Women, Latinos See Ideal of Diverse Cabinet Fading : Staff: Anger mounts as most jobs appear set for white men. Clinton camp scrambles to pull up new names.

With only six Cabinet shopping days left before Christmas, President-elect Bill Clinton’s plans to fill the remaining senior posts of his Administration have collided with protests from women and Latinos that he has failed to meet his oft-sounded promise of diversity.

The protests began this week as names of likely Cabinet nominees began to be reported in the press and leaders of women’s and minorities’ advocacy groups realized with a jolt that the 14-member Cabinet that Clinton had promised would “look like America” might well end up with 12 men, including three blacks and one Latino.

“This Cabinet will look like America: With men at the top,” said Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.). “That isn’t what we thought he meant.”

And as a result, what once seemed a relatively calm and carefully considered process of Cabinet selection now appears increasingly chaotic as once all-but-certain nominees fall by the wayside while other, previously little-known names move rapidly to the top.

At least four Cabinet nominations that appeared likely to go to white males--the Departments of Education, Transportation, Interior and Energy--now appear uncertain, transition officials said Friday. Aides had expected Clinton to announce several of those appointments earlier this week. Clinton had said that he hoped to name his Cabinet by Christmas.

Some officials cautioned that the fact that widely reported potential nominees now appeared to be fading was not necessarily linked to protests from women and minority groups.

“You all have reported these names, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they were right,” said one transition official. “At the same time that there have been these complaints externally, there has been a lot going on internally.”

Another top aide suggested that the protests might, in fact, backfire. “It does have some effect, but it also creates a little resistance as well,” the aide said. “I think the two emotions counteract each other.”

But protesters were quick to speak out. “It was like a splash of cold water,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Fund for a Feminist Majority. “We were all expecting he would make good on his promise, and suddenly it looks like he may have only two women in his Cabinet. That puts us back in the Ronald Reagan days.”

Arturo Vargas, vice president of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, expressed similar concerns. “At one point we had four Latinos” in the Bush Administration, he said, pointing to two Latino Cabinet members and two other high-ranking sub-Cabinet appointments.

“It would certainly send a terrible message to the Latino community if we actually end up with a net loss in terms of representatives in the executive branch.”

Because of the protests, aides said that Clinton might decide against appointing his old friend, former South Carolina Gov. Richard W. Riley, as secretary of education. Riley, who had expressed reservations about taking the job because of family concerns, might volunteer to step aside to make room for a female or minority appointee, aides said.

And on Friday, Clinton met in Little Rock with Hazel O’Leary, a senior black executive of Minneapolis-based Northern States Power Co., to discuss the job of secretary of energy. O’Leary, 54, worked in energy-related jobs in the Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter administrations. Because Northern States is one of the country’s major nuclear utilities, environmental advocates quickly voiced concerns about her candidacy.

Another potential candidate for the job, transition officials say, is Madeleine M. Kunin, the former governor of Vermont who serves on the board of Clinton’s transition. Kunin had sought the job of head of the Environmental Protection Agency but lost out to Carol Browner, a Florida environmental official and former aide to Vice President-elect Al Gore.

Although the EPA is not a Cabinet department, Clinton said he will treat it as one.

Sen. Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.) had been seen as the leading candidate for the energy job. But in addition to the concerns over diversity, Wirth has been under consistent attack for several days from Senate opponents who have raised questions about contributions he has received from savings and loan executives.

Clinton also continues to seek a female nominee for attorney general. Transition officials say Judge Judith S. Kaye of the New York State Court of Appeals, that state’s highest court, has become an increasingly serious candidate in recent days. Kaye, however, is in line to be the state’s chief judge and may not be willing to leave the bench, sources said. She is backed by New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who appointed her to the bench, and by several Clinton advisers from New York.

The concerns over diversity could also affect two other nominations that seemed set: former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt to head the Interior Department and William Daley to be secretary of transportation. Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), who is Latino, has sought the Interior job, although Clinton aides said Friday that Babbitt continues to have an inside track.

One minority nominee, Rep. Mike Espy (D-Miss.), who had seemed likely for the Department of Agriculture, may now be facing problems. Transition officials said that while Espy remains Clinton’s personal favorite, others had expressed concerns about his open campaigning for the job and his willingness to discuss his candidacy publicly--something that Clinton has asked candidates not to do. “If you can’t control him now, how will you be able to control him once he’s in office?” one transition official asked.

In addition to Browner, the appointments of minorities and women so far include Donna Shalala as secretary of health and human services, Ronald H. Brown, who is black, as commerce secretary, Henry G. Cisneros, a Latino, as secretary of housing and urban development, and Jesse Brown, a black, as secretary of veterans’ affairs.

Clinton and top aides insist that once the full Cabinet is named, minorities and women will be satisfied with the makeup of the Administration. “The diversity issue is very important to me, and I’m still working on it, very, very hard,” Clinton said earlier this week.

Transition officials have pointed, as well, toward sub-Cabinet positions--urging the various advocacy groups to look at the entire package, rather than just the Cabinet itself.

“It is still too early to be disappointed. There are still many more appointments to come,” said one senior official who has met with Latino leaders. “This is a big government we have to appoint. It’s very early in the process.”

Among the sub-Cabinet posts filled so far, officials note, are Alice Rivlin, to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Laura D’Andrea Tyson, the first female chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Clinton also plans to name Joycelyn Elders, who is black, to be the next U.S. surgeon general. The term of the current surgeon general, Dr. Antonia C. Novello, does not expire until 1994, so to make a new appointment, Clinton officials would have to persuade Novello, a career public health official, to take another federal job.

“The surgeon general may have as much opportunity to make a difference as the secretary of agriculture,” said Anne F. Lewis, a prominent Democratic strategist.

But the assurances have not sat well with other advocates. “There’s got to be a substantial representation of women around that Cabinet table,” said Linda Tarr-Whelan of the Center for Policy Alternatives. “We really almost envision the table” and the people sitting around it, she added. “When we see those pictures at meetings of all those white guys, it drives us nuts.”

Tarr-Whelan and other leaders of women’s groups forcefully expressed that concern in a meeting Thursday with top Clinton aides, including transition chairman Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Latino leaders plan to meet with Clinton aides Tuesday in Chicago to present a similar case.

Bush, women’s group leaders note, had three female Cabinet secretaries. In a year when women demonstrated their electoral acceptance by adding 24 members in the House and four members in the Senate, and raising large sums for Clinton’s campaign, “we’ve got to have more than the Bush amount,” Tarr-Whelan said.

Jordan gave no specific assurances at the Thursday session, according to participants, simply promising that women would be satisfied at the end of the process.

Even some of the advocates concede that Clinton faces a difficult task. “Fifteen or sixteen (Cabinet seats) turns out to be a real small number when you start trying to apportion things among all the constituencies,” said Tarr-Whelan.

But, she added, “the squeaky wheel is what gets attention.”

Others take a more jaundiced view. Several months before the election, Clinton wrote to leaders of the bipartisan Coalition for Women’s Appointments, acknowledging his desire to work with its members to find qualified women candidates.

Now the group’s president, Harriet Woods, has complained that she has had trouble even getting in touch with senior officials of the Clinton team. Woods says she has asked for meetings with Clinton, transition leaders Warren Christopher and Jordan, as well as Hillary Clinton. “In most cases I didn’t even get a call returned,” said Woods, a former Missouri lieutenant governor.

“This is an insider’s game, and we may not have had the insiders on our side,” Woods said. “We have may lost before we began.”

Richter reported from Little Rock and Lauter from Washington. Times staff writer Gebe Martinez in Orange County contributed to this story.

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