Clinton feces vacancies in Cabinet
VACANCIES from page 1
Word of all four resignations
came from officials who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The Cabinet changes could soon
total six, aides said, as Clinton pre
pares his team for a second White
House term.
O’Leary, her reputation
smudged by excessive travel ex
penses, was “given the clear impres
sion” that Clinton wants her out, one
official said.
Even as Clinton wrapped up his
successful campaign, Chief of Staff
Leon Panetta was meeting one by
one with Cabinet members to dis
cuss their futures.
For some, like Health and Hu
man Services Secretary Donna
Shalala, Panetta offered the
president’s strong support. For oth- .
ere, ne listed me presiaem s griev
ances and hoped the secretary
“would take the hint,” said one ad
ministration official.
The next several days could wit
ness behind-the-scenes power
struggles as some secretaries fight
to retain their posts and Clinton
moves to replace some of them.
Kantor was said by some to be
angling for a new administration
post. Transportation Secretary
Federico Pena has a shaky hold on
his seat at the Cabinet table, but
could still stay, the sources said.
Many at the highest levels of the
White House would like Janet Reno
to leave but it would be difficult to
fire the popular attorney general,
they said.
Reno “has said all along that if
the president asks her, she is ready
to go four more years,” said Bert
Brandenburg, .the Justice
Department’s chief spokesman.
Panetta, who will soon leave the
White House himself, hopes to an
nounce the departures all at once to
protect the egos of deposed mem
bers. The announcement is expected
sometime after a Cabinet meeting
Friday evening.
Based oiynterviews with a half
dozen administration officials,
here’s a look at how the Cabinet is
shaking out:
• Christopher tried to leave the
Cabinet once before but was talked
out of it. Christopher repostedly in
formed the president of his decision
Tuesday night in Little Rock, Ark.,
as they savored Clinton’s re-election
victory.
• Perry, reluctant to take the job
three years ago, opted out but will
stay until the Senate approves his
replacement.
• Reno said a few weeks ago she
wants to stay. Her doctors say her
mild case of Parkinson’s disease is
not an obstacle. She may be the vic
tim of an old Washington game: If
you can’t fire somebody, make their
life uncomfortable by leaking re
ports of presidential pique.
• Kantor wants to be attorney
general or chief of staff. If Kantor
could survive confirmation, Clinton
would love to see him behind
Reno’s desk. Kantor is bored with
his current job and would not mind
returning to California.
• Pena left his meeting with
Panetta convinced he could stay.
But aides say Clinton was not im
pressed with his handling of the
ValuJet crash and would like to give
Chicago’s Bill Daley, the brother of
Mayor Richard Daley, the post he
all but promised him in 1992.
• Shalala was told by Panetta she
can stay. She will.
• Housing and Urban Develop
ment Secretary Henry Cisneros is a
favorite of Clinton’s. But he may de
part over personal financial prob
lems related to an independent
counsel’s investigation.
• Education Secretary Richard
Riley is another Clinton favorite.
Officials close to Riley say he prob
ably will leave. White House offi
cials say it is entirely up to him.
• Robert Rubin is on Clinton s
list to be chief of staff, but the Trea
sury boss told Panetta he wouldn’t
take it. Aides expect him to stay at
Treasury.
• Interior Secretary Bruce Bab
bitt was on the outs after he battled
Western constituencies. But one
senior official said Babbitt had re
habilitated himself enough to re
main in the Cabinet “if he threatens
to fuss.”
• Labor Secretary Robert Reich
may leave on his own accord, but
Labor Department officials said he
has scheduled a meeting with de
partment employees later this month
to discuss the new term.
• CIA Director John Deutch is a
top candidate to replace Perry.
• Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman is safe.
Candidates to replace Christo
pher include former Assistant Sec
retary of State Richard Holbrooke,
United Nations Ambassador
Madeleine Albright, former Senate
Majority Leader George Mitchell
— now a Clinton envoy to Ireland
— and Deputy Secretary of State
Strobe Talbott, a longtime Clinton
friend.
Senior aides said the president
might turn to retired Gen. Colin
Powell or Sen. Richard Lugar, R
Ind., in a show of bipartisanship.
Former Chief of Staff Mack
McLarty is a strong candidate for
Energy or Commerce. West Virginia
Gov. Gaston Caperton has an inside
track on Education if Riley wants
to go.
Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.,
is Clinton’s dream prospect at En
ergy but he may be in for bigger
things after successful diplomatic
work in Burma and North Korea.
