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Reno owes the public answers (St. Petersburg Times Editorial)
St. Petersburg Times ^ | April 28, 2002 | Editorial

Posted on 04/28/2002 4:32:37 PM PDT by JulieRNR21

Reno owes the public answers

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2002

Janet Reno's reputation as a state attorney, the foundation for her eight years as the nation's attorney general and her present candidacy for governor of Florida, was built in significant part by her aggressive prosecution of three sensational child abuse cases in Miami-Dade County. She pioneered a controversial technique for eliciting intimate details from young children and inspired passage of a law allowing them to testify by closed-circuit television, out of the possibly intimidating presence of their suspected molesters. It is open to dispute, however, whether this is a record of which she should be proud.

Janet Reno's reputation as a state attorney, the foundation for her eight years as the nation's attorney general and her present candidacy for governor of Florida, was built in significant part by her aggressive prosecution of three sensational child abuse cases in Miami-Dade County. She pioneered a controversial technique for eliciting intimate details from young children and inspired passage of a law allowing them to testify by closed-circuit television, out of the possibly intimidating presence of their suspected molesters. It is open to dispute, however, whether this is a record of which she should be proud.

One of the defendants, a 14-year-old boy, was acquitted after his attorneys discredited the children's persistent interrogations by a psychologist who called herself the "yucky secrets doctor." Another was freed by a federal appeals court after 12 years in prison. Only the first, Francisco Fuster Escalona, remains behind bars, serving 165 years on 14 counts of abusing children at the Country Walk day care center in southwest Dade. His 18-year-old wife, Ileana Flores, had pleaded guilty and testified against him.

The 17-year-old Fuster case was the focus of a PBS Frontline documentary Thursday night which broke the news that Flores, who later signed a document recanting her testimony and then repudiated that, is now saying once again that he was innocent, she was innocent and that she was coerced by Reno and others into denouncing her husband. She said she was kept naked in a suicide watch cell and given cold showers and that Reno visited her late at night in pursuit of her confession and damning testimony. If true, that detail would be particularly troubling. No suspect should be interrogated by anyone under such degrading circumstances, and in the absence of her attorney, no matter how sincerely the prosecutor believes in what she's doing.

There are, of course, two sides to the story. The jury believed the state's. Fuster's plea for exoneration depends in large part on the word of his ex-wife, who has contradicted herself three times. But there can be no ambiguity about the implications of Reno's refusal to discuss her role in the case.

"I haven't looked at the file in 15 years, I would need you to bring me all the files, and I don't foresee having the time to go through the files," Reno told Frontline. This has become a familiar form of stonewalling with her. When Times political editor Adam Smith tried to ask her whether she is comfortable with Florida's death penalty, she answered, "I have not reviewed all the cases within the system, so I can't answer that." One of those death cases, among the 100 or so she prosecuted at Miami-Dade, was so flimsy that the Florida Supreme Court not only reversed the conviction but dismissed the charge.

Many politicians duck and weave, as she does, to avoid saying how they'd finance their campaign promises. To refuse to discuss one's record in office is a different, more serious matter. It suggests arrogance of power, a trait that becomes less and less tolerable in inverse proportion to the importance and authority of the office sought.

In Florida, it is the governor, not the attorney general, who oversees the 20 state attorneys. When they err, courts can correct them; on many occasions, however, the governor is the only person who can ensure that justice is eventually served. Reno knows this from personal experience. On assignment by then-Gov. Bob Martinez in 1989, she documented that James Richardson, a fruit-picker, had been unfairly convicted for the poisoning deaths of his seven children, and he was freed after 21 years in prison. On that occasion, she did not shrink from faulting the work of another prosecutor. With her own record now under attack, she serves herself poorly by refusing to discuss it. The voters will not let it go at that.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: candidate; democrat; florida; reno
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To: Leo the Lion
In a cell complete with a stainless steel drool bucket

and toss in Hitlery to keep her/it from being lonely...
21 posted on 04/28/2002 5:20:11 PM PDT by firewalk
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To: JulieRNR21
[is] this a signal to the RATs to dump Reno for McLawyer???

I watched the PBS FRONTLINE program about Reno and the Miami child centers, and found it very disturbing. Why was there no outcry of alleged coercion, by Reno, of the wife at the time of the trial? Why were the husband's lawyers, and the judge, even allowing the wife's testimony in court under the circumstances such testimony was induced? And why was Reno making late-night visits to this wife, who was 17 or 18 years old at the time and literally being tortured in that jail? A very disturbing show. And, where were these questions during the 8 years Reno was US AG under Clinton?

In short, yes, I think the St Pete Times is telling Dem voters who back Reno to dump her.

BTW, I have no doubt Gov Bush would easily beat McBride as well.
22 posted on 04/28/2002 5:20:28 PM PDT by summer
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To: JulieRNR21
...three sensational child abuse cases in Miami-Dade County

...not to mention abducting a six-year old at gunpoint and sending him back to a Communist regime, from which his mother had risked her life to escape.

23 posted on 04/28/2002 5:22:56 PM PDT by wai-ming
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To: JulieRNR21
From what I understand, the law enforcement communities of South Florida could not and can not stand her.
24 posted on 04/28/2002 5:24:24 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
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To: summer
And, where were these questions during the 8 years Reno was US AG under Clinton?

Exactly....agree with you that many RATs would prefer McBride as the candidate since Reno has so much 'baggage'! As for JEB beating them both easily.....considering how the 'condo commanders' will get out the vote in Broward, Miami-Dade, etc. & 'raise the dead' to vote....I will not take anything for granted.

