For Reno, silence on Al-Najjar may be political choice

Did she, or didn't she?

When it comes to saying whether she personally reviewed the classified evidence allegedly linking Mazen Al-Najjar to terrorism before she ordered his release from jail in December 2000, former Attorney General Janet Reno has decided to stay mum.

"We've decided that it would be best not to go any further with the Al-Najjar case. Sorry, but you'll have to write what you will about Janet's availability," the Democratic candidate for governor's press secretary, Julie Simon, wrote the St. Petersburg Times in an e-mail last week.

Gaza-born Al-Najjar spent 3 1/2 years in an Immigration and Naturalization Service jail in Bradenton on the basis of secret evidence the government said linked him to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group responsible for suicide bombings in Israel.

But in May 2000, federal Judge Joan Lenard in Miami ruled the government had not shared enough of the evidence with the former University of South Florida teacher to allow him to mount a defense.

Seven months later, with a growing chorus in Congress decrying the use of secret evidence in immigration detentions, Reno ordered him released.

Lenard did not review the classified evidence, which government lawyers insist show Al-Najjar to have been actively supporting the terrorist organization, a charge Al-Najjar denies.

But did Reno?

Even though Al-Najjar is now back in jail after a final deportation order, his supporters continue to insist "he can't be a threat, because Janet Reno released him," as his attorney, Martin Schwartz of Tampa, put it recently.

The most likely scenario, legal and political observers say, is that Reno did review the evidence, weighed it against the district court's ruling, and decided there was more political downside to keeping him in jail than security threat to the nation, especially since Al-Najjar was on track to be deported anyway.

Or maybe that's all wrong.

Reno must be figuring that any utterance at all is a real political loser for her, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate who will be courting that key Florida Democratic constituency: Jewish voters.

Graham hopes to keep focus on Everglades plan

Sen. Bob Graham, a driving force behind Everglades restoration, says he's worried that the weak economy and the war on terrorism could complicate efforts to fund the 36-year plan.

With congressional lawmakers and local officials devoting so much of time and money to fighting terrorism and protecting the homeland, the restoration project could be overlooked in the budgetary process, Graham said.

The Florida Legislature is already being forced to cut more than $1-billion from its budget. And although Congress promised to commit $8-billion last year, it still has to actually hand over the money for individual projects.

"On the state side and the federal side there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the paying for the overall costs of Everglades restoration," Graham said.

-- Compiled by Times staff writers Mary Jacoby and John Balz.

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