
President Clinton's first nomination for the top Justice Department job, Zoe Baird, was withdrawn after criticism of her having illegally hired aliens as household help. The president then dropped federal Judge Kimba Wood from consideration because she also had hired an illegal alien to be her child's nanny - though she had broken no laws in doing so.
Reno, 54, seemed nearly free of personal controversy and Biden scheduled no other witnesses for the confirmation hearing. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the committee, said the panel might vote on her nomination this week.
"Having read every page of your FBI report, I am impressed with your credentials and what you've done with your life," Hatch said before the hearing recessed until today.
White House aide Ricki Seidman said the hearing couldn't have gone better.
Seidman and Biden said rumors that Reno had been pulled over but never charged with drunken driving were checked by the FBI and committee investigators and proven unfounded. Hatch called them a "hate-mongering campaign."
When asked about accusations that she was loath to prosecute public corruption cases in Florida, she said she had passed some on to federal prosecutors because the court rules were more favorable in that system. She said she did this despite advice that it would be "political suicide."
"I wish you well on the bench. I predict you'll be confirmed. I expect to vote for you," Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., told her.
Reno said she wanted to apply nationwide the lessons she's learned fighting crime in the Miami area, including working with ex-offenders, families and children to try to prevent violence.
But, she said, "I think it's imperative to understand that you will not have success . . . [without] threat of reasonable punishment and unless you can ensure that punishment can be carried out."