The RATs will do anything & everything to defeat JEB! It is the DNC's main goal.....they will say that a vote against JEB is a vote against GWB.

25 posted on 04/28/2002 5:30:08 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
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To: JulieRNR21
No problem. It's all on the record and that's my objective. I spend no time at all bashing Janet or McBride in a cruel sense. But, the fact of the matter is that neither of them are qualified for governor.

What Jeb has already done and what he intends to do after re-election, runs circles around the shallow plans of these guv wannabees. And, the next time McLawyer spouts off about raising taxes, I'm sure his poll standings will take a dip.

We didn't even want to pay $1 more a year for local phone service and Jeb got the message. There's no chance Floridians WANT ANY NEW TAXES! McLawyer is a tax and spend wild card. That's what needs to get out if they dump Janet via shenanigans in Sept.

26 posted on 04/28/2002 5:33:32 PM PDT by floriduh voter
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To: JulieRNR21
In addition, I thought the PBS FRONTLINE show really made a mockery out of Reno's new effort to sell herself to the public. Here's an excerpt from an essay she recently posted on her campaign website:

------------------------

Why I'm Running For Governor

by Janet Reno


...I will put my 25 years of public service at every level of government to work to solve these problems, and I won't stop until they are done.


[Note: Contrast the above campaign statement to the response she gave to the St Pete Times, as mentioned in the above editorial, when she tells them: she, Janet Reno, does not have the time to review the files from the subject case -- even though there may be an innocent man currently incarcerated for a 165-year jail sentence.]

As your governor, the buck stops with me....

---------------------

Well -- apparently not, Ms. Reno.
27 posted on 04/28/2002 5:35:04 PM PDT by summer
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To: JulieRNR21
I agree, they want Gov. Bush out in the worst way, and I did not mean to sound like I took it for granted that he would win -- but, I honestly think he will win, no matter who is running against him. His record is one any governor can be proud of.
28 posted on 04/28/2002 5:36:26 PM PDT by summer
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To: juliernr21;all
Some of the transcript from the Frontline Reno Story has been posted here with other info on these cases so here's the entire thread if anyone is interested.

Frontline Pre-Show Announcement by St. Pete Times

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/672651/posts

29 posted on 04/28/2002 5:43:50 PM PDT by floriduh voter
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To: summer
, I honestly think he will win, no matter who is running against him. His record is one any governor can be proud of.

His record is superb indeed but after Election 2000.....I will continue to worry until the last vote is counted & JEB is declared the winner! We MUST get out the VOTE FOR JEB (and Katherine Harris)....big time!

30 posted on 04/28/2002 5:48:29 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
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To: JulieRNR21
"or is this a signal to the RATs to dump Reno for McLawyer???"

Bingo!

The Rat media is sending a message that they don't want to, pardon the expression, go down with Janet Reno.

31 posted on 04/28/2002 5:54:47 PM PDT by okie01
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To: okie01
The St. Pete Times is offensive fishwrap and they are shilling at full strength for McBRIDE. No matter, JEB will make em wish they were never born.
32 posted on 04/28/2002 6:07:54 PM PDT by tenthirteen
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To: JulieRNR21
wish that Dorothy Rabinowitz would write about Reno's prosecutorial abuses as Miami-Dade DA.

She has, Julie, just last Thursday. Check out:

The Prosecutors - A little sunshine on Janet Reno's pre-Clinton legacy.

33 posted on 04/28/2002 6:09:14 PM PDT by jackbill
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To: medved
she [Ileana Fuster] was kept naked in a suicide watch cell and given cold showers and that Reno visited her late at night in pursuit of her confession and damning testimony.
Reno was in pursuit of what? This sure seems like abuse of power, and has pretty obvious sexual overtones.
34 posted on 04/28/2002 6:14:47 PM PDT by bvw
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To: JulieRNR21
Will wonders ever cease? St. Pete Times calls on Reno to answer questions

Is it a decent, honest paper or are they just trying to push another RAT into office by jumping on Reno?

35 posted on 04/28/2002 6:20:32 PM PDT by LarryLied
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To: jackbill
Bless you, kind sir.....somehow I had missed it.
36 posted on 04/28/2002 6:21:02 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
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To: LarryLied
Is it a decent, honest paper or are they just trying to push another RAT into office by jumping on Reno?

Most think that the St. Pete Times would prefer McBride to Reno as democRAT candidate.

37 posted on 04/28/2002 6:23:57 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
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To: captnorb

SCENE THREE, ACT ONE.

"...here my little flower, you're shivering...let me wrap my flabby man-arms around your wet, naked, child-like body..."

Ileana smells the vodka on its fetid breath.

LIGHTS FADE TO BLACK.

38 posted on 04/28/2002 6:31:28 PM PDT by Leisler
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To: JulieRNR21
Wow, St Petersburg Times (Pravda West) taking Reno to task.

Simply Amazing

I did not think I'll live the day to see that.

They must really be scared Reno will win the Democratic node for the Governor's race

39 posted on 04/28/2002 6:32:21 PM PDT by JZoback
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To: JulieRNR21
Many politicians duck and weave, as she does, to avoid saying how they'd finance their campaign promises. To refuse to discuss one's record in office is a different, more serious matter. It suggests arrogance of power, a trait that becomes less and less tolerable in inverse proportion to the importance and authority of the office sought.

That's absolutely right.

40 posted on 04/28/2002 6:33:15 PM PDT by Victoria Delsoul
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