President Names N.Y. Lawyer Ickes as Deputy Chief of Staff

President Clinton has named New York labor lawyer Harold Ickes as deputy chief of staff, the White House announced Wednesday.

Ickes helped engineer Clinton’s presidential primary victory in New York, and managed the Democratic National Convention where he was nominated. He will succeed Roy Neel, who left the White House to become president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Telephone Assn., a Washington lobbying firm.

Clinton in a statement called Ickes “a good friend” with “savvy political sense, honed by years of experience in national politics.”

Ickes will be an assistant to the President and deputy to Chief of Staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty. The White House announcement said he will have major responsibility in next year’s drive for health care reform.

The move frees McLarty, as No. 2 man at the White House, to lobby Congress and the business community, and help Clinton formulate policy and make decisions.

“I am not a czar,” Ickes said in an interview. “We’re entering a new phase in health care which is primarily legislation and mobilizing people. I’ll be working with a team on that.”