-Caveat Lector-
From:
Channel 10, Miami, Florida
Janet Reno Talks To Eyewitness News
Reno Back Home After Eight Years
MIAMI, 6:45 p.m. EST February 5, 2001 -- Former U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno is back at her Kendall home after nearly eight
years as the nation's top cop.
Reno, 62, moved back to her hometown last month. That's when
Eyewitness News reporter Connie Hicks sat down with Reno for a
one-on-one interview. The entire interview is posted below.
Hicks: How do you spend your time now?
Reno: Unpacking and seeing friends.
Hicks: But you don't have 16 hours a day of unpacking and seeing
friends. Has it been a big adjustment?
Reno: Cleaning the house, unpacking and seeing friends has taken
pleasant hours of the day.
Hicks: Even the unpacking?
Reno: It's fascinating, because you have missed a book for eight
years, and you've wanted that book and you couldn't find it, and
suddenly you find it right there, aha, and you find so many
familiar things, and you put it all together, and you kind of
blend all the eight years into what you've known all your life,
and it's wonderful.
Hicks: And what is it like, literally and figuratively, going
back home?
Reno: When you fly in, it's so beautiful, that white city spread
out in front of the bay, you walk on the grass in your bare feet
and it's just wonderful � On a day like today, the sky is so blue
and everything is so green compared to the north, you wonder why
anyone would want to live anyplace else, and the people, who have
been wonderful. I just came from visiting the homeless shelter
that's been established since I left, and I'm just so impressed.
It's one of the models for the whole country and it was just such
a marvelous consolidation of facility and people and networks
that make such a difference for the homeless � I've learned how
to run the gas pump -- it's easier to start driving again than
learn how to run the gas pump � I've seen a lot of people glaring
at me -- but I don't know whether they're glaring at me for one
reason or another, maybe I got in their way. But people have
been just as kind and thoughtful as they can be � One of the
things I thought that I would miss when I went to Washington was
my sense of community. I had been all over this country from
Homestead to North Miami Beach for so long, for 15 years, I had
seen so many programs established and I feared I would lose my
sense of community. In fact, I gained a sense of other
communities around the nation, but this is the one I love. And I
want to be a part of it � I've got to get everything pulled
together, because I've got a file this thick of 'Can you do this,
can you do that' across the nation. I want to apportion my time
the right way, and I want to use whatever time I have to pursue
the initiatives that were important to me and not stop my
advocacy. Hicks: What are you likely to do after your trips?
Reno: It's been mentioned practice law, teach, speak, write --
all of the above. Or none of the above.
Hicks: Might you just retire?
Reno: I can't see myself just retiring. I just want to look at
my options and make a judgment after thoughtful consideration.
I made a decision that I wasn't going to be involved in that --
the assistant AG in management and the director of the FBI would
make those decisions, and so I just defer those decisions to
them.
Hicks: Do you feel you need protection?
Reno: I was state attorney here for 15 years in somewhat
tumultuous times, and I trust the community but I defer to
Director Freeh and Mr. Colgate.
I think I can blend the trips with doing what I want to do, and
I'm just exploring the variety of things there is to do � I've
got the red truck.
Hicks: And you drive it pretty well, I understand.
Reno: So far, I haven't had anybody holler at me.
Hicks: You didn't drive in Washington, D.C., though, you didn't
drive yourself?
Reno: No.
Hicks: You didn't drive when you traveled?
Reno: No, but when I came home, I would drive up and down the
driveway and practice.
Hicks: Well, that's not a bad driveway, but that's not exactly
I-95 in rush hour, by any stretch of the imagination.
Reno: No, but the red truck seems to be doing well.
Hicks: Do you think that is a bridge that needs to be built, and
if you do, how would you go about doing that?
Reno: I think the Cuban community is a wonderful part of Miami,
and if you care about a place, as I do Miami, then you want it to
be a place that is united, not in the same, not everyone thinking
the same, but united in spirit, united in its dedication to
giving everyone an opportunity to do what they want to do, to
think what they want to think, to speak � but, as I say, the
Cuban community has given this area so much, and I want to make
sure people understand how much they have given, how dedicated
they are, how much they have contributed to so many initiatives
to this community � It's touching, because so many people have
come up to and they almost whisper, "I'm glad you're home; I'm a
Cuban-Am" like it might not be the right thing to say -- and the
best way I can do it is reaching out to people and saying, "I'd
like to talk to you � I did what I thought was right and I want
to talk to you" ... I've gone over it and over it and I did what
I thought was right, and I would do it again.
Hicks: Do you regret your personal involvement (with Waco),
trying to broker the deal yourself?
