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1993-02-28
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02/27/1993 By CAROLYN SKORNECK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Talk about seizing the moment.
After toiling in relative obscurity as civil division chief in
the Bush administration's Justice Department, Stuart M. Gerson has
burst into prominence as the holdover attorney general.
"As acting attorney general, I'm going to act," the Republican
lawyer said shortly after temporarily taking over the Justice
Department.
First, he announced his support for gun control legislation named
for former White House spokesman James Brady, who narrowly survived
being shot in the head during the March 1981 assassination attempt
on President Reagan.
Then, he reversed federal prosecutors in Tennessee who wanted to
keep a predominantly white jury for the fraud and conspiracy trial
of popular black congressman Harold Ford, D-Tenn.
For these actions, Gerson drew praise in two editorials in one
week from The New York Times, and elicited harsh comments from some
conservatives and former Bush administration colleagues.
Gerson -- who has never met President Clinton and isn't invited
to Cabinet meetings -- says the recognition he prefers has included
plaudits from law enforcement officials who back the Brady bill, and
approval from private citizens, including one "terrific fan letter
... from my junior high school girlfriend who's living in North
Carolina," he said in an interview last week.
Gerson holds his job because President Clinton's first choice for
attorney general, Zoe Baird, withdrew in a furor over her having
employed illegal aliens as household help. Clinton did not name
Miami prosecutor Janet Reno as his next nominee until Feb. 11. With
Reno's confirmation hearing not yet set, Gerson could keep the job
well into March.
He explained his endorsement of the gun control bill this way:
"The two guys I want to have nothing to do with are the one who
says, `I need a new gun every month,' and the guy who says, `I
need a new gun and I need it right now,"' he said. Many
conservatives agree with his view that law enforcement alone
cannot solve the problems of increased gun violence, he said.
Gerson became involved in the racially charged Ford trial after
the Congressional Black Caucus lobbied the White House to look
into the case. Ford wanted a new jury in Memphis to replace the
panel of 11 whites and one black chosen from predominantly white
areas 80 miles from Memphis. The White House says it supports
Gerson's decision backing Ford, but that it exerted no pressure.
The decision reflected Gerson's desire to take a broad policy
stance. "I am not willing to say on behalf of the United States that
justice cannot be obtained from a Memphis jury or, indeed from the
jury in any city," he wrote. The decision, he wrote, affected "other
prosecutions in other cities," an oblique reference to the Los
Angeles trial of police officers accused of violating motorist
Rodney King's civil rights.