Clinton Taps Commerce Secretary, U.N. Envoy

President Clinton took a major step Friday toward completing his new administration, choosing a member of Chicago’s Daley family as secretary of Commerce and Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) as ambassador to the United Nations. He also filled two top-level White House economic jobs.

In addition, the president confirmed that Atty. Gen. Janet Reno will remain as head of the Justice Department and elevated the acting U.S. trade representative, Charlene Barshefsky, to permanent status in that role.

“One of the accomplishments I’m proudest of since 1992 is the way our economic advisors have worked as a team to advance America’s interests at home and abroad,” Clinton said. The new officials “will build on our work.”

The president, flanked by appointees, cited progress on the budget deficit, education, environmental protection, technology, exports and jobs as examples of economic achievements since he was first elected in 1992.

The two White House economic jobs were filled with the promotions of Gene Sperling, an energetic and longtime White House assistant, to head of the National Economic Council, and Daniel Tarullo, another aide, to the new position of assistant to the president for international economic affairs.

In addition, the president disclosed Friday that he had asked Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and EPA Administrator Carol Browner to hold on to their jobs for the second term and that Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin would remain “the captain” of his economic team.

The upbeat White House mood was momentarily disrupted when Clinton’s choice for Commerce secretary, Bill Daley, brother of Chicago’s current mayor and son of a former mayor, collapsed under the hot lights and toppled from the stage in the Old Executive Office Building.

“I think he fainted,” Clinton said after Daley, who had skipped lunch, fell during a brief speech by Richardson. “I think he’s fine. We’ll give you a report in a minute.”

Daley returned minutes later, to applause. A doctor examined him and determined that his vital signs were fine, said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry.

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Initial reaction to Clinton’s choices was positive, if guarded, both from Republican leaders and private industry. Richardson, Daley and Barshefsky will require Senate confirmation.

“Clinton’s new team shows continuity in terms of policy, but it is limited in terms of having important ties with people in Congress. That will be a big question mark,” said Lawrence Chimerine, chief economist at the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said that the GOP-controlled Congress “stands willing to work with” the White House economic team if it pursues such goals as reducing red tape and taxes.

Lott also said that Richardson had served Congress “with distinction.”

But the Republican leader added a major caveat: Daley would face the immediate task of restoring credibility to the Commerce Department and would have to “remove domestic and international political fund-raising from the job descriptions of Commerce’s employees.”

Republicans in Congress are expected to raise questions about whether former Commerce employee John Huang raised funds for the party while serving in the administration, which would be a violation of federal law.

The president lavished praise on the Commerce Department Friday, describing it as “an economic powerhouse for the American people” and crediting the late Secretary Ronald H. Brown and his soon-to-depart successor, Mickey Kantor, for its accomplishments on behalf of U.S. business and trade.

Daley, 48, is a partner in the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt and a longtime political ally of Clinton’s. Daley is the youngest of seven children of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. His oldest brother, Richard M. Daley, is the city’s current mayor.

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“Public service is often demeaned and denigrated in these days,” Daley said. “But I have a very different view. I come from a family in which we were taught by word and example that there is no higher calling or greater trust.”

Richardson, 49, an eight-term congressman from Santa Fe, had been widely rumored to be in line for a visible administration job and at one point was mentioned for the Commerce job. While in Congress, he developed a track record of negotiating overseas, including a successful bid for the release of a U.S. airman captured by North Korea in 1994.

Clinton complimented the Pasadena-born congressman as “one of our nation’s most prominent and proud Hispanic leaders” and noted that just a few days ago, Richardson “was huddled in a rebel chieftain’s hut in Sudan, eating barbecued goat and negotiating the freedom of three hostages.” Richardson won the release of three Red Cross workers there.

Richardson told reporters that the next U.N. ambassador would face a difficult agenda involving human rights, the environment and other issues. “To the peoples of the developing world of Africa, Asia and Latin America, I hope to be your bridge,” he said.

While the nominee enjoys good standing with some Republicans, a spokesman for GOP Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina predicted that Richardson’s confirmation would not be a “rubber-stamp process.”

Barshefsky, described by Clinton as “a tough and determined representative for our country,” was unable to attend Friday’s press conference because she was in Asia, where she has been negotiating a trade deal to eliminate tariffs on computer technology.

Formerly a deputy to Kantor when he served as U.S. trade representative, Barshefsky, 47, took over his role on an acting basis eight months ago, when Kantor shifted to the Commerce Department.

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At least one industry group, the Semiconductor Industry Assn., applauded Clinton’s choice, describing Barshefsky as “a proven leader” on high-tech trade issues.

“The president could not have found a more talented and dedicated envoy to represent American interests,” said Thomas W. Armstrong, president of the high-tech trade group.

Nonetheless, Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, from the timber state of Maine, said in a statement: “Given the large number of trade disputes that both Maine and the United States have with Canada, and given her background as an attorney retained by the Canadian federal and provincial governments, I think her nomination will have to be carefully scrutinized.”

Few if any of the new appointees are as familiar with Clinton--and he with them--as Sperling, an aide noted for putting in long hours at work who the president asked to run the National Economic Council. A lawyer and aide to former New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, Sperling, 37, has advised Clinton on the economy since the 1992 White House campaign.

“I rely on him heavily, on his knowledge and skill, his mind and his heart,” Clinton said Friday.

Clinton also said that Frank Raines, director of the Office of Management and Budget, would keep his job, as would Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who also would serve on the National Economic Council.

Despite Friday’s flurry of announcements, the president still faces several choices to round out his Cabinet and White House team. Unresolved personnel selections include the secretaries of Labor, Transportation, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development, along with chairmanship of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. Clinton has said he hopes to make his selections by Christmas.