Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 23, 1990 TAG: 9007230103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Adams said he expects the creation of the American Indian museum to proceed but virtually everything else - including the planned African American "presence" on the Mall - is in question. Also endangered are a $300 million annex to the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport, the redevelopment of the old General Post Office Building at Gallery Place as an office and museum space, an expansion of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the addition of "badly needed" storage space at the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md.
The Smithsonian currently consists of 15 museums and galleries and the National Zoo.
"It's premature to say quite what the effects on the Smithsonian will be of budget decisions that have not yet been made. That they're going to have an adverse effect, a very substantial one, seems to me quite clear," Adams said in an interview from his home in Basalt, Colo., where he spends each summer.
Some small existing programs are likely to be axed by Oct. 1, Adams said, but he declined to provide specifics about that or any other aspect of the belt-tightening anticipated as Congress looks for ways to slash the federal budget.
Adams also refused to delve into last week's firing of Undersecretary Dean Anderson, whose July 20 letter of resignation focused on impending budget cuts and restructuring. Adams had requested Anderson's resignation on July 13, citing a need for improved management because of the financial challenges ahead.
In a telephone interview Sunday, Anderson was stoical about the dismissal. "He appointed me. He can unappoint me," he said. But Anderson, who will be a senior adviser to Adams after his resignation as undersecretary becomes effective Sept. 1, said he had been developing recommendations about downsizing the institution since early spring.
"It's not as though I was sitting on my hands," he said. "If we had tough decisions to make, then we needed to have the right process. And I could have done it, but it is almost a relief not to have to preside over radical downsizing. The prospect of firing my friends was very unappetizing."
Anderson's dismissal stunned officials at an institution already plagued by flagging morale and profound concern about the money crunch.
Adams acknowledged that the personnel roster is likely to be hit hard, since salaries consume about 80 percent of the Smithsonian's budget. The institution "may very well be considerably smaller a year from now, across the board," he said. He declined to estimate the magnitude of the expected cuts. "It's painful and difficult no matter what the percentage," he said.
One reason for his vagueness, Adams said, is that he has not worked out the target budget for fiscal 1992 with the Office of Management and Budget. He remains uncertain about the fate of the institution's pending 1991 request for a $307.7 million appropriation.
by CNB