Will Get Resources for U.S. Prosecutors, Justice Nominee Testifies

President Clinton’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Justice Department pledged Wednesday to get enough resources for federal prosecutors throughout the country and said she will take a special look at the needs of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

The nominee, Jamie S. Gorelick, breezed through her Senate confirmation without any expressed opposition. The committee is expected to vote later this week, and her approval by the full Senate appeared likely next week.

Gorelick, 43, the Pentagon’s general counsel for less than a year, would replace Philip B. Heymann, a former Harvard law professor who resigned in January on grounds that he and Atty. Gen. Janet Reno had difficulty working together.

Gorelick told the Senate Judiciary Committee she had discussed her management role with Reno and would function as a modified “chief operating officer,” along with having a voice in policy matters. As the Pentagon’s top attorney, she has overseen 6,000 lawyers, the largest group anywhere outside the Justice Department, she noted.

“The attorney general very much wants help in managing the department--she wants a right hand,” Gorelick said.

Responding to Gorelick’s pledge to get prosecutors and law enforcement officers “the resources and tools they need” if confirmed by the Senate, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) pointed out that the department’s office in Los Angeles long has been understaffed in comparison to the region’s population.

Feinstein said the Los Angeles office, the second-largest in the country, has only one assistant U.S. attorney for every 91,000 residents, while New York has triple those resources. And with more FBI agents planned for Southern California, “there will be more cases for those prosecutors to work,” Feinstein said.

“I’d like to look at that issue,” Gorelick replied. She said she would examine the staffing of U.S. attorney’s offices as well as the relative strengths between FBI agents and prosecutors.

Republicans on the panel tried in vain to elicit comments from Gorelick on the resignation this week of Associate Atty. Gen. Webster Hubbell, the department’s No. 3 official. Hubbell resigned amid a dispute with his former employer, the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock, Ark., over his billing practices. Gorelick said she was not familiar with the facts of the case.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said he hoped Gorelick “will be able to assist in addressing the growing concerns about the department’s ability to effectively carry out its mandate . . . and by the early turnover in the department’s leadership.”

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) suggested that White House officials had exerted undo political influence on Justice, citing Heymann’s criticism that the Administration had used Hubbell as a “key communications link” between the department and the White House.

Gorelick replied that she believed communications between the White House and the top three Justice officials was appropriate. But she said she would ensure that line prosecutors below that top level are “insulated from political influence” to guarantee their independence and professionalism.