Janet Reno Stands Tall

Seven years as Attorney General and Janet Reno is still the most
misunderstood woman in Washington. The cool part is that she couldn't care
less. Who would have thought that Janet Reno would become one of Bill
Clinton's longest-serving cabinet members? Back in 1993, after all, she was
his third choice for attorney general.

The plainspoken state attorney for Dade County, Florida, was little known
to Washington upon her nomination, and upon her arrival she never cozied up
to D.C.'s power players. Then, just months into her term, came the fiasco
at Waco, when Reno's decision to storm the Branch Davidian compound sparked
a fiery chain reaction that led to the deaths of more than 80 people. While
some Clintonites whispered that she wasn't a team player who was in over
her head, Reno won the respect of Americans outside the Beltway by
unflinchingly taking responsibility for the disaster.

Those who know Reno weren't surprised - the attorney general had the kind
of childhood that builds character. Her father was a crusading reporter for
the Miami Herald; her mother, also a journalist, built the family's house
on 21 acres in the Florida Everglades. Reno grew up surrounded by wildlife.
Occasionally, she wrestled alligators.

As the country's chief law enforcement official, Reno oversees a vast range
of issues, from the appointment of special prosecutors to the supervision
of the FBI. She has become increasingly active in the debate over
gun-related violence and has led her department into a precedent-setting
antitrust suit against Microsoft.

George executive editor Richard Blow interviewed Reno in her office at the
Department of Justice. The attorney general can be maddeningly vague when
she doesn't want to answer a question. But she also has a dry sense of
humor. And when she doesn't feel that she's talking out of school, she'll
give a straight answer to a straight question. "I am who I am", she says.
How many politicians could so comfortably say the same?

Q: Let's discuss some of the issues you deal with. You talk a lot about
Children and the importance of community. How does that fit in with the
Justice Department?

A: As a state attorney in Miami, I had to figure out what to do about
crack-involved infants. We had to determine whether the children were
treated as dependents, whether the mothers should be prosecuted. The
doctors took me to a public hospital and showed me babies being kept there
because their mothers were incapacitated. They had not been held or talked
to, and they were not demonstrating physical reactions or emotions.

The doctors taught me that the first three years of life are the most
formative because that is when the person learns the concept of reward and
punishment. And I suddenly thought, What good are all the prisons going to
be 20 years from now if these children don't understand what punishment
means? So I've seen crime prevention as a continuum throughout a child's life.

Q: Is that why you traveled to Littleton after the school shootings?

A: I think it's important that the government respond to national tragedies
- not telling people what should be done but letting them know that America
stands with them as they deal with this grief.

Q: The visit must have been a very powerful experience.

A: What you find in such situations is that you draw strength from the
people - their ability to grieve and comfort one another.

Q: Obviously, Columbine and the recent Atlanta shootings added to the
debate about guns. What's your opinion of the lawsuits that cities around
the country are bringing against gun manufacturers?

A: We're reviewing those. Each situation is different because state laws
differ with respect to the causes of action and the remedies available.

Q: Is there any possible role for the Justice Department in those lawsuit?

A: We'll see.

Q: Are you sympathetic with the goals of the lawsuits?

A: I wouldn't speak of that. But I just think we have a real chance to end
the culture of violence in this country. Nobody should be permitted to
possess a gun unless they have demonstrated the capacity to safely and
lawfully use the weapon. That's just common sense. Back   in 1993, you
argued for the independent counsel statute. This year, you argued against
it, and it has since expired. What changed?

As a state court prosecutor, I had been used to a system whereby I could
ask the governor of Florida to appoint another state attorney to
investigate a matter and, if necessary, prosecute it. That was an elected
person who had to operate within a budget and who had experience as a
prosecutor. It worked well.

In this situation, there's only one attorney general, so we didn't have a
federal system in which [the decision to appoint a special counsel] could
be given to someone else. Under the constitutional framework in which we
operate, I would never be removed from the responsibilities for either the
decision to ask for the special prosecutor or the decision to remove the
special prosecutor. And if I were going to be responsible for it, then I
ought to have the authority to carry it out.

Q: Did Ken Starr make it tough for you to defend the independent counsel?

