Fiedler Puts in Her Bid for Place on Bush Cabinet

Seeking a return to public life, former U.S. Rep. Bobbi Fiedler has joined a crowded field of prominent officials lobbying to become head of the sprawling U.S. Health and Human Services Department in President-elect George Bush’s Administration.

The combative Northridge Republican, who was Southern California co-chairwoman of Bush’s presidential campaign, visited Washington in recent weeks to marshal support, said aides in the Bush camp and on Capitol Hill. Among those she approached was U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

“Sen. Hatch has met with Bobbi Fiedler, and she has told him she’s interested in the secretary of HHS,” Jeanne Lopatto, Hatch’s assistant press aide, said Tuesday. “Sen. Hatch feels that if President-elect Bush chooses her, he can support her for the position.”

Fiedler, 51, however, is only one of several candidates that Hatch finds acceptable, Lopatto said. Another is Social Security Commissioner Dorcas R. Hardy, who frequently has been mentioned as a leading contender.

A Bush aide said Fiedler visited the President-elect’s transition office to make her case. He said her past public positions, including a stint on the Los Angeles Unified School District, and her campaign role gave her standing. But, he added, the competition for Health and Human Services secretary is intense.

Many Candidates

“There’s an awful lot of people who want it and who are very qualified and contributed a lot politically,” said the aide, who spoke on condition he not be identified.

In addition to Hardy, backed by a coalition of 88 women’s groups, Rep. Willis D. Gradison Jr. (R-Ohio) has been publicly cited most often as a strong candidate. Rep. Lynn M. Martin (R-Illinois) and Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reportedly are also being considered.

HHS is the government’s largest department, with a budget of $396 billion and 118,000 employees. It oversees such far-reaching programs as Social Security, Medicare, the federal role in Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Otis R. Bowen is the outgoing secretary.

A possible impediment for Fiedler is her pro-choice position on abortion, which conflicts with Bush’s stance and could provoke conservative opposition. An aide to a GOP California House member said his boss had questioned Fiedler on the abortion issue when she sought his support for the HHS post.

“She said she had talked with people in the Administration and assured them, ‘I will back the Administration’s policy,’ ” said the aide, who requested anonymity. She presumably satisfied Hatch, an anti-abortion leader, on the issue as well.

Lesser Position

It was not known whether Fiedler would accept a lesser position, such as undersecretary, if it were offered. She declined to discuss her job hunt in detail.

“I have been in touch with the transition team,” she said Tuesday. “I really prefer not to discuss anything beyond that.”

This is not the first time Fiedler has sought a Cabinet post. She lobbied to become U.S. Secretary of Transportation last year when then-Secretary Elizabeth H. Dole stepped down. The job went to James H. Burnley IV.

Fiedler, who left her 21st District House seat after six years to seek the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1986, is on the board of directors of United Education Software, an Encino company that runs job training programs nationwide. She is also a consultant to National Technical Assistance, a Calabasas firm that tests components for aerospace and defense contractors. She has remained active in San Fernando Valley transportation issues.

Never one to shy from a political fight, Fielder rose to prominence in the late 1970s as a high-profile leader of the emotional anti-busing movement in Los Angeles schools. She also has been an outspoken opponent of Metro Rail. In 1986, she was indicted after state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) charged that she had tried to bribe him by offering to help retire his campaign debt if he withdrew from the GOP primary. A judge subsequently threw out the indictment.