Reno: I don't regret that at all because what I was trying to do
avoid having to do what we did and to try to work out in the best
interest of everyone concerned. Anybody regrets people dying in
a situation like that. I go over it in my mind. I could not
have left the FBI there permanently, they could not have walked
away from the complex, where four ATF agents and some six were
killed and some 16 were wounded, and there are many people who
think had there been further delay, he would have done exactly
the same thing with the same result. So I don't know what the
right answer was. I just regret people dying, no matter who
caused it, and I will never know what the right answer was.
I think my experience in Miami taught me you make the best
judgment you can, you inform yourself as fully as possible, you
ask questions, you ask hard questions, you try to probe every
avenue that might be available to you, and then you make the best
decision you can. You make it based on the evidence and the law
when that is appropriate, and then you live with it.
Hicks: Do you think the criticism could have been prompted
because you are not of Washington?
Reno: I don't know what prompted it.
Hicks: Did you not think at times it was unusually harsh and
pointed?
Reno: Sure.
Hicks: More than others have gotten?
Reno: I don't know, I haven't compared it to others, but I
thought they could have done the same thing in a much more
gracious way. What you have to do is look at those that poke fun
and realize that sometimes humor is appropriate, sometimes it's
not and sometimes the line between what is right and what is not
appropriate is hard to follow ... but my experience with those
on "SNL" was that they were very nice, funny, warm kind people
who were trying to use humor -- I wouldn't have done it the same
way, but I got the last laugh.
I turned down the opportunity until I thought it was appropriate,
when I left office, and then I wanted to make sure it was
appropriate and that it did what I think it turned out to do,
which was highlight the need for humor and the ability to laugh
at ourselves and the ability to realize there are some very
serious things in this world and it's better to try to deal with
it with humor rather than invective.
Hicks: What has been the reaction to that appearance?
Reno: Well, you'd have to judge it, because you've seen more of
the news than I have, but the comments I've received, people are
just -- they were just gleeful. Hicks: Did you have any second
thoughts just before you pounded the wall in, like I wonder if I
should be -- I mean, were you comfortable with the whole process?
Reno: Well, it's a process that lasts from about 6 to 1 o'clock,
so it's a long and arduous process, but it was very interesting
and once I committed to it, I didn't have second thoughts.
Hicks: And you enjoyed it, obviously.
Reno: I have a brother who teased me unmercifully when I was
little. I always thought he contributed to my character, because
if I stand him, I could withstand anything � I sometimes think
they got a little bit like my brother, a little bit too far, but
ah -- it was a good experience.
Hicks: What might you miss about Washington, or being attorney
general?
Reno: The people that I worked with -- they were perfectly
wonderful people.
Hicks: All 125,000, I believe, if you include the FBI?
Reno: I didn't meet them all, but those I worked with, FBI
agents, border patrol agents, my secretaries, my support staff,
the lady who runs the attorney general's office, secretaries in
various divisions, inspectors, just wonderful lawyers � Sometimes
I hear a person say the word "bureaucrat," with kind of a sneer,
but as long as I live, I want the American people to know how
remarkable the people are that work with them and for them in the
federal government � These are people that work long hours, they
put their lives on the line � I went to too many funerals -- one
I will always remember was in a little bitty graveyard in the
hill country of Texas -- way, way out away from any civilization,
and that brought it home to me what federal service means. The
American people are well served.
I thought probably many other states had similar problems that
had not been magnified as Florida's were, because the election
had not been as close. My feeling during that entire time with
respect to Florida and the nation was: We cannot take this
institution that we call democracy so much for granted -- it is
very fragile and requires all our efforts -- but to see how
America went through that without crisis, without panic, firmly
and resolutely, just made me very proud. It seems clear to me
that Vice President (Al) Gore got the most popular vote, but I
wouldn't hazard a guess on the electoral vote.
Reno Interview (Cont.) Hicks: What do you think of President
George W. Bush?
Reno: He's had a good first week.
Hicks: Is this the honeymoon period?
Reno: We'll see.
President (Clinton) is one of the smartest people I ever met.
He has a remarkable understanding of people, and he can talk to a
person as if that's the only person he's talking to. He has an
extraordinary knowledge of government, so he can grasp issue
after issue quickly and thoroughly, and accurately. And I think
he has used those skills in many respects to make America safer
and freer -- and a better place to live � The senator (Hillary
Clinton) is also very, very bright, very dedicated, and I think
she and the Senate will do well together.
Hicks: Do you admire them? Either separately or together?
Reno: I admire very much what they have been able to accomplish
in these eight years.
