WASHINGTON INSIGHT

ENDANGERED SIGN: Two representatives of the Sierra Club visited the offices of Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-Ida.) Monday to talk with one of his aides about a redesign of the Endangered Species Act that Kempthorne is sponsoring. The Sierra Club argues that the measure would destroy the act, but Republicans say they just want to relax some of its more stringent elements. In the office, the two visitors spied a sign board listing the “four principles: sound science, conservation goals, cooperation with states” and incentives for landowners to protect endangered species. Underneath, however, they said ESA were the letters inside a circle with a line drawn through it. “I took it to mean there was something else going on behind the scenes,” said David Ellenberger, one of the visitors. “It confirmed our view of the bill--it would gut the Endangered Species Act.” Asked about the symbol, Kempthorne spokesman Mark Snider said: “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not familiar with anything like that. That doesn’t sound right.”

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AFFIRMATIVE STEP: Four months after the Supreme Court ordered a pullback on federal contract programs that use “racial classifications,” the Clinton Administration has decided on the first affirmative action plan it will scrap: a Pentagon provision that closes off some contracts to whites. Known as the “Rule of Two,” it allows Defense Department officials to shut out white contractors if at least two qualified minority contractors are available to do the work. “This is a no-brainer,” one Justice Department lawyer said of the decision to kill the rule. He said it was a clear violation under the terms set down by the court.

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TERROR SEQUEL: Sen. Arlen Specter, a GOP presidential hopeful, gained a fair amount of TV exposure with his terrorism subcommittee’s inquiry into what took place at the 1992 Ruby Ridge, Ida., shootout that left three people dead. But his plans to put the capper on the hearing with a highly publicized appearance by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno fell victim to protocol. To conserve their time, Cabinet officers don’t testify before subcommittees--except in appropriation hearings--and Specter had to settle for Deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie S. Gorelick. But Specter has since sent a chill through the Justice Department by referring to the hearings as “phase one,” indicating among other things that he might try again for Reno.

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GENTLE TONGUES: In an era when sharp-elbowed members of Congress could take a few lessons in decorum, certain genteel traditions still flourish in the Senate--where lawmakers have always used banter to set a tone for respectful debate. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week on the ambassadorial nomination of former Tennessee Sen. Jim Sasser, GOP panel Chairman Jesse Helms of North Carolina drawled: “We are almost overrun with Tennesseans this morning, but it’s a pleasant situation . . . because Tennessee was once part of North Carolina.” Later, GOP committee member Fred Thompson of Tennessee rejoined: “The chairman is indeed correct. North Carolina . . . at one time was part of Tennessee.” Weighing in, Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb of Virginia said that for constituents “not claimed by North Carolina or Tennessee, Virginia . . . will claim most of the rest of them in earlier history.” To which Helms replied: “Virginia is also known as the ‘Mother of Presidents,’ but the old lady hasn’t been in a family way for 100 years.”