"A Florida's Favorite Daughter".
Speech given to the Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce, November 2001

Janet Reno spoke to a packed luncheon audience and was introduced by Chamber Chairman Ron Welsandt as one of Florida's favorite daughters. Ron continued, "She was the voice of common sense amid an atmosphere of turmoil and confusion. Her kind, no nonsense attitude is her trademark as is her fairness and compassion as a studied protector and executor of our laws."

Turning to the former Attorney General of the United States, Ron observed that, "Your arrival at the Justice Department wrote a new chapter in the Nation's history. We were all proud when the words Janet Reno from Florida were spoken...And, your generosity of service is not over yet."

Janet Reno stood up to a heartfelt applause and immediately got laughs from her audience before beginning her message that by working together anything is possible. She thanked the Chamber and the Greater North Miami community and acknowledged:

We are a community with a government of the people, for the people and a government that can disagree. It made me proud that people could protest on my corner about things that I had done and that they were free to do so because of free speech in this community and this nation. We have so much to cherish and must not take for granted.

I have had ambassadors and Ministers of Justice and Attorney Generals and even Prime Ministers come to the beautiful conference room at the Department of Justice's Attorney Generals Office. They come with stars in their eyes from emerging democracies from around the world. But in a year or two I saw some of them out of office and their democracies in trouble. I came to learn more than ever before that we must cherish our democracy for it is a fragile institution that we can not take for granted and it is imperative that we follow the examples like you are setting in North Miami showing people can come together as communities to work together for democracy and to build a stronger democracy.

Shortly after the September 11^th attacks I attended a Norman Rockwell exhibit. The first painting that struck me was the Four Freedoms of Franklin Roosevelt. Paintings depicting the Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Want, Freedom of Fear. "Freedom From Fear" shows two children who have fallen asleep, Mother is tucking them in and Father is looking at them with love and affection. In his hand is a folded newspaper where you can not see the entire headline, just enough to see "...bombing kills, horror hits," which could have been a headline of September 12^th, 2001 instead of one of the may headlines of the early 1940's in Europe or even Pearl Harbor.

Ms. Reno described other pictures from other times that demonstrated the response Americans made to tragedy. She then turned to a table of students from the Middle School of Miami Country Day School who were young activists and guests of North Miami Councilman, Chamber Director, and teacher Scott Galvin. "I am so glad to see these young people who are here today. They are the future with their good judgment, good ideas and their enthusiasm and their participation. I also find they ask better questions."

After describing the response of the Oklahoma bombing by that community, Ms. Reno concluded, "All of these examples make me sure that we will come through the tragedy of September 11^th stronger and better for it."

Janet Reno believes that "...we must make an investment up front in people. Give our people a firm foundation upon which to grow, upon which to be their very best, upon which to contribute to the community. Wouldn't it be wonderful if North Miami could form alliances so that every child 0-3 lived in led free houses, that had preventive medical care to identify problems sooner rather than later. Think of what it would be like if every child in North Miami had good solid "Educare", not just childcare which says you go to the childcare place and learn not to stick your finger in the wall socket...but childcare where children are taught right from wrong."

The concept Janet Reno pushes for is that all parts of the community from the governments, schools, chambers and businesses and medical community come together to insure that those very critical formative ages become the focus of the community. She points out that 50% of all learned human responses is learned in the first year of life. She believes that there are answers and programs that can be developed if the community focuses on linking up its various sectors toward the goal of giving every child the best environment - even before birth. She cites a study concluding that for ever dollar put toward prenatal care saves $3 down the road and notes the importance of remedial programs at schools to insure education is a birthright. By coordinating resources and maintaining a "can-do" attitude significant improvements in society are attainable.

Ms. Reno lamented that, "One of the things that is so frustrating is to read that Florida is ranked 50^th out of 50 in state and local funding for schools K-12. We will never be the state we want to be with figures like these." The only way to change these facts is to change the goals, she noted that, "There is something wrong with a nation that pays its football players 7 and 8 digit figures and pays its school teachers so little."

In discussing how Florida can pay for this new vision of education, Ms. Reno again turned to the effects of September 11^th on the state. By being a service and tourist economy, Florida has been critically hurt by the terrorism. Without a population divergent in economic activities Florida will always be hurt first and in the best of times benefit less. Janet Reno points to the new frontier of Cyber Industry in the age of Information Technology as an area where Florida can expand its economic base by increasing educational programs to allow Florida's children to match wits with the best. She listed various programs that can be enacted to promote education toward the goal of facilitating an expansion in Florida's economic structure. "If you want to fatten the calf, you don't weigh it, you feed it. We must feed education to our children from the earliest to a system of higher education that makes Florida's university system one of the best in the nation."

This focus on children also impacts on crime. Ms. Reno again noted a report that found this generation to be the most alone and unsupervised in history, living in the most violent of all industrialized nations. While many programs can facilitate supervision and the education of children, one of the main areas that must be addressed is sufficient salaries to attract the very best teachers and social workers who can see problems early, to intervene before patterns of crime begin, and expanded programs to help rather than control situations that are uncontrollable.

"For the child who is abused is statistically more likely to participate in criminal activities when they grow older. When we see a juvenile delinquent action, we must take an active role in determining what went wrong in the child's environment instead of rotating the child through the system like a merry-go-round...Let us invest up front...but then make sure the criminal realizes there will be swift, certain, fair, firm punishment that fits the crime and that it is going to be carried out."

While acknowledging the need for taking care of criminals, Janet Reno all to well knows that the criminal must be prepared through education, as well as social and psychological support to reenter society without the need to return to criminal lifestyles. "There will be within 4-to-5,000 criminals getting out of prison in the next 5 years - each year. We can do so much if at the local level, here in North Miami, if the police, and prison systems, and the churches and city groups that care get together to assist these prisoners in getting off on the right foot and get them going in the right direction. It will be an investment in our future."

"But what do we do about funding? We establish priorities that all Floridians can agree upon. The best education, public safety, health care, protection of the environment that we hold so dear, and then figure out what is wasted in those priorities. Establish a clear signal and clear budget."

A few sentences later, Janet Reno turned to the same table and young people to say, "I will finally close with my best wishes to the young people and my encouragement that you choose public service, helping others, serving in hospitals, helping those who need help for there is nothing more rewarding." She added a story about meeting a woman who's two sons were graduating from college who had once needed assistance in the form of child-support that a young Janet Reno had arranged. "Those are the moments of reward for those in public service."

The Florida daughter finished with a story about her mother and the house her mom had built from the foundation to the electric. As Hurricane Andrew howled around them, Janet's mother was unconcerned for she knew the house had been built well, with the right materials, without any shortcuts, and it would survive the worst of storms. "The house only lost one shingle and a screen. Ladies and Gentlemen, let us come together to make North Miami and Florida the right way."

Janet Reno is touring Florida in her red pickup, talking and listening as she moves towards the race for Governor of Florida. She was given a commemorative in the form of a much smaller red pickup from Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce, Chairman Ron Welsandt.

Police Officer of the Month Detective Lawrence Taddeo,
gets award from Former Attorney General Janet Reno

"Thank you very much for letting me do this. I want you to know that I knew him before I went to Washington and knew he would become an excellent police officer. It is a privelege to present this award because police officers have the most difficult jobs. They have to be lawyers making snap legal decisions without the benefit of a law education with their feet propped up and the library book open. They have to make snap decisions regarding public safety. They are critical to this community. There is no one like a police officer who is fair, firm, and knows how to talk to and to relate to people." - Janet Reno

Click to read more about what Janet Reno thinks.

Thanks for your participation.