Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Target with political baggage Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:23:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A \HD Target with political baggage \SH Brosnahan's ties called a liability \BY Michael Hedges \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES James Brosnahan, the lawyer hired by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh to prosecute Caspar Weinberger, has had a dream: He wants a federal judgeship. "His goal in life is to be a 9th Circuit judge," said E. Robert Wallach, a San Francisco lawyer who said he has been a friend of Mr. Brosnahan's for nearly 30 years. "He has told me that himself. His agenda in life has been to elevate himself so that he would be acceptable for such an appointment." Mr. Brosnahan, 59, an activist over the years in many liberal causes and a frequent supporter of Democratic political candidates, is a central figure in the bubbling controversy over the indictment of Mr. Weinberger, the former defense secretary, four days before Election Day. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, who formally asked the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Mr. Walsh's office, demanded on Sunday that Mr. Brosnahan be fired. It's not the first time Mr. Brosnahan tangled with the Reagan and Bush administrations over policy or personnel. Republican officials said the indictment - or more particularly a Weinberger memo attached to it that put Mr. Bush at a meeting at which an Iranian arms sale was discussed - was intended to stall President Bush's late re-election campaign surge. In addition to questioning the timing of the indictment, high-ranking Republicans charged that Mr. Walsh's office alerted the Clinton-Gore campaign in advance to give them time to prepare how best to exploit the news. The Clinton-Gore campaign news release about the indictment was dated Oct. 29, the day before the indictment was handed up. Clinton-Gore campaign officials said it was misdated by the typist but could not find the computer on which the news release was generated, which would have established the date the release was generated. Nearly six years and $35 million into his Iran-Contra probe, Mr. Walsh, 81, hired Mr. Brosnahan, chief partner in the San Francisco firm Morrison and Foerster, to prosecute Mr. Weinberger. A spokeswoman for Mr. Walsh said an outside prosecutor was made necessary after a defense motion was filed to disqualify Craig Gillen, Mr. Walsh's chief deputy. Several Democrats privately express concern that the appointment of Mr. Brosnahan appears to have further politicized the Iran-Contra probe. "There are lots of competent, even brilliant attorneys who don't carry any political baggage," one Democratic lawyer said. Asked a prosecutor, also a Democrat: "Is Walsh saying after six years and unlimited spending he had to bring somebody in from outside to handle this case?" At a minimum, what does that say about his competency?" Mr. Brosnahan, who has a record of contributing to Democratic candidates, including Michael Dukakis in 1988, gave $500 to the Clinton campaign this year, and members of his law firm gave another $22,000, according to Federal Election Commission records. Both Mr. Walsh and Mr. Brosnahan declined to be interviewed by The Washington Times. Mary Belcher, a spokeswoman for the independent counsel's office, said of Mr. Brosnahan: "He isn't giving interviews to anyone right now. He is preparing for trial." She said Mr. Walsh has 13 lawyers on his staff. None are considered by Mr. Walsh to be ready for the Weinberger case. Said his spokeswoman: "We don't have many highly experienced lawyers. We have a number of highly competent lawyers, but not with a lot of courtroom experience." Mr. Wallach, 57, described Mr. Brosnahan as harboring a deep animosity for former President Reagan and his entire administration. "He hated Ronald Reagan and he hated Ed Meese," Mr. Wallach said. "That is one reason he didn't want to defend me [in the Wedtech case]." Still, Mr. Wallach said Mr. Brosnahan, who was "one of my two or three closest friends" for a number of years, is "one of the 10 best defense attorneys in the country." He said his friendship with Mr. Brosnahan cooled after he was charged in the Wedtech case. "I went to him three times and asked him to defend me," Mr. Wallach said. "After a quarter century of friendship he rejected me." Mr. Wallach was convicted in 1989 of accepting money from Wedtech, a defense contractor since out of business, to lobby Mr. Meese while the latter was a high-ranking Reagan administration official. The conviction was overturned. He now faces retrial on the charges. While defending a client in 1988, Mr. Brosnahan accused Mr. Reagan and then-Vice President Bush of "giving assurances" to former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos that the Justice Department would prosecute a political foe of Marcos'. Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush said the charge was false. The case involved Steve Psinakis, who was accused of smuggling detonating wire and blasting caps into the Philippines to be used by those opposing the government. He was tried and acquitted. Operation Desert Storm drew Mr. Brosnahan's scorn. When he saw anti-war protesters in front of the White House at the time, as he was quoted in the National Law Journal in January 1991 as saying, "I almost had the cab stop and let me out to demonstrate in my own humble way." In 1986, he accused Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist of having challenged the right of blacks and Hispanics to vote in Phoenix in 1962 on grounds that they were illiterate. Justice Rehnquist, then undergoing confirmation scrutiny as President Reagan's nominee for chief justice, denied the charge. Mr. Brosnahan was put under oath by the Senate Judiciary Committee and questioned about what he knew. He testified that he had not actually seen Justice Rehnquist challenge any potential voter. "But no, I did not see him, for example, go down the line and challenge a black or Hispanic voter on the grounds they could not read, I did not see that," he testified, as reflected in the official transcript. Under further questioning, Mr. Brosnahan testified that he only saw Justice Rehnquist present at the polling site, where there were allegations that others challenged voters to read a card containing part of the Constitution. Five other witnesses refuted testimony by Mr. Brosnahan. An FBI report on the matter, which named those believed to have challenged voters, did not name Justice Rehnquist. The committee confirmed him as chief justice. Afterward, Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, Ohio Democrat, told Mr. Brosnahan, "I have never seen a more courageous or finer American than you." Mr. Brosnahan later contributed $1,000 to the Metzenbaum re-election campaign. Mr. Brosnahan was also one of the defense attorneys in the Sanctuary trial representing a group accused of illegally smuggling Central Americans into this country. The federal judge in that case, Earl H. Carroll, accused Mr. Brosnahan and other defense lawyers of trying to provoke him into making responses they might use on appeal as evidence of bias. Mr. Brosnahan's clients' defense was that the illegal aliens they were bringing into the United States were escaping "religious and political persecution" in Central America. Most of those accused in the case were convicted. Dennis Riordan, a lawyer who also worked on behalf of the defendants in the Sanctuary case, praised Mr. Brosnahan. "He was responsible for the dedication of a million dollars' worth of legal services to the movement." Mr. Riordan added: "I don't believe in political labels, but readers would probably find 'liberal' an apt label for him." In one 1990 case in which he was representing an accused money launderer, Mr. Brosnahan accused federal District Judge J. Lawrence Irving of driving his client to a suicide attempt. He repeatedly ignored the judge's order not to discuss the case during the trial. The prosecutor asked for sanctions against Mr. Brosnahan. No misconduct charges were filed. His client was convicted of taking money from Colombian drug smugglers. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM