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Veteran Prosecutor Named As Interim U.S. Attorney

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI and BILLY HOUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

TAMPA - Veteran federal prosecutor Robert E. O'Neill took the helm of the U.S. Attorney's Office here, becoming interim U.S. Attorney as the temporary term of James R. Klindt expired Friday.

Meanwhile, the White House and Senate squabbled over who was responsible for the delay in President Bush's naming of a permanent top prosecutor for the Middle District of Florida. The district is one of the country's largest, stretching from the Georgia line to south of Naples, and includes more than half of Florida's population.

O'Neill's Justice Department appointment will expire in four months, but his term could be shortened or extended depending on when Bush appoints a new U.S. attorney and the Senate conducts confirmation hearings.

Klindt has been acting U.S. attorney for the district since Paul Perez left in March to take a job in the private sector. Klindt will be sworn in as a U.S. magistrate judge in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
Filling The Void
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, called on the president Tuesday to announce a nominee. 'The continued delay in the appointment of the U.S. attorney for the Middle District cannot wait any longer,' Castor said.

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 three candidates - Tampa lawyer A. Brian Albritton, retired Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Moore and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Williams - said this week they have not heard from the administration.

'I don't know what the delay is,' Moore said Friday. But he added that putting O'Neill in the job now 'makes sense.'

The White House was unapologetic for the delay. A spokesman blamed the Senate on Friday for delaying confirmation of Michael Mukasey as the new attorney general to replace Alberto Gonzales.

'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.

In response, a spokeswoman for Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, noted that Klindt has been the acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District for seven months - 'long before there was an Attorney General vacancy at the Department of Justice.'

'There are 21 U.S. Attorney positions vacant around the country for which the Judiciary Committee has not received nominations from the White House, said Erica Chabot, Leahy's spokeswoman. Rather than skirting the Senate's role in the confirmation process, the White House should send the Judiciary Committee qualified, consensus nominations to be confirmed by the Senate,' she 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 came from Germany.

A registered independent, O'Neill has worked for special counsels. 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.

Since 1997, O'Neill has been part owner of Four Green Fields, an Irish pub in South Tampa.

In 1998, Gerry Adams, leader of Ireland's Sinn Fein political party, spoke at the pub during a visit to 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.'

Job Never Grows Old

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

'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 through confirmation hearings this month, telling the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee that he would 'depoliticize' the Department of Justice.

But his Senate confirmation now appears to be more contentious. Several members of the committee have complained of a disregard for civil liberties in other testimony by the retired judge from New York.

Democrats on the panel are questioning Mukasey's refusal to say whether he thinks the practice of simulating drowning, known as 'waterboarding,' violates domestic and international prohibitions against torture.

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

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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