ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702030105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The New York Times
When President Clinton's re-election campaign needed suggestions for political and civic leaders to invite to coffees with him, it called a small White House office charged with building public support for his policies.
And when top administration aides wanted to woo ethnic voters last year, they asked the head of that office, Alexis Herman, and her assistants to meet - in off-duty hours - with Democratic Party officials and fund-raisers to plot detailed strategies.
These and other of Herman's activities revealed over the past week have raised questions on Capitol Hill about whether she blended her official and political roles, and have put her nomination for secretary of labor in jeopardy.
The White House has said that Herman, who has run its Office of Public Liaison since 1993, did nothing wrong. Friday she visited the Senate majority leader, Trent Lott of Mississippi, to try to smooth things over.
Lott had said earlier in the week that he was concerned that some of Herman's activities might have come ``awfully close to the edge'' of federal laws that limit the partisan activities of government workers. After meeting with her Friday, he said: ``It was a good meeting. She answered a number of questions I had concerns about.''
But he added, ``I still think there is a lot of explanation needed.''
The most controversial issue has been the role of Herman's aides in inviting a federal bank regulator to meet with Clinton and some of the nation's most powerful bankers at a coffee meeting sponsored by the Democratic Party in May.
White House spokesmen have said that Herman's office was involved only because of a miscommunication about the nature of the event, and that Herman decided not to go to the coffee after she learned it was being sponsored by party officials.
But the controversy also has focused a broader spotlight on the public liaison office, which promotes grass-roots support for the president's social and economic policies among ethnic, business and civic groups, and how the administration has used it.
Several people who worked in that office in previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, say that officials of the liaison office have historically not had significant involvement with party operatives, especially during election campaigns.
Anne Wexler, who ran the liaison office under President Carter and whose son works for Herman, said she occasionally asked the Democratic National Committee if there were any donors it would like her to include in large groups - usually of 200 or more people - invited to White House briefings. But she said Carter rarely met with small groups, and her office was ``never connected in any way with fund raising.''
Bobbie Kilberg, who was the liaison director under President Bush, said people in her office ``were not permitted to even talk to anybody in the campaign'' to avoid any possible ethics concerns. She said all communications with campaign or party officials were routed through the White House political office.
Others who worked in the liaison office said it appeared that high-level Clinton administration officials had prodded Herman and her aides to get more closely involved with campaign strategy than had been the case in the past.
Frank Donatelli, who was a deputy in the liaison office when President Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, said this ``is a sensitive area.'' He added: ``If there is criticism, it shouldn't be just Alexis Herman that is singled out. You can't ignore the larger picture of what the White House was doing.''
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