Democrats Fear State Is Losing Luster With White House

Although three Californians remain in the running for top administration posts, some leading state Democrats fear that the Golden State may be losing its luster in the eyes of the White House as President Clinton rounds out his new Cabinet.

With half a dozen spots left to fill before the year’s end, UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien is a leading candidate for secretary of energy, Los Angeles Rep. Esteban Torres is in the mix for secretary of labor and former Berkeley professor Janet Yellen’s name has been floated to head the Council of Economic Advisors.

California legislators are pressing Clinton to keep the state’s Cabinet presence high, firing off letters, placing phone calls and buttonholing officialdom at Washington affairs. But it seems clear, as Clinton winds up the staffing process for his second term, that California will not nearly approach the breadth of access to the levels of power it enjoyed for most of the last four years.

Indeed, with Clinton’s reelection secured, some observers suggest that the president will overlook the state he courted so vigorously for its 54 electoral votes. And so far, at least in top level appointments, he has.

“It’s kind of interesting to see how important California is now that the election is over,” one congressional Democratic aide said sarcastically.

“California could not expect to retain the kind of influence it had in the Clinton first-term Cabinet, so a decline is not an enormous surprise,” California Institute Director Tim Ransdell said Monday. He added that even if all of those Californians currently being mentioned for jobs win those appointments, “the state is likely to feel the loss” of departures announced in the last few weeks.

The list of powerful officials with strong California links leaving the administration include White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor, Secretary of Defense William Perry, Council of Economic Advisors chief Laura D’Andrea Tyson, and former assistant White House Counsel Mark Fabiani.

Worse, many expect White House aide John Emerson--whom Vice President Gore once called “the secretary of California” for his careful oversight of the administration’s involvement in state affairs--to leave for the private sector within the next year. Emerson, a onetime West Los Angeles lawyer and prominent player in state and local politics, and his wife recently had twin girls and officials fear that family concerns will drive him West.

A senior administration official, responding to concerns about the state’s waning influence, said: “There are still many, many Californians in very important roles throughout the administration. John Garamendi is deputy secretary of Interior and there are lots of others whose names you don’t know who are doing very important work. Just as important, the entire administration is now sensitized to California and Californians.”

And aides to Gore, a likely presidential candidate in 2000 whose political director--Karen Skelton--is a Californian, said the vice president plans to keep a strong connection with the largest state. “California is still the bellwether for the rest of the country,” said Gore’s press secretary, Ginny Terzano. “It is important to listen and feel out what people in California are thinking.”

Even so, two letters this month signed by many of the state’s Democratic House members to the president asked him to keep Californians in mind--particularly Tien--as he assembles his new team.

“As you choose your second-term administration and establish a policy agenda, we urge you to maintain your commitment to our state,” a Dec. 6 letter implored. “Regions of California are still mired in a recession, and the entire state is trying to respond to unprecedented cuts in military spending, cuts much deeper than the national average.”

Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) has played a pivotal role in pushing Tien for energy secretary. Tien, who has announced he is leaving his Berkeley post next year, would be the first Asian American ever to hold a Cabinet position.

“There is a lot of competition for the job, but he’s right in the mix,” Matsui said.

Tien, in Hong Kong on business, could not be reached for comment.

Torres, a former United Auto Worker union official, has declined to comment on his prospects for the labor post. Once considered a long shot for the job, the seven-term congressman’s resume is “on the rise” at the White House, officials said, as the president struggles to appease vying interests.

The labor post had been considered a race between White House Director of Public Liaison Alexis M. Herman, an African American, and former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who is backed by the AFL-CIO and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts).

With either one of those selections bound to disappoint some faction, many see Torres as the compromise Clinton seeks.

Yellen, a Clinton appointee on the Federal Reserve Board and former Berkeley economics professor, moved up the list for head of the Council of Economic Advisors when Princeton University economist Alan Blinder rejected the offer.

During much of the first term, at least 73 Californians occupied high- to mid-level administration posts.

“I don’t think it’s wrong to say that this is becoming an East Coast-leaning administration,” said one Californian who recently traded his job as a White House aide for a position in private industry. “The Arkansas connection has dropped off, and now so has the California connection.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) said: “The president has been good to California and I expect he will continue to be good to California. . . . It was just so easy before.”