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Interim Prosecutor Chosen

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By Elaine Silvestrini and Billy House of The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

Updated: 10/26/2007 01:20 pm

TAMPA - Robert E. O'Neill, chief of the U.S. attorney's office criminal division, will take over as acting U.S. attorney as the interim term of James R. Klindt expires today.

Robert O'Neill

In the meantime, the White House was blaming the delay in naming a new top prosecutor for the district on slow confirmation for President Bush's attorney general nominee.

Klindt, who has served as acting U.S. attorney since March, will be sworn in as a U.S. magistrate judge in Jacksonville on Wednesday.

Steve Cole, spokesman for the office, issued a news release noting that Klindt tentatively was selected for the magistrate judge position in July pending a routine background investigation by the FBI. This week, the background investigation was completed, the announcement states.

O'Neill's Justice Department appointment will expire in four months, but his term could be shortened or extended, depending on the timing of an appointment by President Bush of a new U.S. attorney and a Senate confirmation hearing.

Klindt has been acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida since Paul Perez left the federal prosecutor post in March.

Freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa on Tuesday called on President Bush to announce a nominee for U.S. attorney for the district.

The White House has not announced a nominee to fill the job. Florida's two U.S. senators, Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson, submitted the names of three candidates to the Bush administration this summer.

Klindt did not apply for the job.

The White House was unapologetic Friday for the delay in announcing a nominee to fill the job permanently.

A spokesman tied the delay to the Senate not yet confirming Michael Mukasey as the new attorney general, in the wake of Alberto Gonzales' resignation.

"The sooner the Senate confirms our attorney general nominee, Judge Mukasey, the sooner we can nominate U.S. attorneys and senior officials at the Justice Department," spokesman Blair Jones said.

Klindt has been a federal prosecutor since 1988. O'Neill has been a prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department for 19 years.

O'Neill, 50, is the son of immigrants. His Irish father immigrated to the United States from Scotland and his Bavarian mother from Germany. His late father worked in New York as a janitor, and his mother worked as a maid. The couple met while working in the same New York buildings, O'Neill said. His mother still works as a cleaning person and cook in New York.

A registered independent, O'Neill has worked for special counsels prosecuting Democrats and Republicans. In 1992 and 1993, he prosecuted Deborah Gore Dean – Al Gore's Republican cousin – for conspiracy to defraud the federal government and lying to Congress.

In 1997, he went to California to prosecute Richard Douglas, senior vice president of Sun Diamond Growers, who had strong Democratic political ties, in a bribery case.

O'Neill is part owner of Four Green Fields, an Irish pub in Tampa that is popular among local federal employees, law enforcement officers and journalists.

In 1998, Gerry Adams, the president of Ireland's Sinn Fein political party, spoke at the pub when he was in town to speak at the University of Tampa. President Clinton had granted Adams a visa over the objection of some who considered Sinn Fein a terrorist organization.

At the time of Adams' visit, O'Neill said he was living in Washington, D.C., and working for the Justice Department's Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section. Adams, O'Neill said, "was there to talk about the peace process, and apparently it's worked. …To this day, I don't see what's controversial about trying to establish peace and stop the violence over there."

O'Neill said he plans to stay with the U.S. attorney's office after his brief term as the temporary boss there leader ends.

"I really do love being an assistant U.S. attorney and representing the United States," he said. "It is something that never grows old. … Probably because my parents were immigrants. You grow up really loving America. … You get to stand up and say in court that I represent the Unites Sates of America. It means a lot to the people in that office."

O'Neill said he will work to make sure the business of the office gets done. "The important thing is that our office continues to serve the community, that we prosecute cases aggressively, that we continue to combat crime, that we continue to bring the civil cases that should be brought on behalf of the United States. That's what important, that we don't miss a beat as we continue this process.

"We have a lot of career people who work diligently, and that's not going to change," he said. "I think the office was run very well, and I think the people in place are doing a very good job. I just hope we can maybe take it up a notch and try to do better, which is what you always try for."

Mukasey, who was nominated by Bush on Sept. 17, had seemed to be sailing to confirmation this month, telling the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee during hearings that he would "depoliticize" the Department of Justice.

But his Senate confirmation now appears to be more contentious. Several members of the committee have raised concerns over other testimony by the retired judge from New York that they say shows a disregard for civil liberties.

Democrats on the panel are questioning Mukasey's refusal to say whether he thinks the simulated drowning known as "waterboarding" violates domestic and international prohibitions on torture.

Even Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, is questioning the assertion by Mukasey that the president "can act outside the law" on national security issues.

The Judiciary Committee is likely to vote next month on whether to send Mukasey's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com. Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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