The Boston Globe
August 17, 1997

 
Several years ago, the Clinton Administration nominated William Weld, a Republican political figure in Massachusetts, to be the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Weld, as governor of the state, had gained a reputation of being a "liberal Republican" and thus was not welcome by Senator Jesse Helms and some of his ultraconservative friends in Congress. In what ultimately was a successful campaign to defeat Weld's nomination, Helms argued that Weld was soft on drugs and thus would be a danger in Mexico. As the debate neared its conclusion, the Globe became aware of Justice Department data developed and published by TRAC some years before that showed that when Weld had been the U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts before being governor he had dramatically increased the prosecution of illegal drugs in his district. The record showed that Weld was in no way soft on drugs. Reporter Kate Zernike used the numbers for extensive follow-up reporting. On August 17, 1997, the Globe ran Zernike's front-page investigation proving that the allegations about Weld were false.
 

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