For the heck of it, I did a news search. Boy was he right! Her reputation even prompted the WSJ to publish a whole article about her history and background. Apparently Kanof also had a history with Ignacio Ramos's attorney, Mary Stillinger, who is quoted in the article. [Note, while some at Columbia/HCA were prosecuted and convicted of wrongdoing, they were from areas investigated by other AUSA's in offices other than El Paso. I could find no reporting that the witch hunt Kanof's initiated in El Paso resulted in any convictions.] The article is heavily excerpted to comply with FR excerpting rules, but the remaining portion of the article was no more flattering:
Columbia Prosecutor Probes a City's Elite
By Lucette Lagnado. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Feb 24, 1998. pg. B.1
People: Kanof, DebraWhen federal agents raided Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. offices last week, defense lawyers here shook their heads and uttered a one-word lament: "Debra."
"Debra" is Debra Kanof, the federal prosecutor leading the local investigation of Columbia/HCA. ... The broad fraud investigation ...got its start in El Paso. ... A year ago, Ms. Kanof staged the first dramatic raid on the company's facilities, dispatching more than 100 agents...
Ms. Kanof has since become known to her critics as the Kenneth Starr of El Paso. ...she is depicted by her adversaries as a relentless pursuer who goads potential targets into submission. Her blunt threats of indictment have roiled the ranks of local doctors. Her focus on the tiniest details -- agents are even examining what Columbia spent on party refreshments -- frustrates defense attorneys. [she even interviewed party-goers as to what hors d'oeuvres people ate, trying to string together trivial matters to build a case that Columbia gave doctors illegal favors.]
In the eyes of some in Texas's tight-knit community of defense attorneys, Debra Kanof is, in a word, mean.
...She is investigating more than 20 local physicians. ... In recent weeks, she has warned some physicians' attorneys that she plans to indict their clients... Many of these doctors had counted themselves among El Paso's most respected citizens. Now they live in fear of imminent indictment, jail time and perhaps the loss of their medical licenses and careers. Unless, that is, the doctors help Ms. Kanof in her probe. Defense lawyers involved in the investigation say the prosecutor is offering to intercede on behalf of the doctors who cooperate, keeping them out of jail and in good standing with the local medical board. ...
..."Debra really hates to lose," says Mary Stillinger, an El Paso defense lawyer who has crossed swords with Ms. Kanof more times than she cares to recall.
Ms. Kanof's aggressiveness became the stuff of legend. ...
Says Ms. Stillinger, "She goes for the dramatic, and if that involves what was in the hors d'oeuvres, and if it was pate, she will want to go into it before a jury, because the jury does not get to eat pate."
Yes, but how good of a baseball player is she?
*Grin*