TOO TOUGH? Originally, Ellen Haas, a consumer...

TOO TOUGH? Originally, Ellen Haas, a consumer activist who has pushed for a tough seafood inspection law, was going to head a new Agriculture Department fiefdom combining consumer services with meat and poultry inspection. That was part of a plan to make inspection a top priority following deaths from tainted hamburger in Washington state. But then, sources say, President Clinton got a phone call from old friend Don Tyson, chairman of a huge Arkansas-based poultry-processing firm, who complained about Haas being in the sensitive inspection post. Plans for the Ag Department reorganization were dropped and Eugene Branstool, an Ohio farmer, was picked to be assistant secretary for marketing and inspection services. Haas is still in line to become assistant secretary for food and consumer services.