WASHINGTON INSIGHT

ROLE MODEL: Thanks to the high-profile battles he waged with the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries during his tenure at the Food and Drug Administration, just-resigned commissioner David A. Kessler almost became a household name. Except at the White House. That’s what safe-food activist and ex-assistant Agriculture secretary Carol Tucker Foreman found when she tried to weigh in on Kessler’s replacement. In a letter to the White House, Foreman praised Kessler as a “model” FDA chief and suggested the administration appoint as his successor someone very much like him. Foreman received a written reply, thanking her and assuring her that Kessler and other candidates would receive careful consideration. When checking references, the White House might want to call the folks at the Yale University School of Medicine, where Kessler is slated to become dean.

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FED STORM RISING? Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan’s warning that the stock market may be rising too rapidly for its own good has prompted an indignant backlash from Capitol Hill. Last week, Rep. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) led a phalanx of conservative lawmakers who essentially told the Fed chairman that he has no business commenting about such matters. On Monday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and a panel of liberal Democrats asserted that Greenspan is dead wrong about a possible increase in interest rates. Members of Congress, meanwhile, continue to shoot their mouths off about a wide variety of subjects.

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BUILDING BRIDGES: A new president won’t take office for nearly four years, but the jockeying has already started in the second tiers. Former Clinton White House Counsel Jack Quinn has teamed up with Jeff Connaughton, top aide to another former Clinton White House counsel, to begin offering advice to clients who need “sophisticated and creative solutions to substantive problems they face in Washington D.C.” Unsaid is a hope that the new endeavor will position them for key roles in a Gore administration. Indeed, Quinn--who also has served as Gore’s chief of staff--just wrote a newspaper opinion piece defending Gore for his fund-raising activities, which Quinn said were entirely legal.

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TAG-TEAM: When Los Angeles lawyer Mickey Kantor quit his job as secretary of Commerce, he left two questions in his wake: Who would replace him and what would Kantor do--go back to his old law firm? President Clinton resolved the first issue by appointing Chicago lawyer William M. Daley--a partner in the firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt--as secretary. Now, Kantor has been named to Daley’s old post at Mayer, Brown.

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SECURITY UPGRADE: After being stung by media reports detailing the questionable backgrounds of some visitors to the executive mansion, White House officials promised to tighten security. They apparently did, with Secret Service police last week arresting a journalist at the White House gate. In addition to being unable to cover the meeting between Clinton and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Reuters reporter Wafa Amr was forced to spend the night in jail. While a twice-convicted stock manipulator--free on since-revoked $100,000 bail--is among those who have sipped coffee with the president, Amr was handcuffed and thrown in the slammer--all for allegedly failing to attend a court hearing in Iowa in 1982. While a college student, Amr was charged with second-degree theft for writing $3,021 in bad checks--which Iowa prosecutors admit she repaid the same year. After her night behind bars, Amr was released on $10,000 bond and will be returning to Iowa in hopes of resolving the matter.