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TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2002

Wayne Smith faces an uphill battle to regain his top seat within the Bush administration but if anyone can handle the task, or at least raise a public relations stink, it is his attorney.

Granted, the scandal over the lobbying practices of a former Smith associate has drawn headlines across the country. No one, it seems, can resist the multi-million dollar lure of Indian gaming these days.

But the addition of Nancy Luque, a high-powered Beltway attorney with ties to the Clinton administration, to the mix is the latest in series of odd chapters in Indian Country's own little soap opera which burst into view last month when TIME magazine broadcast the odd -- though not entirely unusual, given the daily lobbying that goes on in Washington, D.C. -- pitches Phil Bersinger made to three tribes with matters pending before the Department of Interior.

Since then, it's been a whodunit caper complete with an unnamed "Deep Throat" source traced to the seemingly divergent camps of Donald Trump and Democratic operatives. Two investigations, one by the Interior and the other by the FBI, continue as Smith's firing becomes official today.

For Luque, this is all ground she's covered, taking on unpopular and controversial causes. Testing the limits of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, she's currently representing Muslim business owners and others whose property was seized in a post-September 11 raid.

As a former federal prosecutor, she's been called upon by the cable and network news programs to muse on terror developments. More than once, she suggested how Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted in relation to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, could escape conviction for allegedly being the 20th suicide hijacker.

Were Luque to help the French national of Moroccan descent, she just might try the novel tactics she displayed elsewhere. Defending a Maryland man accused of murdering his wife, she convinced a judge last winter to put him under house arrest because she said his Egyptian heritage meant he would be closely watched by a world eager to place the blame on Arabs. She dropped out of the case earlier this month.

Other clients face less life-threatening prospects but nonetheless, like Smith, need to fight the political heat. One was Maria Hsia, the notorious Democratic fundraiser convicted for filing false reports in connection with a Clinton-Gore campaign booster she held in a Buddhist temple in California.

Luque was branded a Clinton operative for taking on the case of Julie Hiatt Steele, a woman indicted by Whitewater / Monica Lewinsky prosecutor Ken Starr. Steele was cleared but Republican activists continued to tar Luque well after the case was closed, an epithet which gained added significance when Hugh Rodham, the brother of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) whose activities n behalf of several imprisoned criminals seeking clemency, became a client.

Whether this storied background will help Smith remains to be seen but it can't hurt. Already, Luque has been able to tilt the dispute in his favor with charges of undue influence going all the way to the White House.

Of course, it helps that the Bush administration won't talk in any detail about the incident, only to refute the claims. Which is why Smith is banking on the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency which looks into disgruntled employee claims, to take on the matter.

Luque admits Smith, as a political appointee, might not be covered. Normally, the OSC handles actions affecting career employees, like that of a BIA computer specialist who was assigned to home duty after criticizing the government's trust reform progress.

She also can't guarantee that Smith, should he be returned to his post, would not be treated like a pariah. "Maybe," she mused in an interview. "That might be the case."

Word could come today, though, she believes. She was told last week the OSC would take 48 hours to probe the case.

"He was illegally and improperly fired," she said. "He would like to have his job back."

Luque is a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Reed Smith.

Relevant Links:
Nancy Luque, Reed Smith - http://www.reedsmith.com/attorneys/bio.asp?ID=222
Office of Special Counsel - http://www.osc.gov

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