WASHINGTON INSIGHT

A ROSE BLOOMS IN D.C.: First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s former law firm in Little Rock, Ark., is opening a Washington office today just five blocks from the White House. The Rose Law Firm plans primarily to help a large stable of corporate clients cope with federal regulatory agencies. But “we certainly will not turn down health care clients” seeking changes in the health insurance reforms pushed by President Clinton and his wife, said a spokesman for the firm, Ronald Clark. The firm represents a few health care interests now, including the Prudential Insurance Co., “but so far, we have not been asked to undertake any issues on health care,” Clark said. . . . Although an expansion is anticipated, the Washington office will begin with one lawyer, Allen W. Bird, who handled commercial work and government relations in Little Rock while Hillary Clinton was doing litigation. “He and Hillary were good friends but, from my knowledge, they didn’t visit each other socially,” Clark said. “It wasn’t like they went over to each other’s house for dinner.”

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GOLDEN REPRIEVE: The Clinton Administration has a $4-billion present for California, all wrapped and ready for delivery. It will arrive soon after Gov. Pete Wilson signs new legislation scrapping California’s “unitary tax” on foreign companies that do business in the state. . . . Sources say lawyers for the Justice Department will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a potentially costly legal challenge to the much-disputed tax, arguing that the legislation now makes the lawsuit moot. The high court is expected to go along with the request. . . . If the court had sided with Barclays Bank and other foreign firms that filed the suit, the California Treasury could have been forced to refund as much as $4 billion in back taxes.

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MISSING IN ACTION: He’s in book stores, he’s on talk shows--indeed, Ross Perot seems willing to go almost anywhere to tout his opposition to the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement. Except Congress. He has ducked an invitation to appear before the Senate Finance Committee, which is holding hearings on the proposed pact and would have put some of the former presidential candidate’s outspoken pronouncements to the test. Sources say Perot initially pleaded a scheduling conflict but later begged off on grounds that his views are well-known. . . . The committee is also seeking testimony from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the Big Five odd bedfellows allied against NAFTA. The panel has heard from a trade aide to consumer advocate Ralph Nader, but former presidential candidates Patrick J. Buchanan and Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. were not invited. . . . Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), a supporter of the trade pact, remarked acidly that he’d like to see those five NAFTA foes debate “our five” supporters: former presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush.

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THE MISSUS: While most members of Congress treated the First Lady as a well-informed equal during her health care testimony on Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) lapsed into some old-fashioned paternalism--calling her “Miss Hillary” in a speech to the American Medical Assn.