WASHINGTON INSIGHT

UNPLUGGING GRUNWALD: With the Administration’s health care plan in jeopardy and Democrats worried about fall elections, the Washington backbiting season has begun in earnest. Earlier this summer, Democratic National Committee Chairman David Wilhelm was the chief target of intraparty sniping. Now, the fire has begun shifting toward President Clinton’s chief media consultant, Mandy Grunwald. She was widely hailed for the advertisements she produced for Clinton during the 1992 campaign, but critics grumble that her health care ads have failed to do the trick and have needlessly annoyed some Democratic senators, including Nebraska’s Bob Kerrey, who has publicly told people to stop giving money to the DNC because of health care ads he says are a “waste of money.” Grunwald’s defenders say she is being unfairly targeted in part because she is a she--a rarity in the male-dominated world of political consulting--and because White House officials are seeking a scapegoat. But even admirers concede that she can be difficult to work with.

*

OFFICE HARMONY: The hunt for an office for former White House Chief of Staff, now counselor, Thomas (Mack) McLarty ended peacefully this week without further intrigue. McLarty did not try to displace Clinton adviser George Stephanopoulos from his spot next door to the Oval Office but, instead, moved one floor below into the space vacated by David Gergen, who departed to the State Department.

*

BIG BAD JOHN?: Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), heavy-handed baron of the Energy and Commerce Committee, took some shots from Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) in a recent debate over insurance redlining. “It’s time to stop getting bullied around by the Energy and Commerce Committee,” Kennedy said, proposing to trim the panel’s jurisdiction. Dingell kept mum. Kennedy’s measure failed, 343 to 88.

*

WELFARE PLUNGE: The House is moving full-speed ahead on welfare reform, despite the conventional wisdom that time is too short in this session of Congress to negotiate such complicated and controversial legislation. Ron Haskins, a Republican staff member of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on human resources, which is scheduling hearings on the legislation next week, said that a month ago the chances of getting a bill passed this year were one in nine, but “now I’d say the chances are 50-50.” One reason for the push: The new chairman of Ways and Means, Rep. Sam Gibbons (D-Fla.) wants to show that he can fill the shoes of his formidable predecessor, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.). Another factor, staff members say, is that passing a bill to reform welfare, a system voters agree needs fixing, would help incumbents in the polls this November. The Senate had one hearing on welfare reform earlier this month but has yet to draft a hearing schedule. Gibbons and others have suggested that, if the House starts plowing ahead, the Senate will have to follow.

*

OFF THE GRASS: In the Four Corners states of the Southwest--Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona--environmentalists trying to pressure the Clinton Administration into cracking down on cattle grazing on federal land are rallying behind a new battle cry. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Gilawatch, a group standing guard over a New Mexico wilderness area, are helping finance lobbying efforts with proceeds from the sale of T-shirts emblazoned with: “No Moos Is Good News.”