Rick Sarlat, CNSNews.com
Thursday, Dec. 13, 2001

Reno, who served as attorney general for nearly eight years and as Dade County's state attorney for 15 years before that, hopes to win the Democrat nomination for governor and then unseat Republican incumbent Jeb Bush.

During a recent campaign stop in her native Dade County, Reno spoke to a group of business people who offer support to families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Almost immediately, the head of the local Police Benevolent Association (PBA) fired off a letter to the 200 Club of Dade County, objecting to the business group's invitation to Reno.

"Despite the image that Ms. Reno portrays, she has never been a friend to law enforcement nor a supporter of its causes," wrote Dade PBA President John Rivera.

Critics say that although Reno will likely have the support of Democrat loyalists in south Florida, her record as a local prosecutor and as the nation's top law enforcement officer will be under attack.

Alberto Millian, PBA director of political affairs and a former prosecutor, said many local officers feel betrayed by Reno's actions.

Reno's Crime Boom

"She's not liked by law enforcement," he said. "As a local prosecutor she presided over an explosion of crime down here. Drug trafficking increased, she was soft on public corruption and generally made it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs," Millian said.

"Janet Reno's legacy has been one of politicizing the law enforcement process to serve either her political constituencies, her friends or alliances or her agenda. That's not a good law enforcement official," he added.

Reno's decision-making in the Elian Gonzalez controversy still looms large in the minds of many Cuban exiles, Millian said.

Elian, then 6 years old, was rescued off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day, 1999 after the boat he was in capsized. His mother and several other people, who had escaped Cuba, drowned in the same accident, but Elian clung to an inner tube.

A long custody battle ensued with Reno's Justice Department siding with Elian's father, who wanted to take his son back to Cuba, and against Elian's Miami relatives, who wanted to raise him in the U.S. For many in south Florida, the defining event occurred Easter weekend of 2000, when armed federal agents burst into the home of Elian's Miami relatives and forcibly removed the boy from the home. Elian eventually ended up back in Cuba with his father.

"Her mishandling of the Elian Gonzalez situation is just another symptom of her inability to make a good decison or handle problems," Millian said. "Although it won't be the defining issue in the election, it will be huge among Cuban-Americans and Hispanics in general which is the majority vote down here.

"Yes, the outcome may have been the correct one, but the way it played out is something that won't be forgotten anytime soon," Millian said.

Rick Kolodgy, vice president of the Miami-Dade PBA, said the group was more concerned with her treatment of police during her tenure as the county's state attorney.

"She's never been pro-law enforcement, and we've never been pro-Janet Reno,'' Kolodgy said.

On Reno's campaign Internet site, she describes her vision for Florida as "building the best schools in the country, protecting our open lands and water, managing our growth and standing up for our elders.

"It's time to bring our state and our people together," she states.

She also recently defended her handling of the Elian Gonzalez case.

"I feel very comfortable with what I did," Reno said. "I sent that little boy to his daddy, where he belonged."

As for her tenure as U.S. attorney general, Reno's Internet site boasts that "crime was dramatically reduced and heightened professionalism became the order of the day in the law enforcement community."

Reno, according to the Web site, "is known throughout government for her integrity, independence and respect for the rules of law and evidence."

Copyright CNSNews.com

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