Beverley Lumpkin: Halls of Justice
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 4 --
RENO LOOKS FOR A LEGACY
Just when many Justice employees thought it was time to start coasting toward the end of this administration and the beginning of the next, Janet Reno has started holding meetings of her top staff, demanding lists of “priorities” that still need to be accomplished between now and January 20.
One aide said people were groaning because her list of priorities was lengthy — the latest count was 35 items — which, he pointed out, means nothing is a priority when everything is. Also the items listed were general and unfocused — for example: “drugs,” “guns,” or “courts.”
One official remarked sardonically they could probably at least narrow the last down to “federal courts.”
Another top official, when asked about the priorities, immediately replied, “oh, the legacy horse****?” But he believes that what Reno actually has in mind is whittling down the broad categories to a few doable tasks.
He thinks, for example, if there’s a proposal or project that’s already about two-thirds done, then it makes sense for her to push to finish the job before she leaves. Even that will be difficult, though, because the average bureaucrat’s attitude this fall will be “haven’t you people gone yet?”
Another aide believes the main purpose of the exercise is to leave a blueprint for the incoming Attorney General to point out the most urgent areas requiring attention; “to give them the benefit of our insight.” However, that’s the sort of thing usually done by an incoming administration’s transition team; it’s hard to imagine that Reno’s successor will be as eager to accept her advice as she is to give it.
Reno herself at her weekly briefing explained, “What I’ve tried to do is to take the issues that we have been working on, to outline what still remains to be done, and to chart what we can do in these four and a half, five months left, so that I don’t waste the people’s time.”
