The NEA’s New Tastemaker : Government: Arts endowment Chair Jane Alexander brushes aside past difficulties, saying that the agency’s messages can be ‘palatably presented.’

In February of 1992, in the wake of attacks by then-presidential hopeful Patrick Buchanan, former President George Bush abruptly fired John E. Frohnmayer, then-chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, hoping to take the sting out of the conservative columnist’s charges that the government arts agency was funding “obscene” art with tax dollars.

Bush’s actions did not, however, prevent the NEA from remaining a lightning rod for debate over censorship throughout the tenures of the next two acting chairs--Bush appointee Anne-Imelda Radice and Ana Steele, a longtime NEA staffer who stood in during the long wait for President Clinton to nominate a permanent director.

None of this seems to bother Jane Alexander.

Just days after taking her oath of office as the NEA’s new chair, Alexander, 53, sat poised and confident at the endowment’s headquarters, calmly brushing aside the agency’s past difficulties and gently insisting that the NEA’s messages can be “palatably presented.”

Alexander has already made herself extremely palatable on Capitol Hill, where the House will today vote on the NEA’s reauthorization. During her confirmation hearings, Alexander even won the support of archconservative NEA foe Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), and the actress says she expects little controversy to mar her tenure. Alexander plans to spend her time talking art instead of politics, eventually making personal visits to all 50 states.

“There were so many forces, since the year 1989, working against the endowment, and the chair,” Alexander said. “Those things are not happening today. We have a new Administration.

“I spent some time on the Hill with the senators and congressmen and -women, and I didn’t meet one person yet who doesn’t want the agency to survive or doesn’t believe in the arts,” she added. “It’s just that it’s been an embattled field. And they hope I will bring something new to it.”

Alexander was equally diplomatic about the so-called “decency” clause. In June, 1992, a federal judge ruled that NEA language asking grantees to abide by certain standards of decency was unconstitutional. But in March of this year, the U.S. Justice Department acted to appeal that decision, causing artists and organizations to wonder about the Clinton Administration’s position on the matter.

“I can’t (speak about that) because it is in the courts now,” she said. “The Justice Department is dealing with that.”

Does she have a personal opinion about the NEA’s funding “obscene” art? “Obscenity is against the law--the courts have said that over and over again,” Alexander said firmly. “This is a federal agency, and obscenity is against the law. I am going to uphold the law.”

Alexander is not worried about religious and political conservatives who continue to attack the NEA. “It’s not going to end,” she said. “But if there is anything that is clear, it is that . . . in the United States of America, everybody can speak out, and they can speak as loudly as they want. The religious right is very vocal, and they are very organized. I think those of us who are strong advocates of the endowment, and the arts, have to be more vocal, and more organized.”

Alexander said she believes Clinton’s long delay in appointing a new NEA chief does not signal a lack of commitment to the arts. “I think it is simply a matter of first things first,” she said. “Certainly health care has been the primary issue right now . . , but if you notice how the President works, and the First Lady as well, they start with one issue and move very concentratedly through it, and then go to another.”

Alexander said Clinton’s commitment to the arts will be reflected in his educational policies, which she said protect the arts as a part of the curriculum. “While the arts endowment cannot pick up the tab for that, I think the agency can be an advocate,” she said.

“I think we have created a generation, or two or three now, of passivity with regard to the television,” she said. “Everybody doesn’t have to be an artist, but there is a different experience of (watching) television and going to a live event.”

Alexander was born in 1939 in Boston and was graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and attended the University of Edinburgh. In 1969, she won a Tony Award for her role in “The Great White Hope.” Alexander received the Television Critics Circle award for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in the TV miniseries “Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years,” which was broadcast in 1977. Two months ago, Alexander ended a Tony-nominated run in “The Sisters Rosenszweig” on Broadway. Alexander cannot perform as an actress during her NEA tenure, but she said she will return to acting after her service.

She is married to Edwin Sherin, co-executive producer of the New York-based TV series “Law & Order.” Alexander confirmed that she and her husband were clients of financial manager James Powers, who was indicted in April on charges of stealing more than $3 million from nine clients, including more than $1 million from Alexander and Sherin. Powers is also charged with failing to use the money they entrusted to him to make income-tax and mortgage payments.

Alexander said, “We don’t know exactly how much we lost over the years, but these are all of our assets, everything, and we ended up with nothing, and very much in debt.” She denied rumors that circulated around the time of her nomination that financial problems were affecting her decision whether to pursue the NEA post.