WASHINGTON INSIGHT

SOILED SEARCH: President Clinton may have promised to curb lobbyists’ influence on government policy, but when Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was reviewing a list of candidates for high-level posts in his department recently, who should be present but two agribusiness lobbyists: former Rep. Tony Coelho and Marshall L. Matz. What startled sources familiar with the meeting was that the lobbyists were permitted to look over confidential material concerning the prospective jobholders, including evaluations of the candidates made by Clinton transition officials in Washington and Little Rock, Ark. “It just looks like business as usual,” said a disgusted Democratic congressional aide. . . . To make matters worse, Matz has been promoting clients for two of the top spots at the Agriculture Department: Shirley Watkins, from the American School Food Service Employees Union, seeks an assistant secretaryship that would oversee the school lunch program, and Charles H. Riemenschneider, staff director of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is being pushed as undersecretary for international affairs and commodity programs. . . . Espy had no comment.

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WHO’S IN CHARGE? There’s lots of worry and speculation over Clinton’s newly created National Economic Council and the role it and its chairman, Clinton friend Robert E. Rubin, will have on economic policy. The concern stems from what happened when Henry A. Kissinger was put in charge of former President Richard M. Nixon’s National Security Council and dominated the State Department, which traditionally had the lead role on foreign policy. . . . Clinton aides have said the NEC is merely supposed to coordinate policy development by traditional power centers: the Office of Management and Budget, the Treasury and Labor departments and the U.S. trade representative, while the Council of Economic Advisers will continue to analyze policy options. “But with Rubin so close to Clinton, it’s going to be hard to avoid having the NEC steal the show,” a policy-maker fretted.

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PLUNGING AHEAD: Although the Ethics in Government Act expired last month and prospects for its renewal are uncertain, court-appointed independent counsels who were named under the law are allowed to finish their work without interruption. Lawrence E. Walsh is scrambling to conclude his six-year Iran-Contra probe with a final report and perhaps eleventh-hour questioning of former President George Bush. But probably the busiest special counsel is Arlin M. Adams, a former federal judge from Philadelphia who has been investigating shenanigans at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Ronald Reagan Administration. . . . Adams seems to be taking aim at former HUD Secretary Samuel R. Pierce, but so far no charges have been brought against the agency’s former chief.

Should Packwood Quit?

Just one in six Americans favors the immediate resignation of Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) because of the sexual harassment charges brought against him, according to a recent Los Angeles Times Poll of 1,733 Americans. Twice as many think Packwood should be allowed to remain in the Senate until the Senate Ethics Committee completes its investigation of his case: Resign now: 17% Remain: 35% Don’t know: 8% Unfamiliar with story: 40% Source: Times Poll taken Jan. 14-17