A: I make it a policy not to comment on any independent counsel so as to
ensure their independence.

Q: What about the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft?
Are you satisfied with the prosecution?

A: Again, I won't comment, except to say that I'm very proud of the people
who put so much time and effort into it.

Q: Critics of the case say that the law can't keep up with technology.
What's your feeling?

A: Our Constitution is more than 200 years old now, and it has kept up with
so many developments. I think it can keep up with technology.

Q: Okay, let's get away from policy matters for a minute. You have a
portrait of former attorney general Robert Kennedy on your wall. What does
that portrait mean to you?

I look at him as an example. He became my favorite attorney general after
he became one of my favorite senators, because I can remember him being
very upset when his brother named him attorney general. [Tut-tuts]
Nepotism, nepotism. But I came to admire him for his stand on civil rights,
for his vision for children, for family, for equal access to the law.

Q: Were you interested in politics as a girl?

A: The first time I stayed up all night was the night [in 1948] that Truman
beat Dewey. I woke up my parents the next morning and said, "It looks like
Truman won."

Q: Has your gender affected your approach to law enforcement or the way
you're perceived in Washington?

A: No.

Q: No difference at all?

A: No.

Q: Do women in general bring a different approach to politics?

A: I'm not sure that you can generalize, but I think women bring a more
commonsense approach to issues. There's a tendency to try to find grounds
of agreement. Let me give an example. It was a long time before we got
courts, prosecutors, and police to really focus on domestic violence. When
we did, I gave credit to the fact that more and more women who were
appointed to the bench impressed their colleagues about why these cases are
so important.

Q: This administration has four female cabinet members - you, Donna
Shalala, Madeleine Albright, and Alexis Herman - and all of you are
unmarried. Is there more pressure to choose between family and career for
women in politics than for men?

A: I don't think so. I would have liked to marry and raise four children.
Now, I don't know whether I would have become attorney general if I had
gotten married and had four children, but I look at the extraordinary
people around me, and I know that it is possible.

Q: Do you regret not having married?

A: No, because I have a wonderful family. I celebrated my birthday with my
great-niece and my great-nephew. And I have wonderful friends who share
their children with me.

Q: Do you ever look back on the choices that you've made and wonder if you
focused too much on work?

A: So far, with all the choices I've had, I've been satisfied.

Q: Would you ever consider adopting a child?

A: At this point, I'm trying to do everything I can to make sure all the
children of America have a chance for a strong and positive future.

Q: But have you thought about adoption?

A: I considered it before I became state attorney in Miami, in 1978.

Q: And what made you decide that it wasn't the right thing?

A: I thought about whether I could do the same job my mother did, raising
us while working, and decided that I couldn't do so.

Q: Your mother sounds like she was a remarkable woman.

A: She was my best friend. She could also embarrass me more than anybody
else I've ever known.

Q: Because of what she did or what she would say about you to others?

A: What she did, what she would say, what thoughts came into her mind.

Q: Can you think of any examples?

A: [Laughs] No, and I wouldn't say them if I did. I delivered the eulogy at
her memorial service, and I said, "She could say 'I love you' better than
anybody I've ever known, but if there's one thing I have to be thankful
for, this afternoon, it's that she's not around to insult or embarrass
anybody." And you could see this whole church, not knowing at first whether
they should laugh, suddenly realizing that they could - and there was a
rolling laugh across that church. She would have appreciated it.

Q: I understand that she was a big believer in corporal punishment.

A: Yes.

Q: Are you?

A: I have never spanked a kid that I was responsible for.

Q: For lack of opportunity or lack of desire?

A: Lack of desire. I always thought I could do it some other way.

Q: Did you resent being spanked?

A: Anybody resents being spanked. Except it was interesting - I sometimes
resented my mother. I never resented the spanking I got from my father,
because she reserved our worst transgressions for him and he always did it
in a fair way.

Q: Saturday Night Live has "Janet Reno's Dance Party". Spy magazine
portrayed you as Rambo. How did you become such a pop culture icon?

A: I don't know. It's for you [reporters] to speculate. But when kids come
here for a meeting or when I go to a school, you can see some of the
students start to giggle and then finally raise their hands. "Have you ever
seen yourself on 'Saturday Night Live'?" You can see them holding their
breath. And I say, "When somebody showed it to me, I laughed" and they
relax and start laughing. They appreciate that people can laugh at
themselves.