North Carolina businessman
Erskine Bowles is considered the
perfect candidate to replace Panetta,
but he is reluctant to scuttle pend
ing business deals to take the job.
Perry to talk
with Clinton
about future
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE
(AP) — Secretary of Defense Wil
liam Perry, who reportedly plans to
resign, said Wednesday he will dis
cuss his future with President
Clinton later this week.
At a visit with U.S. Strategic
Command officials, Perry was
asked whether he planned to resign.
He responded: “I will be speak
ing with the president later this week
about my plans for the next four
years and his plans for me for the
next four years.
“And until I have that discus
sion, with the president, I don’t
think I will discuss it in public,”
Perry said.
Military sources said Wednes
day that the 69-year-old defense
secretary planned to leave “for per
sonal reasons,” but would stay in
office until a replacement had been
named.
At a news conference held dur
ing his appearance at Offutt Air
Force Base, Perry said he had not
submitted a letter of resignation.
When told that sources said he
planned to resign, Perry said: “I
have had discussions with friends
and staff many times in which I have
discussed with them what my future
plans are. But I have not had a final
discussion with the president, not
made a final commitment, yet. That
will happen later this week.”
Perry, widely hailed as one of the
president’s most capable Cabinet
officers, came under intense criti
cism in recent months over the June
bombing of a U.S. barracks in Saudi
Arabia in which 19 Air Force men
were killed.
first oflO
Mars treks
NASA must launch the
Global Surveyor by
Nov. 25 because of
planet alignment.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)—
High wind delayed the launch Wednes
day of the Mars Global Surveyor, the
first of 10 spacecrafts to be sent to the
Red Planet by NASA over the next de
cade.
Launch officials said they will try
again at midday today to dispatch the
Global Surveyor on its 435-million
mile, 10-month journey to Mars.
Thick rain clouds scuttled the first
launch attempt. The sky cleared just in
time for the second, and last, attempt
of the day, but the wind accelerated
with just one minute remaining in the
countdown.
“Hold! Hold! Hold!” launch engi
neer Dave Smith urged his colleagues.
The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration has until Nov. 25
to launch the Global Surveyor on the
Delta rocket. Otherwise it will have to
wait two years until the planets are in
proper alignment.
The probe is composed mostly of
leftover parts from the Mars Observer,
which fell silent just three days before
it was supposed to arrive at the Red
Planet in August 1993.
The Global Surveyor should reach
Mars in September 1997 and begin
mapping the planet six months later
from a 235-mile-high orbit. Six science
instruments will study the Martian sur
face and atmosphere for 687 days, or
a full Martian year.
Student Union
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790
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Bring in your
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$2.50 Mini-golf,
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Three militia men convicted for conspiracy
MACON, Ga. (AP)—Three mem
bers of the 112th Georgia Militia were
convicted of conspiracy Wednesday
for stockpiling pipe bombs for use
against the federal government.
A federal jury also found militia
leader Robert Starr in and members
Troy Spain and Jimmy McCranie
guilty of possessing an unregistered
destructive device. They were found
innocent of other charges.
The three were accused of conspir
ing to use pipe bombs on roads, ve
hides, bridges, power lines and fed
eral law enforcement officials.
Spain hatched a plan for financing
their “war” against the government by
robbing armories and drug dealers,
prosecutors said.
Kevin Barker, a government infor
mant and prosecution witness, testified
last week that the three hoped to use
the bombs at the Summer Olympics in
Atlanta.
Defense attorneys argued that the
three did nothing but talk about mak
ing bombs and were lured into the con
spiracy by government informants.
“What he did was play Army,” said
Spain’s attorney, Greg Spicer. “He en
gaged in loose talk.”
Starr’s lawyers argued that he was
running a sting operation to weed out
extremists from his group.
Judge Duross Fitzpatrick said he
would sentence the men in 60 to 90
days. Each had faced a maximum sen
tence of almost 22 years in prison.
All three were acquitted of one con
spiracy charge. Starr and McCranie
also were acquitted of threatening a
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms supervisor in Macon, and
Starr was acquitted of possession of an
illegal assault rifle.
Starr, 35, an electrician, and
McCranie, 30, a plumber, both of ru
ral Crawford County, were arrested in
April when federal agents found bur
ied explosives on Starr’s property.
Spain, 28, of Warner Robins, turned
himself in a month later.
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