Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 12, 1993 TAG: 9302120215
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
CLINTON PICKS FLA. PROSECUTOR
President Clinton on Thursday ended his tumultuous search for an attorney general by picking longtime South Florida prosecutor Janet Reno.The 54-year-old plain-spoken lawyer is credited with extensive crime-fighting experience and a reputation for integrity. She has spent 15 years as state's attorney in Miami and Dade County.
If confirmed, Reno would be the first woman to serve as top law enforcement officer, overseeing the nation's largest legal office with an annual budget of more than $10 billion.
"She is a front-line crime fighter and a caring public servant," said Clinton at a Rose Garden ceremony to introduce his new choice, a 6-footer who stood eye to eye with him in her high heels.
Clinton said he was "somewhat, but not entirely" guided by his desire to choose a woman for the post. He insisted he had interviewed men and women, and "in my mind, at least, she prevailed in a fleet of very fine candidates."
Reno would take over a Justice Department where problems have mounted. The new attorney general will almost immediately have to deal with the troubled FBI, where Director William Sessions is accused of misusing federal funds, and confront the chronic problems of jammed federal prisons and a rising tide of illegal immigration, drugs and violent crime.
"No agency needs an injection of innovative spirit more than the Department of Justice," Clinton said.
Reno was his second official choice.
Insurance executive Zoe Baird withdrew in the public uproar over her hiring of illegal aliens as domestic workers. The president later dropped another top candidate, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood of New York, because she had also hired an illegal alien as a baby sitter.
This time, he chose a single person with no children.
Reno pledged to make "integrity, excellence, and professionalism" the hallmark of the Justice Department. She heads a 900-person legal operation where she is considered squeaky clean in an environment of local corruption.
She has earned a reputation as a liberal for emphasizing issues such as domestic violence and date rape. She won the support of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund, because of her focus on child abuse and related issues.