Clinton Expected to Keep Reno at Justice

President Clinton appeared Thursday to have decided to keep Atty. Gen. Janet Reno in her post, according to sources, a move that would end one of the major personnel dramas in a White House scrambling to replace a number of departing officials.

Word of the all-but-final decision, which comes after months of uncertainty, spread on a day in which Reno visited the White House twice. She met with the president for half an hour Thursday night and had “a wonderful meeting,” according to White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry.

“Clearly, I don’t see a problem in this ultimately happening,” said one government source, who added that Clinton is expected to announce his plans to retain Reno at a news conference today.

In addition, Clinton was closing in on final decisions for other remaining Cabinet vacancies, along with his team of economic advisors.

Leadership posts at the departments of Labor, Commerce, Transportation, Energy and Housing and Urban Development and at the National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers are among the openings the president hopes to fill soon, perhaps today.

Some of the vacancies, notably Labor secretary, have sparked furious behind-the-scenes lobbying by constituencies anxious to be represented in the corridors of power, raising doubts over how soon Clinton would settle on all of his choices.

“I’m going to try to get it all done by the end of the week,” Clinton told reporters at one point Thursday.

But he did not hide the uncertainties in the process. Asked at another point whether he would have announcements today, he said: “Oh, I might, I might.”

In addition to Reno, those expected to play a role in Clinton’s second term include Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, although he could be shifted to another job, and William Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has been mentioned frequently as a possible secretary of Transportation or Commerce.

Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) also has been mentioned as a candidate to run Commerce but of late has emerged as a prospect for United Nations ambassador.

Among economic advisors, Alan Blinder--a former official at the Federal Reserve Board and Council of Economic Advisers--recently was spotted at the White House and is believed to be under consideration either as chairman of the economic advisor group or as head of the more political National Economic Council.

At one point, White House-watchers were predicting that the NEC--a small operation created by Clinton to give economic input to policy decisions--would be reorganized, with leadership divided between White House economic aides Gene Sperling and Dan Tarullo. But that decision remained murky Thursday. Stuart E. Eizenstat, the undersecretary of Commerce and a top domestic policy official under former President Carter, also has been a prospect to run the NEC.

Perhaps no pending job decision has carried quite the emotional baggage attached as that of attorney general. Reno, 58 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, has not endeared herself to some in the White House for her decisions to permit independent counsel investigations of some of the ethical controversies that have plagued the administration.

In the immediate aftermath of his reelection, the president refrained from discussing her status, raising speculation that he wanted her to leave. Meanwhile, Reno faced another touchy issue--whether to request an independent counsel to look into questions surrounding Democratic Party fund-raising.

On three separate occasions, concluding earlier this month, Reno chose not to seek such a counsel. And Clinton recently put out the word that he wanted to talk to her about remaining in her job.

Reno, a former state prosecutor in Florida and the nation’s first female attorney general, met with top White House officials Thursday afternoon during a drug policy conference. She returned Thursday night to the presidential mansion for a planned holiday reception.

Government sources said that Reno and other high-ranking Department of Justice officials were under the impression Thursday that the president had decided to retain her at Justice.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if President Clinton doesn’t pull her aside for 15 minutes at the White House holiday party to tell her that,” one knowledgeable source said Thursday afternoon.

Other sources said that they believe Reno was all but told she would stay in the administration during the afternoon drug policy meeting.

“She has said all along that she is ready to stay on for another four years and that is what she wants to do. I wouldn’t be surprised now if this doesn’t come about,” one source said.

While Reno’s status as attorney general appeared all but settled, Clinton and other White House officials have found themselves saddled with a raging battle over the choice of Labor secretary, a fight in which organized labor has found itself at loggerheads with civil rights advocates and women’s groups.

Initially, Alexis Herman--a black woman who runs the White House Office of Public Liaison--emerged as a front-runner to fill the opening created by the departure of Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich. But the AFL-CIO, backed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), quickly weighed in on behalf of Harris Wofford, a former Democratic senator from Pennsylvania.

The president found himself caught in the cross-fire, as women’s groups and civil rights advocates began pushing hard for Herman while labor--mindful of its big-bucks spending on behalf of Democrats in the recent election--pressed for its own candidate.

“It’s pretty ugly,” said one source close to organized labor on Thursday. “I think the people in the labor movement are pretty worried and pretty upset.”