Clinton Weighs Creation of Panel to Study Affirmative Action

The White House is weighing creation of a study commission on affirmative action to help neutralize the politically charged issue and to enable defenders to delay looming Republican attempts to roll back the programs, Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday.

In the strongest signal to date of White House interest in the idea, Panetta said that a nonpartisan group with widely respected members could “hopefully defuse the politics of the issue.” And its existence, he said, could allow congressional advocates to argue: “Let’s not do this (reforms) haphazardly. . . . Let’s allow the commission to do it on a more comprehensive basis.”

His comments, to a group of reporters, came as President Clinton and Administration aides are working intensely to complete a review of federal programs to aid women and minorities in education, employment and contracting. Panetta said that, while the President has reached no conclusions in his review, the commission idea “is clearly in play.”

The proposal has found its most ardent advocates among House Democrats, who pressed Clinton in a March meeting to create it. Several House Democrats said they understand that the White House is leaning toward the suggestion, though other knowledgeable sources stressed that no decision has been reached.

A commission could help the White House build public support for preserving affirmative action at a time when polls show lopsided majorities of Americans oppose such programs--if they are defined as providing special preference for women or minorities.

But a blue-ribbon group would not allow Clinton to avoid taking political heat on the contentious question, since he already is committed to delineating his approach publicly and delivering a major speech on it, perhaps this month.

The commission could take eight months to a year to reach its conclusions, Panetta speculated--meaning that its conclusions could arrive in the heat of the 1996 presidential campaign. “As you can see just by the simple math, that puts it at a very interesting time,” Panetta said.

He said the weakness of the proposal is that it might have little effect on the key congressional votes on affirmative action that may come this year. “The downside is . . . do these other trains leave the station before the commission gets a chance to really look at these issues?” he said.

Panetta said that the first results of the government-wide study have just gone to the President.