CLINTON WATCH : Keep It Coming

Fair is fair--we’ve knocked the Clinton Administration for not doing enough for this state, so we take special note of good news: the Administration’s award to California of 42% of the first $140 million in grants for projects to convert defense technology to commercial uses. It’s a welcome development, indeed.

It is not much money, and certainly not the moon that President Clinton all but promised California. But, hey, it’s a beginning. The state is still in future shock from all the cutbacks in defense spending, among other setbacks, and shows little sign of snapping back to normal.

California firms or organizations accounted for 22% of the 41 projects selected nationwide. Certainly these first grants will not make a huge or immediate difference to the state’s bleak jobs situation and overall economy. But the grants are an indication that Clinton has not entirely forgotten the state that, more than any other, helped to send him to the White House.

California is still in the running for other projects to be funded under the federal $2.5-billion technology reinvestment program, a plan for a post-Cold War economy that provides new jobs for unemployed aerospace workers while fostering technologies needed by the Pentagon. Only about $471 million of these grants will be made this year.

Since the grants mostly will be for research and development projects--not infrastructure mega-deals, the initial jobs impact is not expected to be dramatic. Even so, the hope is that these projects will trigger job-producing innovation. That’s worth aiming for--and writing about.