Cabinet picks put focus on drug case

The House committee report concluded that the Vignali commutation "mocked law enforcement" and "sent a message that there is a double standard of justice between the rich and the poor." The report noted that 28 others in the same case who received equally stiff or stiffer sentences received no clemency, because their relatives did not have the political and economic pull to hire the president's brother-in-law and make large campaign donations.

The federal judge who sentenced Vignali later complained that the commutation was inappropriate.

"Vignali was not a low-level operator in the conspiracy," said U.S. District Judge David S. Doty in a statement reported by the Associated Press. "He played a major role in the financing, transport and procurement of the drugs."

Horacio Vignali gave more than $160,000 in political donations, according to the House Committee report. Included in that total was more than $14,000 to Becerra's congressional and mayoral campaign accounts.

Despite public attention to Becerra's role in the Vignali case, the congressman has risen in power and influence in the House and in California.

As the White House was weighing what do about the Vignali petition in 2001, Mayorkas was among the most influential advocates of clemency.

According to the committee report -- which Democrats have decried as biased -- Los Angeles' then-U.S. attorney spoke with several White House staffers to argue for Vignali's release. One, Eric Angel, recalled Mayorkas saying that Vignali's sentence was too long.

Another White House staffer said that Mayorkas' advocacy was significant because it was unusual to receive a recommendation for clemency from a prosecutor.

Clinton aide Bruce Lindsey testified that the calls and letters from California leaders turned around his initial opposition to the clemency "given the community support."

Mayorkas could not be reached for comment for this article. In the past, however, he has acknowledged making an error.

"It is reasonable to expect that someone in my position would do his or her due diligence to learn that information," he told the Los Angeles Times in 2001. "I made a mistake."

--

josh.meyer@latimes.com

tom.hamburger@latimes.com

peter.nicholas@latimes.com