Henry Cisnercos: What a tangled web we weave.

Henry Cisneros
What a Tangled Web We Weave
by Jeff Koopersmith




Henry Cisneros

Dec. 12th, 1997-- New York (apj.us) -- Imagine the tragedy of waking up to some men's worst fear, and what some might perceive as impending "payback" for an un-pure existence.

One day, you find that your lover, the woman with whom you have shared your soul, and your body in stolen moments. A woman you once planned to marry is, in fact, a hustler -- willing to extort you for all your savings and all you can borrow, until you're bled dry, lose your career and end up in prison.

Now, imagine this as well. On that morning, you're about to be named the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by the newly elected President. The stuff of cheap novellas? No. It's he stuff of former Housing Secretary Henry Gabriel Cisneros, if you believe the allegations of independent counsel David Barret, who unleashed a veritable blitzkrieg of grand jury indictments against Cisneros, his hustler ex-girlfriend , and two of Cisneros's employees yesterday.

A nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Now don't get me wrong. If Cisneros did what Barret and the grand jury say he did, he deserves whatever he gets for lying to the FBI and the Justice Department But I imagine the full story, on both sides, is more than meets the instant eye, and, unlike some ultra right-wing Republicans, I prefer to wait for the full cycle of justice before declaring his guilt.

Barret, unlike his "hooked on video" contemporaries, Don Smaltz and Malibu Ken Starr, was almost unheard of until yesterday. Outside the Beltway, not a soul would recognize him and he refused to make public comments yesterday as the Cisneros indictments were released.

Barret , well respected, spent 27 months investigating Cisneros. In the end, he brought Cisneros 18 felony counts of conspiracy, false statements and obstruction of justice stemming from payments of more than $250,000 that prosecutors say he gave to Linda Jones (once Linda Medlar), a former mistress, to buy her silence on their relationship and assure his confirmation as housing secretary in 1993.

Cisneros could be sentenced to nearly 100 years in prison, should the government prove its case.

Hank Cisneros was a meteoric star of the Democratic Party and in 1994 was widely mentioned as a Vice Presidential candidate sure to sew up the national Hispanic-American vote. He was a graduate of Texas A&M and Harvard and his former constituents in San Antonio love him and defend him to this day.

In 1988, his flirtations and refusal to choose between his wife and another woman hurt his reputation. Machismo reigned supreme for Cisneros, and in the end, he was gored on the horns of his own desire. But Ann Richards, that same year, and then the governor of Texas thought about recruiting him to fill the seat of Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Things began looking up for the former mayor of San Antonio.

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She looks trustworthy...
Again, Cisneros had to decline. This time, his new affair with Linda Medlar Jones was the reason. Although he broke up with Medlar-Jones and had made amends with his wife Mary Alice, he knew the opposition would re-kindle the cheating-spouse firestorm and throttle him with it in a state where Christian family values were growing more important even then.

Most pundits expect Cisneros to challenge the charges that he paid Medlar-Jones more than $250,000 in hush money between 1992 and 1994, but I've talked to some who say he may not have the emotional and financial stamina to contest the charges in what promises to be a costly-in-more-than-money circus trial - replete with all the elements of a tawdry daytime soap.

Cisneros's reputation is mixed in San Antonio. Most of his hometown supporters maintain their loyalty, but others -- who feel he sold out to business interests and fast-lane living aren't so sure. Whatever, he was a symbol, now tarnished, of Mexican-American pride, that won't be extinguished so quickly. I met and talked with Cisneros in San Jose, California a few years ago. A fashion plate, Cisneros had the ladies ogling, but he seemed to take care not to invite their attention and focused on the business at hand, charming and polite, aggressive and seemingly always in motion, nodding to this one and that - knowing them or not.

His lover and confidante, evidently spurned and furious, turned to greed and extortion by 1992. That year, she taped conversations she had with Cisneros and sold them to "dirt-television." The tapes contained snippets of Cisneros criticizing Bill Clinton, describing him as a "sort of lollygag" who was "too much of a hail-fellow-well-met" politician ,willing to deal with business." Of course, Cisneros himself had a similar reputation.

What is it they say about seeing the worst of yourself in others like you?

Cisneros, for a bright man, impaled himself on these criminal charges. He talked openly and early on about his payments to Medlar-Jones and said they weren't hush money but merely an attempt to help her get a new life. He said he was trying to be honorable.

And maybe he was.

