Bill Clinton: “Good afternoon. One of my central missions as President is to reconnect the Government of the American people with the…”

“Good afternoon. One of my central missions as President is to reconnect the Government of the American people with the people who sent us here. Government cannot be an abstract, distant entity. It must be directly linked to the real lives of real people. I pledged when I ran to reach beyond Washington to bring the best from America's statehouses and courthouses to our Government. And I believe that my Cabinet and other appointees have fulfilled that pledge so far. No agency needs an injection of innovative spirit more than the Department of Justice. Americans demand and deserve freedom from crime in their homes, at their schools, and on the streets. Talking tough is easy. Actually getting results is much more difficult and much more rare. Thousands of prosecutors and police across America have been developing successful ways to fight crime and, just as important, to restore the sense of security that makes community possible in our Nation. I expect my Justice Department to take those lessons and apply them nationally, to be an innovator for law enforcement. After years of political controversy and abuse, the Justice Department also needs an Attorney General who will bring a sense of pride, integ- rity, and new energy to that agency. The Department's dedicated career staff need leadership to help the Department pull together to focus on the urgent interests and issues of justice and law that brought the employees of the Justice Department into public service in the first place. They need an administrator schooled in the management of tough and complex problems and difficult-to-call legal cases, things that affect matters in the office and on the streets of America. I am proud to announce today that I intend to nominate Janet Reno, the State attorney from Miami and Dade County, Florida, to be our next Attorney General. She is a front-line crime fighter and a caring public servant. She has devoted her life to making her community safer, keeping children out of trouble, reducing domestic violence, and helping families. She has truly put people first. She grew up as the daughter of two respected Florida journalists. She worked her way through Cornell University, graduating in 1960. Three years later, in 1963, she was one of a handful of women to graduate from the Harvard Law School, a year behind her distinguished Senator, Bob Graham. After a decade in the private practice of law, she was appointed the State attorney in 1978. Janet Reno is ready to tackle the Justice Department's problems. Serving successfully as the chief prosecutor in a complex, diverse urban community is a really tough job. And she has done that job and done it well. She supervises an office of 900, including 230 attorneys. Her office handles over 120,000 cases per year, 40,000 of them felonies, and has won 80 capital punishment convictions for first degree murderers since she became prosecutor. She has pioneered innovative programs to reduce crime, violence, and drug abuse. She launched a drug court program that has become nationally acclaimed that gets young first-time offenders back on track. She's piloted a community policing program, helping to reduce crime in blighted urban areas, something we want to do all across America. She began one of the first and best domestic violence programs combating spousal and child abuse. She runs a tough child support program that is at the leading edge of making deadbeat parents pay up. She has been a fair-minded and effective prosecutor. Her balanced approach has won wide praise from across the community, from law enforcement, the bar, community leaders, civil rights leaders. People from all walks of life have hailed her achievements and her remarkable dedication to public service. She has won election five times and is the single biggest votegetter in Dade County. The overwhelming support of the people who know her best is the most telling testament to her skills that I know of. As an experienced law enforcement leader, she will be an effective voice in our fight against violent crime, spearheading our efforts to put 100,000 new police officers on the street, to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals, to make greater use of boot camps and other alternative means of service for young offenders, to increase aid to local law enforcement, to expand the use of community policing and to tackle the problems of violence against women and the need for tougher child support enforcement. She will join with local leaders and environmental advocates to make sure that those who pollute our air and our water pay for their actions and take responsibility for the needed clean-up. She will work to invigorate our civil rights laws and to ensure that every person has an equal chance to contribute to and to participate in all our country has to offer. And she'll lead the fight against crime in the suites, as well as crime in the streets, ensuring that every possible penny is recovered from people who have bilked the S&L's and other white-collar criminals. Finally, I want to say to you that every one I know who knows and has worked with Janet Reno agrees that she possesses one quality most essential to being Attorney General: unquestioned integrity. She's demonstrated throughout her career a commitment to principles that I want to see enshrined at the Justice Department. No one is above the law. Our legal system must protect the innocent and punish the wrongdoers. That the promise of equal justice under law must be a reality for every American. This remarkable public servant still lives in a house in Florida that her mother built with her own hands. She has a listed phone number, and she's told me many times that people who find that their ex-spouses are delinquent in their child support call her at home because they believe that she can go collect their child support. She has lived the kind of life, in real contact with the toughest problems of this country, that I think will serve her very well as the Nation's chief law enforcement officer. Janet Reno. I want her to give a statement first. [At this point, Attorney-General-designate Reno made a statement.] FBI Director William Sessions”