Just when former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros is about to land on his feet as a Spanish-language media mogul, he may be about to have his balance tested again.
According to news reports, President Clinton’s former HUD chief will soon learn whether he will be indicted in the aftermath of a two-year investigation by an independent counsel. Special prosecutor David M. Barrett is coming under mounting pressure to wind up the probe into allegations that Cisneros lied to the FBI during a background check conducted prior to his confirmation.
The Washington Times reports a particularly interesting piece of information: The Iowa law firm of Lawrence F. Scalise notified its clients in December that his responsibilities as deputy independent counsel in the Cisneros matter “will require his absolute full-time involvement for at least an additional 12 months or longer.”
Yet, based on what is known so far, Cisneros deserves a smooth transition to his new job in Los Angeles with the Spanish-language television network Univision. Speculation about an indictment stemming from Cisneros’ allegedly misleading statements about how much severance pay he awarded his ex-mistress, former San Antonio resident Linda Medlar, does not an indictment make.
Hispanics nationwide have a particular stake in knowing whether Cisneros will be able to hold on effectively to his position as one of the country’s best-known Hispanic leaders, whether as an officeholder or as a private citizen. The answer is important because of the dearth of first-tier national Hispanic political leaders.
Cisneros earned widespread respect as a dynamic four-term former mayor of San Antonio and a competent Cabinet member. But when it comes to surviving the political lava flow of bimbo eruptions or, more to the point, possible lies about bimbo eruptions, Henry Cisneros may be no Bill Clinton.
The evidence so far made public cannot be encouraging to Cisneros and his supporters. During his background check, Cisneros told agents that he gave former mistress Medlar no more than $60,000 and no single payment more than $2,500 after their affair ended in 1988. But Medlar subsequently revealed that the total was around $200,000, along with an additional $49,000 Cisneros paid her after Medlar sued him in 1995.
That may normally be seen as a “he said, she said” situation. The trouble is, Medlar secretly recorded about 40 hours of damaging telephone conversations with Cisneros. On one recording, Cisneros can be heard reassuring Medlar that the FBI would not discover his misrepresentation about the money paid to her by him.
If Cisneros’ star begins to fade permanently, former Denver mayor and ex-Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, now President Clinton’s secretary of energy, may assume greater influence beyond his Cabinet role. But in addition to being terminally uncharismatic, Pena’s unfamiliarity with energy matters augurs a reprise of his deadwood stint as transportation secretary. Questions about his competence may continue to undermine his potential as a Hispanic leader. Clinton’s UN ambassador, former Rep. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, is also well-known, but his resume and persona are not quite up to the Cisneros benchmark, legal complications aside.
Lesser-known congressional Hispanics who may become much more prominent include Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.). Young and aggressive, Becerra has a knack for taking on tough issues and challenging his own party when necessary, as when he recently took Clinton to task for not appointing more Hispanics to his administration.
Republican congressman Henry Bonilla from San Antonio has earned the support of Hispanics who desire more conservative representation, though, in truth, he may be too conservative for many Hispanics (including supporters of his Democratic colleague in the House, political dinosaur Henry B. Gonzalez). This can be said of Florida Republicans of Cuban descent, such as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who also suffer from a single-interest focus on Cuban-American relations.
Surprisingly, the vacuum in national leadership may be soon filled by figures in state government about to become more widely known. Two individuals of special note include Texas Atty. Gen. Dan Morales, a Democrat originally from San Antonio, and Texas Secretary of State Tony Garza, a former GOP county judge from Brownsville. Garza’s potential as a national Hispanic leader is particularly intriguing at this point. His mentor, Gov. George W. Bush, is being widely touted as a candidate for president in 2000.
But if the Cisneros experience shows anything, it is that Hispanic leadership at the national level needs not only experience and competence, but staying power as well. Anything less ill-serves the political potential of the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic group.
