Administration

President Clinton took office determined to boost childhood immunization rates that had slumped so badly they ranked among the worst in the hemisphere. Unfortunately, in devising a way to vaccinate more young children against common childhood diseases, the administration targeted the wrong enemy.Instead of focusing on simplifying a complicated vaccination process, it decided that cost was the primary barrier and set out to provide shots free of charge to as many children as possible. The result is a program that has drawn scathing audits from the General Accounting Office.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee assailed the Clinton administration's drug strategy yesterday.Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., committee chairman, and Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., warned the administration's top drug officer that Congress could refuse to renew his office when its five-year term runs out next month unless President Clinton restores resources and strengthens its authority.The unusual threat came as Lee P. Brown, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, outlined the administration's interim strategy against illegal narcotics.

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress and makers of drugs say the Clinton administration has gone far beyond what Congress intended when it passed legislation last year to ensure that all children would be vaccinated.Although Congress did not specify how the vaccine would be distributed, lawmakers say the administration is now planning a much larger role for the federal government than they ever envisioned.In addition to planning to obtain most of the childhood vaccine used in the United States, the administration is setting up a warehouse to store and distribute it, despite strenuous objections from members of Congress.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton is preparing to relax restrictions on the export of high-performance computers, handing a long-sought victory to the technology companies whose executives were among the most ardent supporters of his 1992 campaign.Opponents of the move, including some on Capitol Hill and within the administration, fear that the powerful U.S.-made computers will be diverted to military uses, such as the design of missiles or nuclear weapons.Administration officials who support the proposal that is before Mr. Clinton say it recognizes a technological reality: Computer manufacturers are turning out vastly more powerful machines every year.

Marilyn L. Dannenfelser, who during her more than four-decade career served as an aide to six presidents of Towson University, died Saturday of breast cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Riderwood resident was 63. "Marilyn was the heart and soul of Towson University," said Maravene Loeschke, the university's president. "She had the ability to make everyone feel respected, valued and even calmer when needed. She was a woman of talent, character and grace. " "She was a great person in her ability to make a president a president," said Susanna F. Craine, former longtime Towson spokeswoman.

Amid swirling rumors about the fate of the U.S. auto industry, Ford Motor Co., the only domestic carmaker not to rely on federal aid, reported a first-quarter loss of $1.4 billion, bettering analysts' expectations. Although Ford's results were received enthusiastically on Wall Street, they were in great part overshadowed by reports that the Obama administration was preparing a bankruptcy filing for Chrysler and that General Motors Corp. was considering ending its Pontiac brand. In addition, the Treasury Department confirmed Friday that it had given GM an additional $2 billion in funding, raising the company's total federal loans to $15.4 billion to date.

Washington -- THE LAW IS where policy ideals confront political realities.A basic test of any administration is how it manages this encounter.Led by a president who was trained at Yale Law School, taught constitutional law and claimed Camelot's attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy, as a spiritual mentor, the Clinton team came into office confident that it would ace this test.It seemed intent on rebuilding a national consensus about the direction that the law should take.This summer, however, the sometimes paralyzing, even cynical, pragmatism that many have criticized in the administration has shown up unmistakably in its handling of legal issues.

The Ehrlich administration said yesterday that it was unsatisfied with the results of a four-month investigation by The Sun's public editor that found all but a handful of its complaints about the newspaper's coverage of the governor to be unfounded. "We find it lackluster and inadequate," said Shareese N. DeLeaver, a spokeswoman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. "We gave specific instances of various inaccuracies and mistakes, and the administration does not feel they were adequately addressed with this editor's column."

For the first time in months, the County Council is stepping out from the shadow of the Gary administration, to the applause of demoralized county employees.In the past week, red-and-white bumper stickers have appeared on fenders and at bus stops that read: "Want to meet a disgruntled employee? Call 911."The grim message is the result of the Republican administration's months-long campaign to cut personnel costs, which account for 75 percent of county spending. Public safety unions won next to nothing at the bargaining table last spring.