I think the only thing that people can't be properly prepared for
are all the national security issues that you confront, because
it involves secure and classified information and you just are
not aware of the magnitude of the issues you will confront � And
I think all of government in this time, in which -- instead of
one mammoth block of the Soviet Union, we have a number of
different countries and different entrepreneurs, and I spent a
lot of time preparing myself -- I think there could be better
course work for all involved, in some of the issues we confront.
Sometimes it shakes, like this, sometimes my handwriting is
atrocious, and sometimes it's perfectly OK. I don't know when it
decides to do what, why -- but so far it hasn't bothered me.
Most of all, I want to set an example, that you can, your life,
you can be on television and shake, and it doesn't impair your
ability to do your job and people don't think the less of you.
Whatever decision has been made has been made because I just
don't like to take medication and I like to use as little as
possible, so, it doesn't bother me.
Hicks: Do you need to -- is it something you ought to be taking?
Reno: It doesn't do anything except deal with the symptoms, so I
never -- so I follow, I do what the doctor says.
I don't want anything to be determined. I want a couple of
places I want to be, by dates certainly, but I really want to see
the country, maybe not all at the same time, because I think you
get travel weary after awhile, but maybe go a to a certain place,
leave the red truck, fly home, start back when I'm able to --
that type of thing. This is just such an extraordinary country
-- I've been to all but three states, but the time was too short,
too short to finish talking to the people that I found so
interesting, that had so many interesting and diverse views, too
short to climb the mountain that just stood there waiting, just
saying, "Climb me, climb me" -- it's a wonderful country.
Well, my mother said -- would have said, "Doesn't matter how long
you've been there, it's what you did." � I'm the one that said at
her memorial service, in the eulogy, "She knew how to say 'I love
you' more better than anyone I've known, but she could be a mess,
and if I had one thing to be thankful for that afternoon, was
that she was not around to insult or embarrass anybody." And in
the church, my brothers and sister started to laugh, and the rest
of the congregation didn't know whether they should laugh, then
suddenly maybe they couldn't help themselves, and a roar rose up
from the church all they way back to the end.
Reno Interview (Cont.)
Hicks: Would you get $8 million for your book?
Reno: Nah.
Hicks: Would you want it?
Reno: It would make me uncomfortable � The other thing I don't do
is "what ifs."
As I told the Justice Department press corps, it's not just
because I'm the child of two newspaper reporters -- that is, the
First Amendment is very important -- I got prepared, I would
prepare myself, I would think of what questions you all wanted to
ask, and there would be some I hadn't thought of, but you made me
focus on issues, you raised hard questions, you made the First
Amendment, you made its importance real, and I have to tell you,
the press corps in Miami prepared me � There is nothing like the
Miami press corps for energy, for doggedness, for misquoting me,
for getting it right, for doing all the things so difficult to do
when you're on deadline, and people ask, "Why do you feel at home
with the media?" I think it's probably because of all of you.
A case should be tried in court, not in the headlines. I always
try to answer questions, and in many instances, I took it further
than what some Justice Department lawyers thought was
appropriate, because I think the federal government needs to open
up a little bit. Florida has a wonderful combination of the
sunshine law and the public records law that I think ensures
openness in government to a greater degree than most states that
I know and the federal government -- and I think it's important
in an democracy.
Hicks: Anything you haven't been asked that you wished you'd been
asked that you wish you could address?
Reno: I'm always happy when it comes to an end � I want to write
something that will be useful to the American public in terms of
understanding their government and useful to people who will work
in the Justice Department in the future in terms of understanding
how (and) what its potential is.
Hicks: Any regrets?
Reno: I could probably do some days over, but it's been the most
wonderful opportunity any lawyer could have, to try to use the
law to try to make America safer and freer and a better place to
live. I've met wonderful people, I've worked with wonderful
people -- the opportunity to serve the American people is a
wonderful, wonderful privilege. I'd like to say something to the
young people: I've heard many young people say they're turned off
by the political invective and the rhetoric and they're not
interested in public service of the elective type -- but they
still want to do something, they want to contribute, they still
want to make a difference. I urge them all to pursue public
service, if not elective, then some other avenue where you can
help others who cannot help themselves. But elective or
nominated and Senate-confirmed public service such as I've
experienced for the last eight years is so rewarding. It's far
better than figuring out how much money you're going to make next
year and what you're going to do with three vacations or
something like that, and for those that are struggling to make
ends meet -- it's important for public servants to know what it's
like to make ends meet.
Ms. Hicks, it's always a pleasure to do business with you.
---end---
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
=================================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
