WASHINGTON INSIGHT

YOUR RESIGNATION, PLEASE: Except in cases of heinous crimes and serious political embarrassments, no one ever gets fired in Washington. Those whose services are no longer wanted become ambassadors to small countries or “resign” to pursue “opportunities” as consultants. The Clinton Administration appears to be carrying on the tradition with gusto. . . . The resignation of Deputy Secretary of State Clifton R. Wharton was hardly his idea, sources say. Viewed as not what the Admininstration’s foreign policy team needs now, he was asked to stay only long enough for a replacement to be named. When word leaked out, he decided to speed up his departure, leaving the White House to explain whether he had been made a “scapegoat” for a poor foreign policy record. . . .The explanation for the recent departure of Vice President Al Gore’s communications director, Marla Romash, has been a better-kept secret. Romash, Gore’s longtime press secretary, also wanted to be his political director. But sources say she rubbed too many people the wrong way, especially at the White House. After getting the word, Romash asked for time to arrange her “resignation.” Request granted.

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NIP AND TUCK: More than two weeks after President Clinton outlined his health care plan to Congress, the bill still hasn’t been introduced. Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are to blame. The White House is busily making small--and not so small--changes to address interest groups’ concerns. And congressional leaders still haven’t figured out how to divvy up the bill among powerful and turf-conscious committee chairmen. . . .The toughest case is in the Senate, where Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and Labor Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) take dramatically different approaches to the plan. Kennedy embraces it but may not be able to muster needed moderate and conservative votes. Moynihan is far less predictable. He unilaterally declared his plan to attach an ammunition tax and makes no secret of his skepticism over the package’s financing.

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FINGER-POINTING: As Ross Perot has lobbied lawmakers to oppose the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement, he hasn’t been entirely met with open arms. He greeted one Republican congressman by striding across his host’s expansive office and plopping himself down in a little-used chair behind the lawmaker’s desk--eliminating the usual buffer and placing them face to face. The former presidential candidate was complaining about Clinton’s policies on taxes, trade and health care when the veteran lawmaker abruptly pointed a finger at Perot and told the Texas tycoon that “Clinton wouldn’t be President” at all if it hadn’t been for the damage that Perot’s on-again, off-again candidacy inflicted on Republican George Bush last year.

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YOU PAID THEM TO WHAT? William Daley, son of Chicago’s best-known mayor and legendary political boss, was bemused to say the least when he heard the story about the New Jersey GOP allegedly paying to suppress black voter turnout, thus harming Gov. James J. Florio’s reelection chances. . . . While politicians always hope some miracle will prevent their opponents’ supporters from showing up at the polls, “no one in Chicago ever paid someone not to vote,” he insisted. . . . An enormous political flap over the New Jersey story erupted after Edward J. Rollins, the usually savvy political consultant who managed Gov.-elect Christine Todd Whitman’s winning campaign, disclosed the strategy--angrily denied by Whitman--at a breakfast with reporters. What, Daley was asked, could Rollins profitably do in the future? “Not eat breakfast,” Daley quipped.