Martinez of Florida Likely to Be Drug Czar

Florida Gov. Bob Martinez, who failed in his bid for reelection despite strong support from President Bush, is the likely successor to William J. Bennett as the nation’s drug czar, Administration officials said Sunday.

“He’s a leading candidate, and we don’t have any others,” said a White House official.

Meanwhile, a senior White House official traveling in Paris with the President confirmed that Bush has selected the Republican governor, “but we aren’t ready to announce it yet.” Both officials said no date has been set for a formal announcement of the appointment.

Martinez, 55, who was soundly defeated earlier this month by Democrat Lawton Chiles in the hotly contested Florida gubernatorial race, would become only the second person to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Martinez could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Bennett, one of the Bush Administration’s most outspoken and conservative members, had served as secretary of education in the Ronald Reagan Administration. He stepped aside from the Cabinet post to take on the task of directing the nation’s war on drugs after Bush moved into the White House in 1989.

After 20 months in that job, Bennett announced earlier this month that he was resigning to become a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, where he would study and write about education and drug policy.

But over the weekend Administration sources said Bennett had been persuaded by Bush to become chairman of the Republican National Committee, replacing the current chairman, Lee Atwater, who is undergoing treatment for inoperative brain cancer. In that job, Bennett would have a high-profile platform to speak out on conservative issues and to assist in shaping Bush’s 1992 reelection campaign.

Bush had strongly supported Martinez’s reelection bid, making three campaign trips to the state, and Barbara Bush had appeared in a commercial to boost Martinez. Another Bush, son Jeb, served as Martinez’s campaign manager.

Despite the First Family’s efforts, Chiles, a former U.S. senator, defeated Martinez by a decisive margin of 57% to 43%. Martinez was only the second Republican governor in Florida since Reconstruction, and he was the second to lose a bid for a second term. His term ends on Jan. 8, 1991.

As governor of Florida, Martinez is familiar with the nation’s drug woes and spearheaded efforts to expand drug testing in the workplace and to impose the death sentence for narcotics kingpins.

In the early 1980s, the state was the point of entry for much of the illicit cocaine trade. Then a federal crackdown pushed the traffickers to border states in the Southwest. Last January, a federal battle plan to combat illegal drug use targeted Miami as one of five high-intensity drug-activity locations, a designation that qualified the region for additional government funds.

Among Martinez’s most pressing challenges in the new position will be further development of federal policies to curb the nation’s appetite for illegal and addictive drugs. Under Bennett, policies leaned toward greater law enforcement and punishment of drug users. In addition, federal policies called for increased use of the military to stanch the drug trade across U.S. borders.

Those policies were greeted with mixed results and outcries from advocates of increased federal assistance for prevention and treatment facilities. Citing reports showing casual drug use declining among some groups of Americans, Bennett boasted in his departing news conference on Nov. 8 that federal policies are taking hold. But critics have said drug-sponsored violence in some cities is on the rise, indicating that the national drug problem is a long way from abating.

Martinez will also have a huge task in repairing some damaged feelings among big-city mayors and federal lawmakers involved in the drug issue. During his departing news conference, Bennett called Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of a House subcommittee on narcotics abuse and one of Bennett’s most vocal critics, “a gasbag.” Bennett also blamed Washington Mayor Marion Barry, who was convicted of cocaine possession, for making the national drug crisis worse.