House Press Secretary

The Chicago Tribune wrote in an editorial Wednesday.SPECIAL Counsel Kenneth W. Starr is raising hackles these days for misusing his authority in an attempt to prove wrongdoing by the Clintons. But he may have met his match in the arrogant-overreach department -- and it's Hillary Rodham Clinton.According to a report in the Washington Post, in 1996 Mrs. Clinton ordered White House lawyers to prepare a report critiquing the work of Susan Schmidt, the Post's Whitewater reporter. Mrs. Clinton wanted the report released as a public document, the Post said, but cooler heads prevailed; it was kept confidential.

WASHINGTON -- A controversial proposal to tighten White House security is making the Clinton administration feel more vulnerable politically.A draft of the soon-to-be-released security study calls for closing Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicles in front of the president's home, CNN reported yesterday. The idea sent President Clinton officials ducking for cover."I'd refer you over to the Treasury Department," said Michael McCurry, the White House press secretary. But Treasury officials had "no comment."

WASHINGTON -- The notes of a presidential aide, revealed at yesterday's Senate Whitewater hearing, show that Attorney General Janet Reno was among those who were uneasy about the White House's actions after the suicide of deputy White House counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr. two years ago.Ms. Reno was "worried" that it had taken four days for investigators to find in Mr. Foster's briefcase a torn-up note he had written lamenting the cruelty of political life in Washington, according to the notes and testimony of Mark Gearan, the White House communications director.

WASHINGTON -- In the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster Jr. to be surgeon general, President Clinton and his advisers have once again demonstrated their special talent for making things more difficult than they need to be.The choice of Dr. Foster was meant to be a positive statement because of the special reputation the Nashville obstetrician-gynecologist had acquired for his efforts to discourage teen-age pregnancies.But the White House had to know from the outset that choosing someone with such a specialty would raise questions about abortion.

WASHINGTON -- Clinton administration aides took 11 trips aboard presidential helicopters in the past 13 months in addition to the ill-fated golfing outing last Tuesday that cost White House aide David Watkins his job, according to records released yesterday by the White House.According to White House officials, a review undertaken by Chief of Staff Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty III showed that the other trips were legitimate -- even an April 29, 1993, flight to Camp David by Mr. Watkins and another official for the stated purpose of "camp familiarization."

WASHINGTON -- One day after ethics charges toppled Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, speculation intensified yesterday about the future of another member of the Clinton Cabinet who is under ethical scrutiny: Henry G. Cisneros, the secretary of housing and urban development.A White House official said Mr. Cisneros has told friends that he would be willing to resign if the controversy surrounding his payments to a former girlfriend became a political liability for the president. Legislative aides involved in housing issues said they feared that in the climate of scrutiny that led to Mr. Espy's forced resignation, "Cisneros is right behind him," as one put it.For his part, Mr. Cisneros said that he has not told the White House that he was prepared to resign.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton and his family are still stuck in the capital, where they can only dream about their postponed beach vacation on Martha's Vineyard. But taxpayers have already begun to foot the bill.Since Monday, when the Clintons had planned to hole up on the Massachusetts island that Hillary Rodham Clinton remembers as just perfect," the tab has quietly been running for dozens of rooms and residences rented for the presidential entourage.Lodging space is so scarce at the height of the summer season, aides to Mr. Clinton say, that the White House had no choice but to make its best guess about when Congress might wrap up business and then agree to pay for the rooms regardless if they were used.

WASHINGTON -- Clinton administration officials emphasized yesterday that Saturday's shooting at the White House underscored the wisdom of controlling firearms, but the terrifying incident also raised the issue of whether there is something fundamentally wrong with the way President Clinton is being protected."

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush lost his re-election bid two months ago, he told his staff to use their last weeks on the government payroll to look for work. Nearly everyone took him up on it, but few with the intensity of speech writer Curt Smith.Mr. Smith inundated prospective employers, including the Baltimore Sun, with a video-taped biography, press release from his publicist and photograph of himself with the president and first lady Barbara Bush at a White House Christmas party.In his eagerness to impress, Mr. Smith sent his job solicitation letters out on White House letterhead stationery, a violation of White House policy he called "inadvertent" and for which he faces no punishment.

