Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993 TAG: 9301270109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
CLINTON MILLIONAIRES OUTNUMBER GOP'S
President Clinton, who made a campaign issue of Republican favoritism of the wealthy, has more millionaires among his top advisers than either Ronald Reagan or George Bush.Clinton has at least nine millionaires at the top of his administration, including several well-to-do lawyers and two Wall Street executives whose fortunes dwarf Clinton's reported $863,000 in assets.
Among the top Cabinet millionaires are Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, worth at least $5.9 million, and Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who is worth at least $4.2 million.
But even their fortunes are easily topped by the two top economic advisers Clinton borrowed from Wall Street, Robert Rubin and Roger Altman. Each is worth tens of millions of dollars.
In addition, four other Cabinet members and a U.N. ambassador with Cabinet level status are millionaires, and five other top aides may well have the distinction, an Associated Press review of their financial disclosure reports reveals.
Another millionaire, Zoe Baird, withdrew her nomination for attorney general last week.
By comparison, Reagan counted seven millionaires in his first administration while Bush's first Cabinet had six.
For Republicans, still smarting from Clinton campaign attacks they catered to the wealthy during the 1980s, the composition of the new Democratic Cabinet is ironic.
"What they're going to say is, `Our millionaires are better than their millionaires were,' " said former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, one of the Bush Cabinet's top millionaires.
"Being a millionaire should not be thought of as a negative or a pejorative. But let's face it, there have been claims about populism that have been made, and the reality has obviously been very different," he said.
Michael Deaver, a former Reagan White House aide, said the irony is that many Clinton Cabinet appointees made their fortunes during the 1980s when Republican policies held sway.
"They've taken and received the very best of what the '80s had to offer, and they're here saying that the '80s were bad," Deaver said.