WASHINGTON INSIGHT

WATCHING RENO: The White House is quietly moving to assume more control over outspoken Atty. Gen. Janet Reno. One of the means, Administration insiders say, will be Ron Klain, a White House lawyer who has been appointed Reno’s counselor. His role is an example of how the Clinton White House has exerted control over the executive branch by appointing the powerful chiefs of staff in each agency to look over Cabinet members’ shoulders. . . . While the Justice Department has no chief of staff position, most think Klain will function as one. His move also signals that Reno is so independent that having one of President Clinton’s closest friends, Webster L. Hubbell, as No. 3 at the Justice Department is not enough. Along with more White House coordination and control, it is hoped that Klain, a former aide to Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), will make the department better organized and more sensitive to Congress.

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GET LOST: The mastermind behind Iraq’s secret arms program, Hussein Kamel Majid, has undergone brain surgery in Jordan, according to Western diplomatic sources. But--to Washington’s relief--attempts by the Iraqi government to obtain further medical treatment for him in the West, particularly Europe, have been rebuffed. Majid has a brain tumor, which sources say is not believed to be malignant. . . . After President Saddam Hussein, Majid may be the Iraqi whom Washington monitors most closely. Married to one of Hussein’s daughters, Majid is one of the regime’s most powerful and ruthless officials. Before the Persian Gulf War, he oversaw acquisition of Baghdad’s weapons of mass destruction through covert front companies, some in the United States.

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SPINNING HEALTH CARE: Politics is becoming more and more a game of getting your fax out. In the health care debate, four of the big players are jockeying for influence by putting out their own electronic newsletters. The publications, from the White House and three congressional sources, toss rapidly spinning curveballs, seeking to strike out rival plans while hitting their own out of the park. . . . The oh-so-cleverly named White House Health Care Delivery Room, a public relations operation formerly called the War Room, has the most sophisticated distribution system, sending “talking points” on the President’s reform plan to 1,200 people by fax and to 5,000 others via the Internet computer network.

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MORE SPIN: Perhaps because his Canadian-style, single-payer health plan is such an underdog, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) puts out the breeziest publication, irreverently jabbing opponents. “Apparently folks in Tennessee haven’t gotten the word from the inside-the-Beltway media experts about what a great health reform plan Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) has put forward,” McDermott wrote, spotlighting the opposition of a group of Tennessee unions and churches to Cooper’s plan. . . . Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), a Senate co-sponsor of the Cooper bill, is regularly mailing four-pagers to constituents, colleagues and interest groups, while Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who rode to an upset victory in 1991 on the health care issue, uses his Health Reform Bulletin to highlight his support of Clinton’s plan--and to suggest improvements.

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IT’S A STICKUP: Speaking of the faxes, the cover sheet is often what makes the difference between being noticed--and not. And after fires and riots and quakes and droughts, Los Angeles still has a lot to boast about. So what does the L.A. office of the FBI put on a recent cover sheet above the imposing FBI seal? “FBI-Los Angeles,” it says. “Bank Robbery Capital of the World.”