Q: Have you seen yourself portrayed on 'Ally McBeal', when the character
Fish finds himself irresistibly attracted to your wattle?

A: The office brought in the tape one day, and I thought that was a hoot,
too. But you know what I'd really like to do? I'd like to  be able to get
onto the set of 'Ally McBeal' without anybody knowing about it and then, at
the appropriate time, when Ally is  moaning and groaning about what's going
on and what she's going to do, I'd say to her, "Young lady, if you just had
confidence in yourself, you'd solve all your problems."

Q: In a poll of Japanese men, the majority chose you as the woman they
would most like to be with on a deserted island. How does it feel to be a
sex symbol?

A: Somebody told me about it, and I thought they were pulling my leg. The
next day, the Japanese embassy sent me flowers.

Q: In 1995, you were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. How much does that
bother you?

A: Some days it does, some days it doesn't. [Points to her hands] This is
the primary symptom. Some days I get stiff, but I think that's from lack of
exercise in this [right] hand, because of the shaking of this hand.

Q: Is that frustrating?

A: No, I just think of what it must be like for people who have
difficulties, who stutter, who have cancer. And you think, Gosh, I'm
fortunate.

Q: Do you worry about it getting worse?

A: No.

Q: Not at all?

A: No. I know it's going to get worse. But I watched my mother die of lung
cancer. I watched other people I loved die of different things. We're all
going to die someday. So far, I think I'm fortunate.

Q: What do you say to the people who have urged you to speak out more about
parkinson's?

A: I have told the people I love and have confidence in, "If you ever see
me impaired so that I couldn't be attorney general, let me know."
Otherwise, I just do my job.

Q: And that's how you set an example?

A: That's the point I make. A lot of people tell me, "I've derived such
courage from watching you, and I can deal with my Parkinson's or other
disease better because of it." I'm very happy that I can do that. I
represent the interests of all the people of the United States, not just
some, and I think I can use the time after I leave office to speak out on
this issue.

Q: Is there anything that Parkinson's has affected your ability to do?

A: It's harder to take notes of everything at a congressional hearing.

Q: Has your handwriting changed?

A: My handwriting has changed. It's wiggly, unless I write very carefully.

Q: I understand you like to kayak. That's not your typical Washington
activity.

A: Well, I don't know how many people like to go kayaking and expect to
turn over because they don't know how to do it, so they take along a gallon
jug with the top cut out to bail out the kayak.

Q: You've mentioned that when you leave your position, you plan to drive
around the country in a pickup truck. Were you serious?

A: Mm-hmm.

Q: Have you mapped out a route?

A: Nope.

Q: Do you have the truck?

A: Don't have the truck yet, don't have the route yet. I'm going to go
sailing with my brother on his boat, so people will forget what I look
like. And then I'm going to put on a battered old hat, take friends from
around the country, and look at this country.

Q: Will you miss Washington?

A: I have enjoyed Washington immensely. Nobody realizes that within 14
miles [of downtown] is some of the most beautiful wilderness in the world.

Q: How about the other kind of Washington wilderness?

A: [Laughs] That's been interesting, too.

Q: The line on you is that you connect with folks outside Washington, but
people here don't get you because you're not a Washington animal. Is that a
fair assessment?

A: I don't know what a Washington animal is. I've certainly seen a variety
of people in Washington.

Q: Ostensibly, you don't conform to the prevailing culture of the capital.

A: I'm not one who conforms to the prevailing culture of any place.

Q: Another image that comes up again and again is a mythic portrayal of
you, an image of you as a "swamp thing".

A: That's not me, that's Mother.

Q: But people are fascinated that you grew up in the house that your mother
built, surrounded by wild animals - almost as if you're a Davy Crockett
figure.

A: I think that's just a media creation.

Q: Really? What's wrong with that picture?

A: Well, I'm not a Davy Crockett figure. A lot of people have been brought
up around animals. That doesn't make them Davy Crockett.

Q: Yes, but how many people have wrestled alligators?

A: [Laughs, holding up hands about two feet apart.] They were small
alligators.

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