Only problem was, he hid it from the FBI, who under age-old regulation must investigate any cabinet appointment because of their access to Top Secret information on issues of national security. After All, Cisneros was responsible for the welfare of millions of people and subject to great pressures from business and other sources which, if they knew he could be compromised, might take advantage of such.

One report says he was caught on tape telling Medlar-Jones that FBI agents were "gossipers and scandalizers" who were "real bad at tracking down financial things." Not so smart to say these things to someone who's blackmailing you -- and this may be the nexus of his defense although Cisneros has claimed that Medlar-Jones entrapped him into making those types of statements and to admit criminal conduct on tape.

What a tangled web we weave.

Through his Washington lawyer, Cisneros said that he expects complete exoneration after a trial, but even if he doesn't go to prison and pay hefty fines, his reputation is severely damaged forever.

His lawyer, Cono Namorato told reporters, "While Mr. Cisneros has admitted that he made mistakes in his personal life, he has attempted for many years to put these mistakes behind him. He is now in private life in Los Angeles, with his wife and children."

For Bill Clinton, the Cisneros indictment may not be a surprise, but it fuels the fire of Republican hounds who have engaged in a five year witch hunt designed to destroy his Administration and deliver the White House to a GOP candidate. The President may be badly wounded. This is the second cabinet member indicted, Mike Espy being the first, and a third, Bruce Babbitt, is widely thought to be next, for his denial of an Indian Gaming license allegedly at the behest of Harold Ickes as a quid pro quo for hundreds of thousands in campaign donations to the DNC made by a rival tribe who feared the proposed gaming establishment as competition.

The Babbitt indictment, if it comes, will be more difficult for the President to steer clear of, inasmuch as it may reflect on Ickes, one of his once closest advisors and former dear friend.

What mockery we make of friendship when power clouds our loyalty, Mr. Ickes.

President Clinton was guarded and visibly shaken by the Cisneros indictment saying, "As mayor of San Antonio, as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and as a wise counselor to me, he always has the interest of ordinary people at heart," Clinton said, "I have greatly valued his service. This is a matter before the courts, so it is not appropriate for me to comment further."

The affair between Cisneros and Medlar began in March 1987, when she was working as a fund raiser for Cisneros, who was the then mayor of San Antonio. The two lived together off and on, according to the indictment.

READ THE FULL INDICTMENT BY CLICKING HERE

Cisneros told FBI investigators that he had paid Ms. Jones no more than $10,000 annually and that he had stopped paying her. But prosecutor Barret says he continued to pay her until 1994 and that payments exceeded $200 thousand and was in the form of hush money.

Even more serious is that it appears Cisneros ordered former employees to lie for him on this matter and offered them jobs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Other charges in the indictment appear to be frivolous. Two of the felony counts accuse Cisneros of violating the law when he claimed to FBI and DOJ agents that he had only one extramarital relationship other than with Ms. Jones. And two other counts say he broke the law by claiming he was unaware of anything that could have been used to coerce or blackmail him.

Through March 31st 1997, the Barret investigation of Cisneros cost more than $4 million.

Medlar-Jones got her due as well. In September, Barret secured a 26 count indictment against her for conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

Cisneros went to work as head of a Hispanic Television network -- Univision -- last year, to pay his heavy legal bills, and crushing medical bills for his son.

Washington Post writer Toni Locy characterizes Cisneros as having, "worked frantically before, during and after his confirmation to keep Medlar-Jones from disclosing the true nature of their long relationship and the full extent of payments he had made for several years to keep her quiet."

The grand jury also charged that Cisneros made payments to a second woman with whom he had an affair, though it did not name her.

Medlar-Jones knew about the other woman and was being paid to keep that affair quiet as well.

All this, according to Barret became a conspiracy to defraud the Senate and the FBI in their confirmation process, and the Justice Department in its vetting process for Cisneros's Top Secret clearance.

Barret claims that his investigation took this long because Medlar-Jones stopped cooperating with the FBI and Barret, the independent counsel, last year.

What really happened to shooting star Cisneros? What was it that caused him to drift away from home and family into the arms of a volunteer staffer who was later to become his gold digger albatross and the cause of his demise?

I don't know.

But to all my friends and political colleagues -- the ones that choose to play on cheating fields: Let the story of Hank Cisneros, the Mexican-American boy who scratched he way to the top of the ladder, be your allegoric guide.

If not, "the hunters" will get you, too.