THE Clinton administration is nothing if not ambitious. Just in the next several weeks, it plans to "reinvent government," pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (which is the one good initiative this administration has endorsed since taking office) and rework the entire health care system of the nation.The favorite word of the Clintonites is "manage." They want "managed competition" in health care (an increasingly empty phrase), they talk of "managed trade," and they think they can help defense-related industries "manage" the transition to non-defense products.

WASHINGTON - The Bush White House, long accused by outside critics of misrepresenting the facts to make the case for the war in Iraq and other matters, has launched a personal counter- attack against harsh accusations of "deception" from a longtime insider who worked closely with the president. White House aides past and present are strongly dismissing the words of Scott McClellan, who served as President Bush's press secretary and has written a book accusing Bush of misleading the public about the war and more.

WASHINGTON -- Harriet E. Miers, a member of a diminishing circle of allies who came to Washington in 2001 with George W. Bush, is resigning as White House counsel at the end of this month, the White House announced yesterday. The ill-fated nomination of Miers to the Supreme Court in 2005 left President Bush tangled in complaints of cronyism and in dispute with his conservative allies. Her departure comes as the administration copes with the challenges of demonstrating its relevance during its final two years, with attention shifting to the new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and renewing its energy among senior aides for whom time in office is ticking away.

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush declared that Tuesday will be a day of mourning for former President Gerald R. Ford, and the White House announced yesterday that Bush will return to Washington earlier than planned, pay his respects at the Capitol and speak at Ford's memorial service. The announcement capped a day of political sensitivity about Washington's four-day farewell for the 38th president. Yesterday, newspapers published Ford's previously unreported condemnation of Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq as "a big mistake."

Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, will campaign for Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele today at a private reception in Potomac that will raise $65,000 for the Republican's Senate bid. Tickets to the soiree were $250 to "mix and mingle" and hear Snow's remarks, or $1,000 for a VIP reception and photo opportunity with President Bush's spokesman, a former TV and radio personality. It's Snow's 17th such event since he began stumping for Republican candidates, becoming the first White House press secretary to take on that role.

WASHINGTON - Yielding to bipartisan pressure, President Bush reversed himself yesterday and agreed to allow his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to be questioned in public and under oath by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. In addition, the White House agreed to let all 10 members of the bipartisan commission question Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in private, though not under oath. Previously, the White House had insisted that only the chairman and vice chairman participate.

The Chicago Tribune wrote in an editorial Wednesday.SPECIAL Counsel Kenneth W. Starr is raising hackles these days for misusing his authority in an attempt to prove wrongdoing by the Clintons. But he may have met his match in the arrogant-overreach department -- and it's Hillary Rodham Clinton.According to a report in the Washington Post, in 1996 Mrs. Clinton ordered White House lawyers to prepare a report critiquing the work of Susan Schmidt, the Post's Whitewater reporter. Mrs. Clinton wanted the report released as a public document, the Post said, but cooler heads prevailed; it was kept confidential.

WASHINGTON -- The notes of a presidential aide, revealed at yesterday's Senate Whitewater hearing, show that Attorney General Janet Reno was among those who were uneasy about the White House's actions after the suicide of deputy White House counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr. two years ago.Ms. Reno was "worried" that it had taken four days for investigators to find in Mr. Foster's briefcase a torn-up note he had written lamenting the cruelty of political life in Washington, according to the notes and testimony of Mark Gearan, the White House communications director.

WASHINGTON -- A controversial proposal to tighten White House security is making the Clinton administration feel more vulnerable politically.A draft of the soon-to-be-released security study calls for closing Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicles in front of the president's home, CNN reported yesterday. The idea sent President Clinton officials ducking for cover."I'd refer you over to the Treasury Department," said Michael McCurry, the White House press secretary. But Treasury officials had "no comment."

WASHINGTON -- In the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster Jr. to be surgeon general, President Clinton and his advisers have once again demonstrated their special talent for making things more difficult than they need to be.The choice of Dr. Foster was meant to be a positive statement because of the special reputation the Nashville obstetrician-gynecologist had acquired for his efforts to discourage teen-age pregnancies.But the White House had to know from the outset that choosing someone with such a specialty would raise questions about abortion.

WASHINGTON -- Clinton administration officials emphasized yesterday that Saturday's shooting at the White House underscored the wisdom of controlling firearms, but the terrifying incident also raised the issue of whether there is something fundamentally wrong with the way President Clinton is being protected."