CRIME-BUSTING POLITICIANS JULY I, 1977 VOL XIII No. 13 50 cents Washington Window PANDEMONIUM IN THE POPULIST PALACE One of Jimmy Carter's ace cards in lateral Commission, can hardly hold an his drive to the White House was his intellectual candle to Henry Kissinger. image as a successful businessman. Car­ James Schlesinger's once super-heated ter,. the prosperous peanut farmer, reputation in this city has suffered would tame the federal leviathan with enormous attrition as the Administra­ thoroughgoing reorganization, zero-based tion'S energy program has been revealed budgeting and tough-minded management. to be both ineffective and politically unsalable. In all fairness to Schles­ In his firs.t months in office, Car­ inger, his problems are in many ways ter has demonstrated a fine feel for the traceable to the President's imposition public pulse on such issues as pork bar­ of an arbitrary April 20 deadline for rel spending, nuclear nonproliferation unveiling the Administration's energy and U.S. support for human rights. In program. This same presidential compUl­ his choice of issues and his skillful sion has plagued numerous Administration use of political symbolism the Presi­ domestice initiatives, including the dent has established a strong hold on econo~c stimulus package with its ill­ the electorate. Yet the same Jimmy fated tax rebate proposal and scheme to Carter who benefits from his perceived use general tax revenues and huge em­ role as moralist and visionary is now ployer .tax hikes to bailout the Social increasingly revealed as an incompetent Security system. as a manager and implementer of poli~ cies. A con~ensus'is growing among vet­ eran Washington observers tha~ Carter's White House staff---by far the largest and most lavishly paid in history---may be the weakest since the Harding Admin­ istration. Carter's six top aides outside the foreign policy and energy area are all Georgians with little previous national experience. Although bright and some­ times politically agile---witness Jody Powell's ability to explain away the foreign pOlicy flaps generated by Car­ Carter's compulsive personality and ter or Andrew Young's loose verbiage--­ the political naivete of his aides under­ few of the aides have much comprehen­ lie many of the WhiteHouse's current sion of political Washington. While problems and undermine its policies. Midge Constanza, for example, is theor­ For example: etically of equal rank with the Geor­ gians, her major accomplishment to date 1. Inept Congressional Relations. has been pushing through $400,000 a Clumsy as the White House's congression­ year in raises for White House staffers. al relations appear, they sparkle when compared to the performance of depart­ Zbigniew Brzezinski, while perhaps mental counterparts. Members 6f House the brightest foreign policY academic Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill's staff have Carter rubbed shoulders with at the Tri- privately conceded that they got far bet- ter service in obtaining information 4. President Carter's Reluctance to from the Ford Administration. Hear Dissenting views from any but a_ Handful of "Old BOX" Georgians. Most 2. A Chaotic Talent Recruitment Pro­ analyses of the dOwnfall of the Nixon cess. Nearly six months after Carter as­ Administration have focused on the sumed the Presidency, numerous federal "chip on the shoulder" personality of agencies are still headed by acting ad­ the former Preesident. Carter suffers miniserators. In many instances, pro­ from neither the insecurities nor the spective nominees who have not yet been paranoia that afflicted Nixon, yet in sworn into their posts have exercised some ways he seems even more averse the full powers of their office-to-be. than Nixon to dissenting advice. Car­ Hence, millions of dollars in expendi­ ter's closest advisers are even more tures may be subject to legal challenge. geographically concentrated than the Democrats who contrast Carter's recruit­ southern Californians ar~und Richard ment effort quite unfavorably with that Nixon. President Carter reportedly of the Kennedy or Johnson Administra­ tunes out or shunts aside advice con­ tions point out that Carter aides made tary to his inclinations. Onlya much less use of personal interviews. tiny handful of staff members who Instead, they relied much more heavily were battle-tested with him in Geor­ on sifting resumes. Unsurprisingly, gia can risk being "no-men." The re­ the result was often appointees with sult is that staff members often fear glowing cr~dentials but less luminous to advise the President that he may administrative acumen or political sav­ be mistaken when he sets an unrealis­ vy. tically short deadline or considers casually unloading a forei~n policy 3. Tensions Gene~ated by the First bombshell. Lady's Insistence on Playing an Extra­ Constitutional Role. Without question The last President with as narrow Rosalynn Carter is a shrewd and highly a group of political intimates as Jim­ intelligent