Clinton Assails Gingrich on Pace of Political Reform

President Clinton chided House Speaker Newt Gingrich Saturday for moving too slowly on creating a commission to study political reforms, and appointed two Americans to work on making such a panel a reality.

Clinton and Gingrich shook hands last month in New Hampshire on a deal to create a nonpartisan commission that would develop recommendations on campaign finance and lobbying reform.

Since then, Clinton has offered his ideas for structuring the commission, but Gingrich has said it would be a mistake to move too quickly on the project.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Clinton sought to prod Gingrich toward action, saying he was “disappointed by what has happened . . . or more accurate, what hasn’t happened.”

“The Speaker and I made a deal and it’s time to keep it,” Clinton said. “There’s no excuse for further delay.”

Clinton said that to get things moving, he was appointing two distinguished Americans to work with Gingrich and other congressional leaders on establishing the commission.

The two are: John W. Gardner, a Republican who served as secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from 1965-1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson and later founded the citizens group Common Cause; and Doris Kearns Goodwin, a political scientist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.