New Staff Chief: Cool Moderate From Brooklyn

Kenneth M. Duberstein, who will succeed Howard H. Baker Jr. as President Reagan’s chief of staff, is a solid and pragmatic moderate who will continue Baker’s evenhanded relationship with Congress during the last months of the Reagan presidency, according to Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Baker’s 44-year-old deputy, a shrewd, Brooklyn-born veteran of Republican politics who served earlier as Reagan’s assistant for legislative affairs, “should not cause any surprises around here. . . . At this time, this President needs a strong, cool, steady hand,” said conservative Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).

Liberals praised Duberstein’s penchant for reasonable dialogue and said he may help Reagan end his term on a positive note. “Just because he (Reagan) is a lame duck doesn’t mean he has to be a dead-duck President,” said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), adding: “This appointment is a good thing for the White House.”

Pounds on the Table

As news of his selection spread Tuesday, Duberstein also drew criticism for being an overly intense manager who sometimes pounds on the table and yells to make a point. He was described by some Administration sources as a perfectionist who bullies subordinates and is something of a workaholic.

“The contrast with Baker is like night and day,” said one former White House aide, who asked not to be identified. “Duberstein is cold, closed and driven. He wants to drive people the way he wants them to go. He is as unkind to underlings as Baker is solicitous.”

After Baker steps down July 1, Duberstein will become the fourth man to manage the Reagan White House, presiding over a 325-member staff and enjoying nearly constant access to the President in the waning months of his Administration.

Lobbying Firm

He rejoined the White House staff last year after a 3 1/2-year hiatus as vice president of a Washington lobbying firm. Duberstein has left his mark as a hard-nosed administrator who capably took over Baker’s duties whenever the chief of staff has left Washington to visit his ailing wife in Tennessee. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater once called the stocky, chain-smoking deputy “the foreman of this ranch.”

Just as important, Duberstein demonstrated an ability to get along well with First Lady Nancy Reagan, fielding her phone calls during the day and responding affably to her comments, inquiries, suggestions and opinions.

Another former colleague said that Baker and Duberstein have been a good combination, recalling that the rumpled, dark-haired deputy complemented his polished, easygoing boss. A staunch Reagan loyalist, Duberstein has been nicknamed “Duberdog” by his White House colleagues.

From Mean Streets

Now, although his temperament may come more from the mean streets of Brooklyn than the rolling hills of Tennessee, congressional observers expect Duberstein to carry on Baker’s role as a hard pusher for Reagan’s agenda and to get along with divergent groups on Capitol Hill.

It is a trait that has marked Duberstein ever since he got involved in Republican politics at the age of 8, handing out literature for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

His first serious political job came when he worked as an intern and later a researcher for former New York Sen. Jacob K. Javits in 1965. An aide who worked with Duberstein recalled that he established himself as an intense and effective worker who got results.

“In Javits’ election campaign of 1968, Duberstein got noticed because he was always hustling,” the former colleague said. “He’s still hustling.”

Official With GSA

After his stint with Javits, Duberstein was graduated from American University and eventually became the director of congressional and intergovernmental affairs for the General Services Administration, which serves as the landlord agency for the federal government.

He earned a law degree in 1975 from Marshall College and later served as deputy undersecretary of labor responsible for legislative and intergovernmental activities in the Gerald R. Ford Administration. When Reagan was elected, he became the President’s chief adviser for legislative affairs, responsible for selling much of Reagan’s first-term agenda to Congress.

Duberstein left the White House in 1983 to work as a lobbyist but rejoined Reagan’s staff when Baker was chosen to succeed Donald T. Regan in March, 1987.