John Bliss, a Republican investigatorrnon the Senate Judiciary Committee whornreports to Colorado Senator I lankrnBrown, told me and another person on arnconference call at six o’clock p.m. onrnFebruary 18 that the Committee hadrnpreliminary evidence nnexpectedh fallrninto its lap that Reno has been pulledrnover five times while “driving under therninfluence” in Dade County. The contactrnwith the Republican investigatorsrnon the Judiciary Committee had beenrnDavid Gibbons, Director of Federal Affairsrnat the National Rifle Association.rnGibbons, according to Bliss, had beenrnapproached by a former Dade AssistantrnState Attorney, under Janet Reno, whornhad been told by five police officersrnabout five separate drunk-driving incidents.rnReno had not, the officers stated,rnbeen arrested, because of fear of reprisalsrnby her, but electronic logging tapesrnmemorializing the pull-overs mightrnprove the apprehensions.rnUnited States Senator Trent Lott’srnoffice has memoranda relating to therndrunk-driving information, as well as tornthe willingness of the five officers torncome forward if Reno is asked in thernconfirmation hearings if she has everrnbeen pulled over after drinking. Onernmemo lias been circulated to Republicanrnsenators and representatives, all ofrnwhom have remained silent. It statesrnthat the officers will come forward tornprove a) she has been pulled over andrnb) she has committed perjury in swearingrnshe was not. When are the Republicansrngoing to come forward? Will thernquestions ever be asked?rnGiven the timidity among the Republicanrnsenators on the Judiciary Committee,rnthe question is more likely torncome from the other side of the aisle.rnThe Republican senators, according tornsources on the committee staff, arernloathe to tangle in the wake of AnitarnHill/Clarence Thomas with another female,rnthis time a nominee, backed byrnthe radical feminist lobby.rnThe Republican senators, accordingrnto John Bliss, would not even ask DemocraticrnChairman Joseph Bidcn for a subpoenarnto compel the NRA’s Dave Gibbonsrnand now two other persons whornknow the former Reno assistant’s namernto cough up that name, under threat ofrna contempt of Congress citation if theyrnrefused, which would compel the formerrnReno assistant to come forward.rnThe former assistant has indicated thatrnwhat she knows may cost her her job,rnand she is reluctant to come forward fully.rnA congressional subpoena uponrnthose who have her name would forcernher to come forward. [Ed. note: Blissrndenies possession of such information,rnbut political activist Priscilla Gra- savsrnshe discussed the D. U. I.’s in a conferencerncall with Bliss.] The Republicans,rnhowever, are not pushing for the name.rnWhy? The fear of being “ArlenrnSpecter-ized” runs deep among the nervousrnGOP senators. As one formerrnU. S. senator told me this week: “Thatrncowardice is why we’re the minority party-“rnNo such cowardice is evident amongrnthe Democrats. Senator Joe Biden’s investigativernstaffers—Mark Schwartz andrnMary DeOreo—interviewed nic forrnmore than an hour on February 23rnmuch more professionally and thoroughlyrn—and sympathetically—than didrnthe Republicans. It may be that SenatorrnBidcn takes more seriously his “advisernand consent” duties than do the Republicans,rnor maybe this confirmationrnbattle is a trial contest with the WhiternI louse as to who will really pick the nextrnSupreme Court Justice: Hillary or Joe.rnWhatever the reason, the clear conclusionrnfrom talking to Biden’s people isrnthat they wanted to know and do somethingrnappropriate with evidence ofrnReno’s character problems, especiallyrnthe D. U. I. problems and cover-uprnthereof. The Republicans have only respondedrnwith fear.rnTherefore, as this article goes to press,rnthe Senate Judiciary Committee hasrncompelling evidence that Reno has arnpotential closet full of personal problemsrnfrom lesbianism to chronic alcoholrnabuse. Blackmail, the JudiciaryrnCommittee has been told, can be visitedrnboth upon her and by her. It is problematicrnas to whether the committee,rnon either side of the aisle, will use itsrnconsiderable investigative powers, includingrnthe subpoena power, to ferretrnout the truth. America deserves tornknow what kind of Attorney General itrnis getting. The reader of this article willrnhave the benefit of knowing if anythingrncame of any of this—if Janet Reno’srnconfused personal life sullied and sankrnher nomination, and with it the dwindlingrnperception that Bill Clinton knowsrnhow to govern. The perception of thernRepublicans, at least, is not dwindling.rnThey are not even on the radar screen,rnso total has been their failure to dischargerntheir “advise and consent” duornties during the now extended confirmationrnprocess.rnWhen Reno was nominated, CNN’srnBernard Shaw intoned: “Many CapitolrnHill insiders say this nominee, after twornfalse starts by Clinton, must be the Caesar’srnwife of Attorncv General nominees.”rnReno is nobody’s wife. Therernmay be reasons for that.rn—]olin B. ‘ThompsonrnTHE JAPANESE have been zealousrnin buving up American symbols: golfrncourses, movie studios. Rockefeller Center,rnthe Mariners. Recently, however,rnthey arc beginning to learn that cosmopolitanismrncan be a two-way street.rnIn January, American sumo wrestlerrnChad Rowan became the first foreignerrnto be awarded the rank of “ExaltedrnGrand Champion.” Six feet fi’e inchesrnand 45S pounds. Rowan is able to dominaternthe smaller Japanese v’restlers, andrna century-old cultural tradition, decplvrnembedded in Shintoism, may soon bernas American as Coca Cola, jeans, andrnCheap Trick.rnThe internationalist press in the UnitedrnStates is absolutely thrilled, not onlyrnbecause this proves the sincerity of thernJapanese promise to open their marketsrnto foreign competition, but, more importantly,rnbecause American sumornwrestlers strike a blow for bland uniformityrnin the New World of womenrnclergymen, homosexual marines, girlrnboNseouts, white bluesmen, and Koreanrncellists. If the pygmies had wrestlingrnevents, they would probably have tornopen them up to the bloated behemothsrnoftheWFI,.rnThe entire United States sometimesrnseems like a million-mile-long strip mallrnstudded with Chi Chi’s, Olive Gardens,rnPizza 1 luts, and TGI Friday’s serving thernsame mierowaved compost with a lightrnethnic accent. Processed white cheesernand tomato paste make it Italian, chilirnpowder makes it Mexican. The greatrnAmerican melting pot turns out to containrnI lamburgcr Helper, and if a cookrnserves ribs on Martin Luther King’srnbirthday, he is engaging in “negativernstereotyping.” We have lost the right tornbe different, because being really differentrnmeans the abilit to discriminaternand to exclude. Orthodox Jews cannotrnremain orthodox if they allow womenrnto become rabbis, and a Christian fraternityrnmay not admit Jews withoutrnceasing to be Christian. When blackrn6/CHRONICLESrnrnrn