TV REVIEW : Show Looks at Clinton as a Leader

Like most “Frontline” reports, tonight’s examination of Arkansas’ child welfare system, “Who Cares About Children?” (9 p.m. on KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15; 8 p.m. on KVCR Channel 24) is an intricate case of text and subtext.

On the surface, we’re seeing the story of a poor state with a grossly underfunded social welfare base that includes a child support network patched together with quick fixes and horrendous planning. Underneath, though, is a dispassionate look at how Arkansas Gov. and would-be President Bill Clinton actually operates as a chief executive. The picture isn’t pretty.

It reveals a politician par excellence , but one who appears to take the art of the compromise to the extreme. As with recent press investigations of Clinton’s educational, environmental and economic record in Arkansas, “Who Cares About Children?” shows a governor who puts off nettlesome problems until they become crises. While it has a higher purpose, this report is pure fodder for the Bush and Perot camps.

For years, it seems, Clinton received warnings that his state’s child welfare safety net was frayed and getting worse: Foster parents receiving under $250 a month for support, an average case worker load of more than 30 cases, a bevy of undertrained staff, and a trail of tears in which more and more children were dying at the hands of parents and bureaucratic botching.

Recruited by frustrated child advocates, attorney Bill Grimm began pressing the case for reform in Arkansas in 1990, and we watch as Grimm finally gets results. Clinton first responded to Grimm’s pressure by appointing a blue-ribbon panel to study the problem. But their final report, Grimm claims, only reiterated his own. Finally resorting to a lawsuit even as Clinton is campaigning, Grimm is seen putting the screws to Clinton and the state legislature until they rush through a $57-million reform package. (Clinton himself rushed back home after the New Hampshire primary to steer the bill through.)

Significantly, the new bill raises no taxes--a common Clinton tactic--and, according to Grimm, will only temporarily deal with the problem.

Producer Hector Galan is very good at observing the lives of beleaguered foster parents and the kids bounced through the system. What Galan doesn’t explain, though, is how Clinton’s wife, Hillary, nationally known for her leadership in child law, didn’t do what Bill Grimm finally did, and use her legal muscle years earlier to change things in Arkansas.