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American Morning
How Will Parkinson's Affect Reno's Run for Office
Aired September 04, 2001 - 10:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: It looks like Janet Reno is laying the groundwork for a return to politics. The former attorney general today filed paperwork that will allow her to begin raising money for a gubernatorial run in Florida.
We want to show you some pictures that we just got in. This is taped from earlier, but this is actually Janet Reno's assistant filing those papers earlier this morning. Again, this allows her to begin the process of raising money, getting her team together.
If Reno decides to run for office, she could face a tough battle though against current Governor Jeb Bush. But the 63-year-old Democrat is no stranger to tough fights, that's for sure.
CNN's Miami bureau chief John Zarrella has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For someone whose close friends say she hasn't a mean bone in her body, Janet Reno stirs lots of emotion.
PROTESTER: Janet Reno, shame on you. Shame on you, Janet Reno.
ZARRELLA: During the Elian Gonzalez saga, Reno, then U.S. attorney general, was vilified by Miami's Cuban-American community. To many Reno epitomized a Clinton administration soft on Castro. Others saw her as upholding the nation's laws.
For sure, she was a lightning rod for confrontation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She acted on the side of Castro.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go home. Go back to Castro. Go fight Castro.
ZARRELLA: Now, Reno must decide if the wounds have healed enough to make her a viable candidate to challenge the state's Republican governor, Jeb Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need somebody like you that will listen to the needs of the people.
ZARRELLA: Reno, at a Labor Day Democratic picnic, acted very much like a candidate in waiting, saying she wasn't a candidate, but sounding an awful lot like one.
JANET RENO, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think money will be a factor, but one of the things I want to do is show people how a campaign can be run and run successfully without the inordinate reliance on dollars.
ZARRELLA: Perhaps Reno's greatest advantage is also a disadvantage. She is from Miami and spent most of her life here. She knows the politics of the community: an advantage. Her tough line on Elian: a disadvantage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It won't be favorable to her here -- here in Miami at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she wins, I'll have to support her. But it won't be easy, because I said I would never support her.
ZARRELLA: She was Dade County state attorney for more than a decade before going to Washington as President Clinton's second choice for attorney general. She served eight years, dealing with issues from Waco to Whitewater, Oklahoma City to Elian, picking up plenty of admirers and plenty of enemies along the way.
While Janet Reno has always come across as tough as nails, her Parkinson's disease leaves her with a noticeable tremor. She says her doctors have assured her she's fit to run for governor.
(on camera): For Janet Reno and the state's Democratic Party leaders, a Reno candidacy is based on a simple question: Can she be a political force who galvanizes voters or does the past still polarize them?
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: If Janet Reno does indeed run for governor, she would likely face not only incumbent Jeb Bush, but also questions about her health.
In 1995, Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a neurological affliction that causes involuntary tremors, as you saw there at the end of that report.
Joining us to discuss that disease is Joan Samuelson, she is founder of The Parkinson's Action Network. She joins us this morning from our San Francisco bureau.
Glad to have you in this morning. Nice to meet you.
JOAN SAMUELSON, PARKINSON'S ACTION NETWORK: Thank you.
HARRIS: You are the absolute perfect person to have come in and talk with us about this, because you keep up such an active schedule based upon what I've been read about, about what you do and everything you're involved in. And you actually have Parkinson's yourself. Can you tell us how that's affected your schedule?
SAMUELSON: Well it's a struggle I deal with every day. I've had Parkinson's for 15 years, and it has progressed. And it's only the miracle drug that I take every day, Aldopa, that keeps me moving fluidly and through the day. But at times I have to power through it. And it -- my stamina plus that drug allows me to do it.
HARRIS: All right. Well considering that, if someone were in your situation or in a situation where the disease may be progressing, and I say may be progressing because we don't know exactly what her situation is. What do you about the rigors of running for office, let alone the rigors of acting in office?
SAMUELSON: Well, the fist thing you have to say is that Parkinson's is very individual. Many scientist think it's actually several little diseases that have some things in common and some things different. And the way it effects a person and the rate of its progression are the things that vary.
So, it's hard for me to speculate about that. Watching her in her last job, I can't imagine really a more stressful situation. She had enormous demands on her and she seemed to sail through them.
HARRIS: But you know in the process of campaigning for an office like the governor's office, she's going to have to really be all around the state at all hours of the day and night for a long period of time during a campaign. That's a bit different than sitting in office mostly, which is what she did as attorney general, is it not?
SAMUELSON: Well, I don't know what her schedule was or what it's going to be. But it could be. But my understanding is that the first thing she did when left office was to drive across the country in a truck and went kayaking. So she has a lot -- it seems, from a distance, that she has a lot of energy and drive.
And there are things you can do. When you have Parkinson's it is burden on your life. You have to sacrifice some things to be able to be up for the job every day, and at whatever hour of the day or night. I share the same demand on my life. You have to make some sacrifices sometimes. It sounds like she wants to do that.
HARRIS: And your confident stress will not necessarily -- or may not necessarily interfere?
SAMUELSON: That's right. Again, I can't speculate about her situation. Particularly, stress does aggravate symptoms in me and in many people I know. What I do to combat it is to try to manage my stress, like lots of people who do who are affected by stress for other reasons. And it does help.
HARRIS: All right. We sure do appreciate your insight on this. You know this is something that we'll be watching, and we'll be doing our best to not make too much of an issue of it here. At least in this corner of the media.
Joan Samuelson, thank you very much, and all the best to you.
SAMUELSON: You're welcome. Thank you.
HARRIS: Take care.
SAMUELSON: Thank you.
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