individual and a major in­ my Carter was Warren Gamaliel Harding. fluence on her husband. Mrs. Carter's Carter's Georgians seem somewhat more active ~nvolvement in White House pol­ high-minded than the "back-porch boys" icy making and her conduct on her re~ of Marion, Ohio. Yet, it is doubtful cent Latin American tour have under­ that Powell, Jordan, Watson, Eizenstat, scored her determination to shape Ad­ Lipshutz, and Moore can provide the in­ ministration policy. Despite the warn­ tellectual balance to Carter's own com­ ing of White House lawyers that her ac­ pulsive messianism. tions would violate federal anti-nepo­ tism rules, she has insisted on running Moreover, their boss seems unable the Mental Health Advisory Commission. to deliver on the promise of efficient Mrs. Carter's involvement in adminis­ management that attracted many to his tration political maneuvering has sug­ banner in 1976. As some have belatedly gested to some that she does not appre­ realized, Carter did not make his econ­ ciate the distinction between being an onomic way through a highly competitive activist First Lady and being a Co-Pres­ business~Carter made his fortune in ident. Her tough-minded political style the peanut industry, one of the most has already earned her the appellation controlled and heavily subsidized sec­ "the Iron Magnolia" among many veteran tors of American agricu~e. If we in­ Democrats. While Rosalynn Carter may sist on management acumen and consistent liken herself to Eleanor Roosevelt, to leadership from our President, Carter is outsiders she is beginning to resemble likely to fall short. If symbolism and Eva Peron. good intentions are enough, we may al­ ready have the best •• THE RIPON SOClnY. INC. 181te,.Jlepubltc:ml r~.::! Ripon Society, unless they are ezpllcltly 80 labelled. SUBSCRIPTION RATEs. are $15 a year, $7.50 lor students, serv­ ~ are YOUDV business, ~ aDiI~men and icemen, and lor Peace Cbrps, Vista and oilier ,-olunteers. Overseas _ II I.- uGtkmcd ~ In DIstrfct of ColUlllbfa, air mail, $6 extra. Advertising rates on request. Please allow ~ In fitt.n cities, NGIioDal Aasoc:iate members throughout live weeks lor address changes. the fifty 1IfaIeB, and several aIfDiated gzoupll o~ stGtus. Tbe SocIety 18 lIUIJPOIfed by «<h.aPter clues, coldrlbu­ tIaD8 cmd nov __ from its pub~ aad contrael work. Edlton. Dlck BehD Is pU1)hshed semi-mont Illy by the THE RIPON FORUM Ripon SQciety, Inc., 800 18th St., N.W., Editorial Bom-c1: Washington, I).C. 20006. Second class postage rates paid at Robert D. Behn, Chairman Tanya MeUch Washington, D.C. and other mailinq offices. Contents are copy­ Clifford Brown Robert G. Stewart. nghted fI-' 1916 by \h8fupon ~OClely, mc. ~orresponu.mce addressed Robert H. Donaldson Ralph Thayer to the editor is welcomed. (Ripon FORUM, Box 22£, Charlestown, Mass. 02129.) Contributing Editoma Clifford Brown, Glenn Gerstell, William A. -JD PU~ this maga7JDe the Ri~n ~ _ks to provide Koelsch, Daniel J. Swillinger, Richard W. Rahn, John A. Rehluss, a tor- tar ~, well-researc:h8d pIO and lor a splrlt Thomas A. Sargent, Richard Cleveland, Mark Frazier, Peter at criIicism. lnnovaIlon. and Independent tIiInt:I:Dg within the lJe­ Berg, Martin Sours, and -William K. Woods. paItJican Pmtr. Articles do DOt D8c:easarily represent the oplDlon Of tile JIaIkmaI Governfng Board or the Edl10rlal Board of the Tec:hDic:ul Editcm Brian J. McCarthy POLITICS: Pennsylvania FROM PROSECUTOR TO POLITICIAN James Thompson did it last year in vania candidate in a multi-candidate Illinois. Now Richard Thornburgh hopes race. to do it next year in Pennsylvania. There seems to be a market for politi­ In addition to splitting the metro­ cian-busting prosecutors for governor. politan Philadelphia vote, Specter and Butera have additional problems. Spec­ Thornburgh established an enviable ter has the advantage of Philadelphia record as a crime-busting-U.S.Attorney GOP leader Billy Meehan's support, but for Western Pennsylvania before he the disadvantage of losing campaigns for moved to Washington to head up the D.A. in 1973 and the Senate in 1976. Justice Department's Criminal Division Butera hails from a county which already in the Ford Administration. Two deci- boast Sen. Richard Schweiker{R) and GOP I sions made by the Carter Administra­ National Committeman Drew Lewis, who tion may have inadvertently boosted was the party's losing gubernatorial Thornburgh's gubernatorial stock. One candidate in 1974. Lewis has been men­ was the selection of Pittsburgh Mayor tioned as a possible candidate again Pete Flagherty(D) to be deputy attorney for 1978 but he is currently backing general. Flaherty was a possible gub­ Butera. In a race where corruption is ernatorial candidate himself. The sec­ sure to be a prime topic of conversa­ ond was the elimination of Thornburgh tion, a bill Butera introduced about as a possible candidate for director ten years may haunt the Montgomery Re­ of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.