Reno Goes Public in Tobacco Fund Fight

Raising the stakes in a prolonged battle with her Republican adversaries, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno warned Thursday that she will have no choice but to drop the government’s landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry if Congress refuses to provide some $23 million to finance the litigation.

“Without that money,” Reno told reporters, “we will not be able to proceed. And I think it is imperative that we move forward to protect the American people and to give them their day in court.”

The Justice Department has been squabbling for the last year with GOP lawmakers who have moved to de-fund the tobacco litigation. Several bills now working their way through Congress do not include the tobacco funding and would severely restrict the department’s ability to get the money elsewhere to prepare for trial.

For Reno, a stoic leader who rarely goes public with her political battles, the alarms she sounded Thursday were an unusual tactic that carries a risk: Some believe it may further alienate her Republican critics.

But others praised Reno for her hard-line stance.

“The attorney general is putting Congress on notice that she needs this money,” said William V. Corr, executive vice president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a leading anti-smoking group.

“If Congress intervenes at this stage [by cutting off funds], it would be a political act of special protection for the tobacco industry,” he said. “The more visibility brought to this issue, the less willing members will be to do any special favors for the industry.”

Republican leaders did not return calls seeking comment, but one aide close to the budget issue said past battles with Reno have made GOP lawmakers more intent than ever to keep a tight rein on her funding--especially on the tobacco issue.

“Congress has been given the power of the purse, and we guard that zealously,” said the aide, who asked not to be identified.

At the direction of President Clinton, the Justice Department last year brought a massive lawsuit accusing cigarette makers of manufacturing an addictive product for the last half-century and fraudulently marketing it to teens and the general public.

The lawsuit came on the heels of a historic $246-billion settlement that the states reached with the tobacco industry in 1998 over similar claims.

The Justice Department suffered a setback in the case last week when a federal judge threw out two parts of the government’s lawsuit that sought to collect billions of dollars in reimbursement for medical costs that the government has incurred for sick smokers.

Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. David W. Ogden, who heads the civil division and joined Reno at Thursday’s news briefing, said the Justice Department is considering appealing that ruling. But in the meantime, the decision allows the government to move ahead with a scaled-down claim based on racketeering charges against the industry.

The tobacco companies say the ruling gives their side a big boost, but Reno and her aides said they still believe they have a strong case, even if it has been whittled down.

“From the beginning,” Ogden said, “what this case was about is an organized, coordinated, fraudulent plan that the tobacco and cigarette companies put into effect in 1953 . . . to deceive the American people about the health effects of tobacco.”

As Congress prepares to adjourn and budget talks near a conclusion, Justice Department officials said they are at a “make or break” point in finding the tobacco money.

“You can’t litigate a case against an organized and extremely well-financed defendant without minimal levels of funding, and we’ve looked at what the minimum is and that’s what we’re asking for,” Ogden said. “If we don’t get it, we simply can’t proceed.”

A big part of the projected $23-million cost for the coming fiscal year will go toward sifting through and managing millions of pages of historical documents, Ogden said.

Reno said she wants Congress to approve direct line-item funding of the tobacco litigation, as proposed by Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.). She also called on Congress to remove pending provisions that would require Justice to go back to Congress for authorization on specific spending measures and “could be used to allow politics to interfere” with the litigation.

The lawsuit “should not be about politics. It is about law,” Reno said.

Congress blocked direct funding for the litigation last year, but the Justice Department was able to get money from other agencies affected by it--including the Veterans Administration and the Defense Department--to defray the nearly $14 million spent on the case. This year, however, provisions being pushed by GOP lawmakers would prohibit the use of funds from other agencies.